Touring as Playland in support of his solo album of the same name, Johnny Marr is joined FOH engineer Russ Miller (Russthesoundguy). Over the past decade, Miller has engineered live sound for acts including Alison Moyet, Curtis Stigers and Spiritualized. To capture the sound of Johnny Marr’s Fender Deluxe guitar amp, he has one choice of mic – the Royer Labs R-121 ribbon.
‘I’m currently using two R-121s and have been using them since the start of the Playland tour,’ Miller reports, ‘I position the Royer on the Deluxe about an inch to the left of the dustcap/centre of the speaker, then place a DPA2011c right next to it – making certain that the R-121’s ribbon and the diaphragm of the other mic are lined up to ensure phase coherence. I’m also using an R-121 on a Marshall 4x12 used by one of the other guitarists in the band.
‘The SPL handling capabilities of the R-121 are incredible,’ he continues. ‘Johnny is a loud guitar player, and that’s fine, because the R-121 doesn’t even break a sweat. The frequency response of the mic compliments his sound so well – it’s smooth and void of any nasty peaks in the presence range. The R-121 captures sound the way the human ear does – you can have tons of it in the mix without that “ice pick” effect and without having to use EQ. We run a very tight set-up. Everything is butted up to each other physically, so the nulls at the top, bottom, and sides of the R-121 are a Godsend. Johnny’s guitar is angled towards his position in the middle, so the null is looking at the hi-hats on the riser. If I didn’t have the R-121’s null, it would be a bloody nightmare.’
For any touring act, knowing that quality, responsive customer and technical support is available is of paramount concern. Here, too, Miller gives Royer Labs high marks: ‘The people over at Royer have been amazing to deal with,’ Mheiller says. ‘The company’s turnaround time is consistently very quick. With Royer, you know that you’re important as a customer and that you’re entering into a good working relationship, as opposed to being just another transaction.’
‘The Royers have been fantastic,’ he summarises. ‘I can’t say enough good things about them – they definitely have been a gig changer for us. Johnny is a great producer and engineer and is real savvy when it comes to tone. He came out front during a soundcheck and was pretty darn impressed with the reproduction of his signature sound through the PA. The R-121s are a major element of that sound delivery.
‘The reaction we get from crowds since we switched to the Royers has cemented the “right tool for the job” mentality for me,’ he adds. ‘I’ve never had so many compliments. I would never ask someone like Johnny to change his sound to suit my microphone. That would be insulting. So it’s most important to listen to your source and choose a mic that’s going to compliment it. If you have to resort to tons of EQ and compression, then it’s not the right mic for the job. With the Royer R-121, that’s never an issue.’
More: www.royerlabs.com
