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From West End to PJ Harvey with Focusrite
Tom Marshall is a FOH engineer who splits his time between mixing West End shows and touring with the likes of PJ Harvey. And with every tour he’s always been accompanied by at least one Focusrite product.
Tom Marshall’s induction into music came at an early age, as both of his parents were musical. He spent “the usual teenage years playing in bands” and then became interested in live sound. “Having decided upon that career path I got into musical theatre where I mixed shows in the West End for about ten years,” he explains. “This slowly evolved into mixing more live music and I’m now at a stage where I tend to flit between the two!”
And among the live shows he has recently been involved in are the PJ Harvey world tour, the Coral’s 2005 world tour, plus shows with The Open and singer/songwriters Lewis Taylor and Beulah.
“Of every band production tour I’ve done I’ve used some kind of Focusrite product such as the ISA 220 and more recently the Liquid Channel,” says Tom. “I’d seen it at a few of the UK festivals last summer and, needing a good lead vocal pre-amp compressor for vocals, I wanted to try it myself. I simply like the way it makes my singers sit really nicely in the mix.
“For me Focusrite gear certainly has the edge over other products for what it can do, especially the Liquid Channel. It gives you the confidence that it will sound exactly as you’d expect. I like the fact that it can emulate any compressor or pre-amp plus the fact that all the controls for them are just there, physically, in front of you.”
Having said that there were one or two incidents during the recent PJ Harvey concert at Hay-On-Wye that the Liquid Channel couldn’t deal with. “We were hampered with foot deep mud, torrential rain and Polly was attacked mid song by a very large May bug,” says Tom. “That’s Wales for you!”
Tom is currently working with a band called Cord whose debut single came out this month. “We’re just playing small venues which is rather amusing. Hopefully there will be some more PJ Harvey solo shows and a short stint back in the West End as assistant sound designer on a new musical due to open in September.”
And Tom’s top live mixing tip? “My philosophy for live mixing has always been the same,” he says. I’m from a theatre background so I tend to mix gigs in the same way. I put myself in the position of an audience member seeing the show for the very first time. With that in mind I’d want the sound to be dynamic and exciting, I’d want it to completely involve me in the show, I’d want to hear every little detail of vocals, solos, etc, I’d not want it to hurt and I’d want to go away without really thinking about it.”
27th June 2006
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