The lauded Saucerful of Secrets tour led by Pink Floyd founding member Nick Mason saw FOH engineer Steven Carr manning an Avid Venue S6L console supported by an arsenal of Waves plug-ins.

‘Having all my Waves plug-ins accessible from the console in such a brilliantly simple way, enables me to work as I would in a studio,’ says Carr, whose credits include Roger Taylor, Goldfrapp, Agnes Obel, Chris Rea and Katherine Jenkins. ‘It helps me take my live mix to a higher level of creative artistry, without needing racks upon racks of outboard. With the low latency of the Waves live system, and numerous instances of whichever plug-in I need, it often feels there is no limit to what I can do to achieve certain sounds and effects.

Carr’s console is an Avid S6L 24D with a Stage 64 Rack. The S6L has a built-in WSG-HD Waves SoundGrid card, which interfaces directly with two Waves Extreme SoundGrid Servers. ‘I send a stereo mix via AES to a Lake LM44 to drive the PA that deals with system EQ, delay and levels,’ he explains. ‘Very simple, no outboard. Because of the way I like to work – a compact, streamlined FOH system with an Avid console – having Waves plug-ins available and integrated is absolutely essential.

‘As in most productions, there were unique challenges to overcome when building my mix for this show,’ he continues. ‘The mix is very dynamic with punch and energy, yet it needs to be subtle when required. In songs like ‘Echoes,’ which Nick and his band are playing on this tour, this entire dynamic range is required within one song.

‘Moreover, the stage has an old school feel with loud vintage amps, and without any isolation between the musicians. So, my first big challenge was to reduce unwanted bleed into the vocal mics. Here, the expander option in the Waves SSL G-Channel is invaluable. This plug-in is a great model of a classic, and I use it on every drum channel for EQ, dynamics and tone. The compressor’s auto makeup gain is a must-have for me when mixing punchy, crystal clear drums. I’ve also experimented with the Waves Primary Source Expander (PSE) to prevent mic bleed. Both plug-ins do the job brilliantly. With a bit of fine-tuning, I can automatically close open mics all around the stage when not in use, giving me a very tight close-miking-sounding mix even in reverberant rooms.’

Another issue is the variety of guitars used in the show. ‘The guitar players switch guitars frequently, so tone and levels vary from song to song,’ Carr says. ‘Rather than interfere with the guitarists’ tone, I generally leave the EQs flat, with just some gentle high passing, and use compression to control the feel of each instrument. Here, I use the H-Comp Hybrid Compressor on the guitar channels, to maintain a constant level from instrument to instrument. H-Comp is fantastically simple to use, though its simplicity is deceiving – it has so much variety. I love its Dry/Wet mix function, which I use for all of my parallel compression now.

‘I also use the C6 Multiband Compressor on the sub group to control any unruly frequencies, and dramatic level changes are controlled using snapshot settings. C6 is again a classic, and I rarely build a mix without it. In addition to using it as a general multiband compressor, I like to use its side chain function to help my kick drum and bass guitar play together nicely down in the low and sub regions of the mix.

‘Last, all my mixes are put together with these three plug-ins: the Waves API 550B EQ is essential for my subgroups; it’s musical and sweet and gives me what I need every time. The IR-Live Convolution Reverb is absolutely brilliant because I can import my own impulse responses. And my go-to delay for any situation is the Waves H-Delay Hybrid Delay.’

Carr says that there are ‘many benefits’ to using Waves plug-ins in this way: ‘Most important, the Waves software integrates seamlessly with the S6L console. The plug-ins run within the Avid onboard software and can be viewed, accessed and written into snapshots, all from the console’s plug-in rack and snapshot screens. This keeps my processing chain simple, cable-free, and all in one place.

‘I can avoid using outboard altogether, reducing in/out digital conversion paths, latency, and potential cable failure, not to mention needing fewer racks and boxes in often-cramped FOH spaces. This show goes into venues of all sizes, indoor and out. You never know what you’re walking into, no matter how well prepared you are – which is why a compact yet powerful system is essential. This system is exactly that.’

More: www.waves.com