On Tour with Iron Maiden: Legacy of the Beast Tour

Go behind the scenes with Iron Maiden to find out why the band chose to take Shure gear along on the Legacy of the Beast tour and how Axient Digital has improved the sound quality and RF performance at every show.

Products:
Beta 58A [ Ссылка ]
Axient Digital [ Ссылка ]
PSM 1000 [ Ссылка ]
Wireless Workbench [ Ссылка ]

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

BRUCE DICKINSON: I call it theater of the mind, because every song is a story. And every show that we do has to hang together as a narrative.

NICKO MCBRAIN: Rod and Bruce came up with this idea of three different realms in one stage set. And then it exponentially grew into the stage set that we have today. And it’s the biggest production we’ve ever put on. And it’s quite an ask.

KEN “POOCH” CAN DRUTEN: We’re here in Sunrise, FL doing production rehearsals with Iron Maiden for the Legacy of the Beast tour. This is the second half of the tour.

Hi, my name is Ken “Pooch” Van Druten. I’m the front-of-house engineer for Iron Maiden. Shure has been a staple for me from the beginning. Up there we have 57’s, 58 on the main vocal, of course, on Bruce.

BRUCE DICKINSON: I’ve always been a Shure guy, always. I just keep coming back to a 58. That, for me, is the rock and roll microphone. And it took me a while to get into radio systems because I sing loud, you know, physically loud. And therefore, I really have a problem with compression. Shure mics have always been more dynamic than any of the other ones in terms of reproducing my voice.

KEVIN “TATER” MCCARTHY: PSM1000, yeah. I don’t use anything else. I’m Kevin McCarthy. Most people call me “Tater”, and I’m the monitor engineer for the 2019 Iron Maiden tour. This is the first tour I’m using the plus packs. The audio quality is great and what I think I’ve also noticed is the noise floor is extremely quiet on it. If you’re walking your frequencies to be sure they’re clean, you double check to be sure that pack’s on now. It’s so clean and quiet that, you know, you feel that it’s not even on.

KEN “POOCH” CAN DRUTEN: We changed wireless units in the middle of a tour, right? And so, it’s the same signal, same routing, all that kind of stuff. The only thing that’s changed is the receiver and the transmitter. And we noticed that by switching to the Axient Digital this year, we’ve improved the sound quality of the guitar rigs and the main vocal. So, we were really happy about that.

MICHAEL KENNY: The very first time I used it actually was, Steve has a side band called British Lion, that we were on the Monsters of Rock cruise last year. I’m Michael Kenney. I’m Steve Harris’ bass technician and the live keyboard player. Steve isn’t a big one for change, but he liked the Axient. It’s probably the easiest transition I’ve had. I’d say there is still some homework for me to be doing, but that’s only because the thing does so much.

KEVIN “TATER” MCCARTHY: The RF quality is very important. One little dropout and it’ll be a split second when it happens, and to us it’s like ten minutes. It’s got to be super stable, solid, and be right the first time. I do all the RF coordination out here, and I use Wireless Workbench, through an AXT600. I plug in my little numbers in there, but it’s really not my forte or job. My job is really to sit here and do the faders, right? The thing with the Shure stuff is, it makes that part of it, which is to me voodoo in the computer, it makes it easy for me to do and concentrate on my real job of mixing.

NICKO MCBRAIN: I’m the granddad in the band, so you know, I still get on that stage and I don’t feel that I’m an old man. It’s not a job to me. It’s in my DNA.

BRUCE DICKINSON: I just think we’re really good. We’re really entertaining, and I love that, you know. And I love to sing. Resonance, vibration, and meaning. That’s it, that’s all it is.

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