M-Audio Rocks the Stadiums
M-Audio Rocks the Stadiums
See how the biggest names in music use M-Audio gear to perform live
See how the biggest names in music use M-Audio gear to perform live
If you’ve attended a major arena tour lately, you’ve most likely witnessed M-Audio gear in action. From keyboard controllers and software instruments to audio interfaces, mics and preamps, some of the biggest acts in the world are touring with M-Audio products as essential parts of their stage set-ups. Stability, flexibility and portability are paramount in these high-pressure environments, where artists and their crews confront scores of unknown variables each night. That’s why sought-after technicians Eric Harris, Will Alexander, and Cal Harris rely on M-Audio gear when working with artists such as Depeche Mode, Destiny’s Child, The Rolling Stones, No Doubt, Lenny Kravitz and more.
Eric Harris: Computers Rule on the Road
Keyboard tech and programmer Eric Harris—a veteran of tours with Anastasia, Destiny’s Child and Gwen Stefani—is currently out on the road with synth pop pioneers Depeche Mode. The band tapped Harris to put together several portable, soft synth-based keyboard rigs where the expected racks of synths and samplers have been replaced with a handful of Mac Minis.
“Basically the keyboard rigs are all computer-based, so each player has two Mac Minis,” says Harris of the Depeche Mode setup. “And all the programming and stuff is done in the computers, so I just needed a basic controller. I pretty much use the M-Audio Radium controllers on the stage, and those connect to the computer racks offstage. [Editor’s note: The Radiums have been updated and replaced by the new Oxygen line.]
Since every artist has different performance needs, Harris builds custom setups for each tour. When out with Gwen Stefani, for example, he took advantage of the small size and light weight of the M-Audio controllers and created a setup that could easily travel around the globe. Portability and convenience are important themes for all his clients, drawing him back to M-Audio solutions time and time again.
”It's really nice to have the M-Audio stuff because a lot of it is just really compact, and it really does a lot,” says Harris. “I have a FireWire 410, and one time my rack didn't show up, and I was able to just pull that interface out of my suitcase. I was in Europe, but my laptop had battery power, so I bypassed any power issues. I just hooked it up via FireWire, sent the output to the sound guys, and we were able to do rehearsal in five minutes.
“And I also have the Solaris microphone, and it's really cool,” he continues. “Actually I used that for some of the Destiny's Child stuff. Like if the girls were sitting around and wanted to add a little part or something, I could record it in the computer right there with the Solaris and then use it in the show. It's not a lot of money, and it sounds really good.”
Will Alexander: Rolling with the Stones
With a career that includes stints at Fairlight and Oberhiem and engineering and touring gigs with artists such as Herbie Hancock, the Rolling Stones, No Doubt and Keith Emerson, it’s safe to say that engineer/keyboard tech Will Alexander knows a thing or two about synthesizers.
As a keyboard tech, Alexander has made a career out of learning to adapt to the ever-changing landscape of available keyboard and recording products, incorporating both hardware synths and software-based solutions into the keyboard and playback rigs that he designs. And on the Rolling Stones tour, the combination of Pro Tools and the M-Audio ProKeys 88 enables Alexander to completely replace a traditional workstation keyboard with a computer setup that can stand up to the rigors of the road.
Handling keyboard duties for the Stones, Chuck Leavell performs a set on the M-Audio ProKeys 88 as the band travels out into the audience on a motorized stage. “I must say that I'm really impressed with the sounds on the ProKeys 88,” says Alexander, “especially the electric pianos. Tim Reese, who is the saxophone player in the band, plays a Korg Oasis, which is pretty much the Rolling Stones string section. And then I send all the feeds into an M-Audio Octane preamp, and take the Lightpipe out into a Digidesign 002 running Pro Tools LE.”
Also as a long-time Pro Tools user, Alexander has adapted the software to work as a virtual mixer, MIDI patch manager and a live playback medium. “I do all the program changes, volume settings, mutes, pans and everything that is necessary to do on any song. Then I just set markers up for every song and advance to that marker and Pro Tools automatically makes all the changes. Then that's all output to the house and monitors. And now there is Pro Tools 7 which has even better MIDI implementation in both the regular Pro Tools and Pro Tools M-Powered versions.”
A long-time fan of M-Audio controllers, Alexander first started using them when on the road with No Doubt. After seeking solutions that were portable and didn’t require extensive cabling, he discovered that M-Audio Keystation controllers were the way to streamline his setup.
“It was really great because the Keystation 49 was battery powered, and it was great to have a keyboard that you carry out on stage and just have a MIDI cable running to it,” he says. “It made the set-up very simple. When you have to run power or you have wall warts or any kind of AC interface on a keyboard, it really starts getting a little cumbersome to move it around. The Keystation always worked well, and then when the new Keystation 49e came out, I moved up to that. When I was doing programming for the Rolling Stones tour, I was using the ProKeys 88 as my controller to do all the programming for all the synths and modules and plug-ins that I'm running.”
Cal Harris: Off Stage But In Control
One of the biggest challenges in a live environment is replicating the sound of a finished record while preserving the musician’s ability to improvise onstage. Cal Harris, a longtime programmer and veteran of tours with Earth Wind and Fire, Prince, Whitney Houston and others, has found the answer to this daunting task with a Mac-based Ableton Live rig. As programmer on Lenny Kravitz’s current tour, Harris uses Live and a collection of M-Audio controllers to augment the performance of the live band with prerecorded elements culled from the original source material.
“Lenny is a real stickler about making sure the performance is as close to the record as possible for the fans,” Harris attests. “We can't bring a whole orchestra with us. So we chop some pieces up from original sessions in Live and get them to go along with the band. I play the parts along with the band.”
Through the use of Live’s time stretching and compression capabilities and the ability to control the program from a simple keyboard controller, Harris is able to make seamless changes to tempo and arrangement in the context of the a live performance.
“I put the tracks into Live, and then basically I just have to find ways to turn those into something that can be performed and sound as close to the to the record as possible,” he explains. “We'll take the entire string track and put it in Live and use the Warp function. That way we can mess around with the tempos and whatnot. I've done this type of work with pretty much everything out there. And Live is by far the best and most flexible.
“Their philosophy—which I really love—is that instead of encumbering you with a bunch of commands that they think you need, Live lets you decide what you need, and then you program it accordingly. You know how make it work the best for your environment, and then you can change it as your needs change.”
Ableton Live is known for its impressive ability to let users improvise arrangements in real time, which comes in very handy when an artist wants to implement a new idea at the last minute. So when Kravitz recently asked to make a change to the established format, Harris was happy to oblige. “In the old days, I would have had to tell him we couldn’t do that. But with Live it's actually very doable. I know that Lenny was really impressed with the ability to change tempos on the fly and still be able to work with it. And the algorithms that have been used to compress and expand are excellent and very transparent.”
Regardless of where the road leads—from cramped buses and hotel rooms to large stadium stages—M-Audio provides a variety of keyboards to perfectly suit each environment. Harris takes four different M-Audio keyboards on the road with him so that he can get the job done regardless of the circumstances.
“When I have to do editing and work in my hotel room, I'll use the Ozonic, and that really works well. If I really want to get that true weighted feel, then I'll use the big Keystation Pro 88 with the hammer action. And I have actually built the 61es into my rig. I make a lot of use of Live’s remote control function. That's really been helpful. Being able to program the transports and the performance of the clips to MIDI keys works out really well. I can change volumes, panning and mutes. It’s great for everything.”
Eric Harris: Computers Rule on the Road
Keyboard tech and programmer Eric Harris—a veteran of tours with Anastasia, Destiny’s Child and Gwen Stefani—is currently out on the road with synth pop pioneers Depeche Mode. The band tapped Harris to put together several portable, soft synth-based keyboard rigs where the expected racks of synths and samplers have been replaced with a handful of Mac Minis.
“Basically the keyboard rigs are all computer-based, so each player has two Mac Minis,” says Harris of the Depeche Mode setup. “And all the programming and stuff is done in the computers, so I just needed a basic controller. I pretty much use the M-Audio Radium controllers on the stage, and those connect to the computer racks offstage. [Editor’s note: The Radiums have been updated and replaced by the new Oxygen line.]
Since every artist has different performance needs, Harris builds custom setups for each tour. When out with Gwen Stefani, for example, he took advantage of the small size and light weight of the M-Audio controllers and created a setup that could easily travel around the globe. Portability and convenience are important themes for all his clients, drawing him back to M-Audio solutions time and time again.
”It's really nice to have the M-Audio stuff because a lot of it is just really compact, and it really does a lot,” says Harris. “I have a FireWire 410, and one time my rack didn't show up, and I was able to just pull that interface out of my suitcase. I was in Europe, but my laptop had battery power, so I bypassed any power issues. I just hooked it up via FireWire, sent the output to the sound guys, and we were able to do rehearsal in five minutes.
“And I also have the Solaris microphone, and it's really cool,” he continues. “Actually I used that for some of the Destiny's Child stuff. Like if the girls were sitting around and wanted to add a little part or something, I could record it in the computer right there with the Solaris and then use it in the show. It's not a lot of money, and it sounds really good.”
Will Alexander: Rolling with the Stones
With a career that includes stints at Fairlight and Oberhiem and engineering and touring gigs with artists such as Herbie Hancock, the Rolling Stones, No Doubt and Keith Emerson, it’s safe to say that engineer/keyboard tech Will Alexander knows a thing or two about synthesizers.
As a keyboard tech, Alexander has made a career out of learning to adapt to the ever-changing landscape of available keyboard and recording products, incorporating both hardware synths and software-based solutions into the keyboard and playback rigs that he designs. And on the Rolling Stones tour, the combination of Pro Tools and the M-Audio ProKeys 88 enables Alexander to completely replace a traditional workstation keyboard with a computer setup that can stand up to the rigors of the road.
Handling keyboard duties for the Stones, Chuck Leavell performs a set on the M-Audio ProKeys 88 as the band travels out into the audience on a motorized stage. “I must say that I'm really impressed with the sounds on the ProKeys 88,” says Alexander, “especially the electric pianos. Tim Reese, who is the saxophone player in the band, plays a Korg Oasis, which is pretty much the Rolling Stones string section. And then I send all the feeds into an M-Audio Octane preamp, and take the Lightpipe out into a Digidesign 002 running Pro Tools LE.”
Also as a long-time Pro Tools user, Alexander has adapted the software to work as a virtual mixer, MIDI patch manager and a live playback medium. “I do all the program changes, volume settings, mutes, pans and everything that is necessary to do on any song. Then I just set markers up for every song and advance to that marker and Pro Tools automatically makes all the changes. Then that's all output to the house and monitors. And now there is Pro Tools 7 which has even better MIDI implementation in both the regular Pro Tools and Pro Tools M-Powered versions.”
A long-time fan of M-Audio controllers, Alexander first started using them when on the road with No Doubt. After seeking solutions that were portable and didn’t require extensive cabling, he discovered that M-Audio Keystation controllers were the way to streamline his setup.
“It was really great because the Keystation 49 was battery powered, and it was great to have a keyboard that you carry out on stage and just have a MIDI cable running to it,” he says. “It made the set-up very simple. When you have to run power or you have wall warts or any kind of AC interface on a keyboard, it really starts getting a little cumbersome to move it around. The Keystation always worked well, and then when the new Keystation 49e came out, I moved up to that. When I was doing programming for the Rolling Stones tour, I was using the ProKeys 88 as my controller to do all the programming for all the synths and modules and plug-ins that I'm running.”
Cal Harris: Off Stage But In Control
One of the biggest challenges in a live environment is replicating the sound of a finished record while preserving the musician’s ability to improvise onstage. Cal Harris, a longtime programmer and veteran of tours with Earth Wind and Fire, Prince, Whitney Houston and others, has found the answer to this daunting task with a Mac-based Ableton Live rig. As programmer on Lenny Kravitz’s current tour, Harris uses Live and a collection of M-Audio controllers to augment the performance of the live band with prerecorded elements culled from the original source material.
“Lenny is a real stickler about making sure the performance is as close to the record as possible for the fans,” Harris attests. “We can't bring a whole orchestra with us. So we chop some pieces up from original sessions in Live and get them to go along with the band. I play the parts along with the band.”
Through the use of Live’s time stretching and compression capabilities and the ability to control the program from a simple keyboard controller, Harris is able to make seamless changes to tempo and arrangement in the context of the a live performance.
“I put the tracks into Live, and then basically I just have to find ways to turn those into something that can be performed and sound as close to the to the record as possible,” he explains. “We'll take the entire string track and put it in Live and use the Warp function. That way we can mess around with the tempos and whatnot. I've done this type of work with pretty much everything out there. And Live is by far the best and most flexible.
“Their philosophy—which I really love—is that instead of encumbering you with a bunch of commands that they think you need, Live lets you decide what you need, and then you program it accordingly. You know how make it work the best for your environment, and then you can change it as your needs change.”
Ableton Live is known for its impressive ability to let users improvise arrangements in real time, which comes in very handy when an artist wants to implement a new idea at the last minute. So when Kravitz recently asked to make a change to the established format, Harris was happy to oblige. “In the old days, I would have had to tell him we couldn’t do that. But with Live it's actually very doable. I know that Lenny was really impressed with the ability to change tempos on the fly and still be able to work with it. And the algorithms that have been used to compress and expand are excellent and very transparent.”
Regardless of where the road leads—from cramped buses and hotel rooms to large stadium stages—M-Audio provides a variety of keyboards to perfectly suit each environment. Harris takes four different M-Audio keyboards on the road with him so that he can get the job done regardless of the circumstances.
“When I have to do editing and work in my hotel room, I'll use the Ozonic, and that really works well. If I really want to get that true weighted feel, then I'll use the big Keystation Pro 88 with the hammer action. And I have actually built the 61es into my rig. I make a lot of use of Live’s remote control function. That's really been helpful. Being able to program the transports and the performance of the clips to MIDI keys works out really well. I can change volumes, panning and mutes. It’s great for everything.”
