Setting up in six cities, the April leg of BeBe and CeCe Winans’s last tour together started in their hometown of Detroit and closed at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Celebrating a recording career that began in 1984 – and has won them 2010 Grammy Awards for Best Gospel Performance and Best Contemporary R&B Gospel Album – the live production is handled by Blackhawk Audio using Meyer Sound Mica line array loudspeakers and an Avid Venue Profile console at FOH.
The tour’s venues ranged from 3,000 to 5,000 seats, presenting a challenge for uniformly delivering the propulsive, urban contemporary sound of the Winans and their co-headliners on the bill, three-time Grammy winners Mary Mary. ‘The Micas really did their job,’ says Rick Shimer, Blackhawk Audio CEO and FOH mixer on the tour. ‘The R&B sound of today’s gospel demands a lot of impact and sound pressure, and we had all that we needed.’
Twin arrays of 12 Mica loudspeakers each were supported by 12 700-HP subwoofers, with four UPA-1P loudspeakers as front fill. ‘There’s one number by Mary Mary that’s almost acoustic, and it really highlights the power and subtlety of their vocals. It’s a moment when you want the PA to just go away, so it’s those two girls on stage singing straight to you. And the Mica system does just that.’
On stage, two CQ-2 and two MSL-4 loudspeakers, three more 700-HP subwoofers, and two MJF-212A stage monitors supplemented the Sennheiser in-ear systems (for the downstage vocalists) and Aviom systems (upstage for the band). The FOH set-up was managed by a Meyer Sound Galileo loudspeaker management system with one Galileo 616 processor.
‘The Meyer systems afforded an amazing amount of power and clarity, but with a small footprint on stage and in the truck,’ says Tim Wagoner, production manager for the tour, ‘Most of the theaters on this tour were built 80 or more years ago and heavy, amp rack-ridden systems would have been a real problem for stage space.’
Shimer engineered the FOH mix with the Avid console, while monitors were mixed on a Yamaha M7CL. Shure UR wireless systems with SM58 capsules were provided for the four headliners’ vocals.
More: www.meyersound.com
