Red Hot Chili Peppers are back on the road with their The Global Stadium Tour (alternatively the Unlimited Love Tour) running through 2023 in support of the Unlimited Love and Return of the Dream Canteen albums, both released during 2022. Currently in North America, Eighth Day Sound is providing the sound system, with engineer Toby Francis at the helm.

‘After the band changed guitar players – which changed the dynamic within the band – alongside a prolonged management change, it became a four-year process to satisfy band requirements,’ Francis says. ‘The four band members have very dynamic personalities on stage and are adamant about what their show involves and wanting the best sound possible, so discussions took place prior to rehearsals.

‘What they hear and feel from the d&b GSL and KSL system on stage, and how clean it is drove everyone’s attention. They are thrilled at how it sounds – the coverage, and everything else about it. They used a separate manufacturer’s PA for one show, and it was a struggle. The band is a Clair Global corporate account, and they require global support from one company using the same systems, so Eighth Day Sound is supporting the tour globally.’

The PA configuration for this tour is 20 d&b audiotechnik GSL8 boxes per side for mains and 16+4 (GSL8/12) for side fill, 30 SL-Subs, ten per side flown and ten on the ground, as a horizontal subwoofer array, and ten Y10P point sources for front fill. Delays are in four positions with 12 KSL8s each. The system is all driven by 82 D80 amplifiers. All system alignment and optimisation is done within the D80 amps using d&b R1 Remote software, and all system design and prediction is with d&b ArrayCalc software.

‘I have used ArrayProcessing in stadiums and other PA configurations with delay systems since it was introduced in summer of 2015,’ says System Engineer, Ville Kauhanen. ‘ArrayProcessing has been the biggest change I personally have experienced in large speaker system design and optimisation after I was introduced to acoustic measurements. For me personally, the uniformity of the coverage area and day-to-day consistency are key elements for my work and this software really helps me achieve these parameters.

‘On this tour, the venues have been very different, and the only common denominator has been the large audience capacity. ArrayProcessing, and especially with the SL-Series, takes the control of the coverage and uniformity of tonality within the wanted coverage to a whole new level. It is also a very important tool for me when I need to combine systems like main PA to delays to properly control the overlap areas in x-axis.’

The massive Toronto Roger Centre most recently proved how the GSL and KSL systems came through with positive results. ‘Not having mixed on the two systems but having used the J-Series at festival shows, I was shocked at how clear the GSL and KSL sounded,’ Francis reports. ‘All of our shows are stadiums: baseball football, and soccer with occasional open field performances. We use delays on all shows, so the ArrayProcessing really made the difference. I’m now a true believer in this PA system.

‘Ville Kauhanen is incredibly good at what he does – the sound is consistent everywhere from ArrayProcessing, even where sound places are difficult. Big stadiums that have house PA is hard to time the systems together, so we rarely use house PA. The back corners of Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, for example, was particularly clear thanks to ArrayProcessing.’

One of the band members was adamant about having an analogue mix, so Francis is using a Yamaha PM5000 console. He has added nine parametric EQs and a summing mixer. ‘Transients are so much faster on an analogue console and, mixing analogue again with a truly modern PA, you can hear everything subtly, it’s crazy how good it sounds. The band has a vast list of songs they draw from, four songs every night and 14-to-15 songs that are different night to night. I’m hearing detail I never thought I would hear in a 60,000-seat stadium. I’m absolutely blown away by the sound and coverage of the d&b loudspeaker systems.’

Francis adds that the band and their friends are raving about the system, which, he says, ‘makes him a popular guy’. ‘Even engineers and half of bands friends that are record producers have been overly complimentary. Mike Dean, producer for Ye and Travis Scott was blown away when he attended the Atlanta show.’