Custom Monitors from Firehouse Productions for Live/PJ Harvey
Completely Custom
The custom stage monitor system used on the live/PJ Harvey shed tour was designed and built by Bryan Olson's New York-based Firehouse Productions. But Live monitor maven Rob Killenberger, first experienced its capabilities while on tour with Counting Crows.
Consisting of sidefills, wedges, and the latest personal headworn wizardry supplied by the U.K.'s Garwood Communications Ltd., the system is known for producing high-level, hi-fi quality in a compact package requiring minimal equalization.
For L&R system power, Crown MA-2400s are divided three ways by BSS 360 crossovers before being routed toward a mid/high cabinet and two bass bins per side. Roughly the same size as a Turbosound Flashlight cabinet, the box at the top of these stacks houses a Community M4 midrange compression drive and a 2-in TAD HF driver coupled to Community horns. The dual bass bins are each equipped with 16-in TAD transducers.
"The combination of drivers in the sidefill stacks is a
potent one," says Killenberger, who has been standing in front of audio
consoles professionally since the age of 15. "As far as monitoring goes,
you have everything right there: strong, intelligible midrange vocals
from the M4, a good, punchy low end, and clear, high frequency response.
Overall, it's an extremely efficient and smooth combination. When you
listen to it, the clarity just jumps out at you."
Like the sidefills, the wedges in the system feature birch cabinets. Two-way in design, they are loaded with the same TAD 16s (two for each wedge) and 2-inch HF drivers (one for each wedge) found in the sidefills.
"All of the components used in the sidefills and wedges may cost a little more than average, but it's worth it," Killenberger believes. "If you look at my graphics, they are flat most of the time, because the system requires little equalization. I may have one frequency pulled a little now and again, but overall, everything just stays loud, clean, and consistent."
Two Vocal Cues
Killenberger utilizes separate channels for vocals One arrives at the wedges, while the other travels directly to Live lead singer Ed Kowalczyk's ears courtesy of a Garwood Radio Station transmitter/receiver package (live guitarist Chad Taylor also uses a Garwood Communications system, but only during the show's acoustic set.)
"The audiologist who took the impressions for these went past the second bend in the ear canal," Killenberger says as he reaches into a small drawer not far from his PM-4000 console and pulls out Ed's ear pieces.
"I have exclusive effects units for vocals and instruments which go into Ed's in-ear system, plus I use AKG condensers out front to capture the crowd noise. That way, Ed doesn't feel so isolated. I've tried a lot of different styles of ear pieces, combinations of EQ, compression, effects, and console setups, and I think I've finally come up with a combination that optimizes the technology."