New York, NY (July 23, 2018)—VER Tour Sound recently wrapped up providing audio for Post Malone on a 26-city tour of arenas and sheds. The hip-hop artist toured North American behind his latest album, Beerbongs and Bentleys, which topped the Billboard Hot 200.
Engineer Joe Hellow oversaw the FOH position nightly—an area centered around a DiGiCo SD10 console paired with a fully-loaded Waves SoundGrid server. The vocal microphone for Post Malone was a Shure Axient digital wireless topped by a DPA d:facto capsule, with vocal processing via a Rupert Neve Designs Shelford channel strip.
The results of Hellow’s mixing were heard nightly through a massive Meyer Sound Leo Family reinforcement system. Inside larger arenas and outdoor sheds, the main front hangs were 14 Leo line array loudspeakers over four Lyon-W wide coverage loudspeakers per side. Outfills were six Lyon-M line array loudspeakers over six Lyon-W per side, front fills were eight Leopard loudspeakers, and four UPJ-1P loudspeakers were available for utility fill. Bass was supplied by a total of 30 1100-LFC low frequency control elements: 12 flown and 18 ground-stacked.
”The LEO system is a beast,” said Hellow, who has touring credits with Big Sean, Tyga and Miguel. ”This kind of power could be scary for some engineers just starting out, who might be intimidated about keeping control of such a powerful box, but working with VER, I’m backed by great system techs who give me the tools and the confidence to make it happen. I’m really happy with the results on this tour, and everybody has raved about the sound.”
With hip-hop as low end-oriented as ever, Hellow used the flown subs to ensure a linear sound while using the ground subs “as an effect to just wrap around your body. You can actually feel your shorts moving. In some venues, I have to reach for the sub master and pull it down because it’s so massive.”
Production manager Dennis Danneels credited the Meyer Sound system and the VER crew for keeping the tour running like clockwork despite the varied venue sizes and configurations. ”In today’s touring market we’re seeing more inconsistencies in the venues on a run, so you need to adapt quickly. The LEO Family PA has met those challenges, and VER has some great young talent in their dugout, with great skill sets and work ethic. I’ve begun to call them ‘the future’ on this tour.”
The Future, then, was headed by systems engineer Kevin Valind, aided by PA techs Justin Stiepleman and Colten Mortensen. Under the direction of account manager Jeff Priepot, VER supplied a turnkey package that also included lighting and video. The Post Malone team was filled out by monitor engineer Blair Bondy and tour manager Kurt Kuehn. Creative direction was by Bobby Greenleaf, an associate of the artist’s manager, Dre London.
Post Malone is spending the summer playing festivals around the globe and will return to headlining U.S. shows in September.
Meyer Sound • www.meyersound.com
