On her first tour in more than a decade, Shania Twain bids farewell to her concert
fans as she packs “A-level” arenas with a Meyer Sound LEO linear large-scale sound
reinforcement system. VER Tour Sound is providing the complete audio, video, and
lighting package for the five-month, 59-city “Rock This Country” tour.
The man behind Shania’s concert sound is long-time FOH engineer Nigel Green, who
has mixed all of the singer’s live shows and concert DVD soundtracks since 1998.
Although a studio engineer for most of his eminent career—with credits ranging
from Def Leppard and Britney Spears to Billy Ocean and the Backstreet Boys—
Green has turned to LEO for a smooth transition from a controlled studio
environment into cavernous sports arenas.
The Shania Twain tour presents a number of difficult challenges for coverage,
throw, and gain-before-feedback. Seating is a full 270-degree wrap, and no house
delays are used. Twain also ventures out in front of the main arrays on a deep
thrust, then swings through the audience while pushed on a cart, and even soars out
over the audience saddled on a cherry-picker.
“On earlier tours, I noticed some of those larger arenas sounded dark in the back
corners, but with LEO the coverage is very even throughout,” reports Green.
The system is anchored by main front arrays of 14 LEO-M and four LYON-W wide-
coverage line array loudspeakers each, complemented by 24 1100-LFC low-
frequency control elements. Mid-side arrays are eight LEO-M and six LYON-M main
line array loudspeakers each, and rear-side arrays comprise 12 LYON-W
loudspeakers each. Eight MINA line array loudspeakers provide front fill, two UPA-
1P loudspeakers cover rear fill, and a Galileo Callisto loudspeaker management
system with 10 Galileo Callisto 616 and two Galileo Callisto 616 AES array
processors contributes drive and optimization.
Veteran tour production manager John “Bugzee” Hougdahl is pleased with the low
stage profile of the LEO system. “I really appreciate the small footprint at the
bottom of the cable drop,” he notes. “We have large racks for automation, video,
and lighting on each side of the stage, and not having racks of amplifiers really
helps.”
Green mixes Twain on an Avid VENUE D-Show digital console loaded with native,
Waves, and Crane Song plug-ins. Twain sings through custom-colored Sennheiser
SKM 5300 wireless microphones, with wired mics coming from Shure, Sennheiser,
Royer, and Earthworks. System engineer and crew chief is Kenny Sellars and
monitor engineer is Connie Fernstrom.
Although Twain has not toured in more than a decade, her “Still the One” resident
production included 105 shows from 2012–2014 in The Colosseum at Caesars Palace
in Las Vegas, using an upgraded house Meyer Sound system originally installed for
Celine Dion’s “A New Day…” show.
Courtesy: www.meyersound.com
