So who did the engineering of the last Led Zeppelin reunion concert tour?

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Interested in writing for us? Click here. Also join us at for contests and further news. Thanks for visiting!

So who did the engingeering of the last Led Zeppelin reunion concert tour?

PRESS RELEASE

MIDAS XL8 TAKES PRIDE OF PLACE AT LED ZEPPELIN REUNION CONCERT

Photo link:
http://www.carolinemoss.co.uk/photos/xl8-led-zeppelin-1.jpg

Photo link:
http://www.carolinemoss.co.uk/photos/xl8-led-zeppelin-2.jpg

Photo link:
http://www.carolinemoss.co.uk/photos/xl8-led-zeppelin-3.jpg

Photo link:
http://www.carolinemoss.co.uk/photos/xl8-led-zeppelin-4.jpg

Photo link:
http://www.carolinemoss.co.uk/photos/xl8-led-zeppelin-setlist-1.jpg

Photo link:
http://www.carolinemoss.co.uk/photos/xl8-led-zeppelin-setlist-2.jpg

Nineteen years after their last appearance, the three surviving members of
Led Zeppelin, together with John Bonham?s son Jason, took to the stage at
the 02 Arena to perform a tribute concert for their late record label boss
Ahmet Ertegun, who signed them to Atlantic Records in 1968. 

Technology has clearly moved on since the trio of Robert Plant, Jimmy Page
and John Paul Jones played at a concert to celebrate Atlantic?s 40th
anniversary in 1988, and only the best would do to recreate the band?s
legendary sound, which appeared undiminished by the years. For this
reason, at front of house was a Midas XL8 Live Performance System provided
by Britannia Row, with two engineers at the controls. Big Mick Hughes
mixed the band - Jimmy Page on guitar, John Paul Jones on bass and drummer
Jason Bonham, while Robert Plant?s front of house engineer Roy Williams
handled the singer?s soaring vocal range.

The decision to use the XL8 came after Page heard it at Metallica?s
Wembley gig this summer. Plant subsequently visited the Midas factory to
see and hear the XL8, which guaranteed the XL8?s place on the rider.

Williams has worked as front of house engineer for Robert Plant for almost
a decade. ?I’ll always have a preference for Midas, and the transition
from analogue wasn?t as hard as I had expected; I found the XL8
user-friendly, especially when obtaining any EQ that I might be looking
for. 

?I had known from before the start of rehearsals that two engineers would
be doing the show, one to look after the band and one to concentrate on
Robert?s vocals and effects. Not the easiest thing to do: two engineer,
two pairs of ears and two egos! Mick and I have known one another for over
30 years and are both from the Black Country so that helped a lot.

?The XL8 let me have my own world to work in with just the vocal mic and
eight effects ? leaving Mick to create his world without either of us
getting in one another’s way. No blood was drawn, we had a blast and more
importantly are still friends.?

Big Mick, who put the XL8 through its paces on Metallica?s European tour
earlier this summer, was mixing the band.

?We felt that using the XL8 gave us an unlimited amount of options,? he
says. ?It was a good job we did as the input list grew to over 70
channels, and if we?d gone analogue we would have been into two desks. 

?The operation of the console made it really easy for Roy and myself to
divide the work surface. Being able to set the last bay of the console to
the B zone and then recall a POP (population) group containing Robert’s
vocal and effects into the B zone meant that Roy had his own section. This
in turn allowed me the remaining two bays and the VCA (Variable Control
Association) section to mix the band. The ?a/b? headphone solo busses were
invaluable as I could be using one while Roy used the other. And as
before, when I first used the XL8 for Metallica, the pure sound and stereo
image quality is undeniable.?

A preproduction Klark Teknik DN9696 high resolution live hard disk
recorder was on hand during rehearsals, allowing the engineers to ?virtual
soundcheck?, working on the sound and effects from the live recordings and
using the settings to create automation scenes for each song. 

During full production rehearsals the band ran through the entire show
twice, and this was also recorded on the DN9696 to further develop the mix
and provide a time reference for the lighting and video crews. The band
were then able to watch the whole show from an audience perspective, and
also use the recordings to assess their live performances. This extra
capacity provided by the DN9696 proved invaluable for a live event on this
scale.

Onstage, a Midas Heritage 3000 handled the band?s monitor duties under
sound engineer Dee Miller. 

The original members of Led Zeppelin last played in Berlin in July 1980 -
two months before John Bonham died. Page, Plant and Jones performed at
Live Aid five years later in addition to the Atlantic Records appearance
in 1988, and Page and Plant played together live during the 1990s. Profits
from the show will go towards scholarships in Ertegun’s name in UK, the
USA and Turkey, the country of his birth.

Share This