Continuing to trust Britannia Row Productions, Orange County punks The Offspring play worldwide summer dates including a 30th anniversary concert in celebration of iconic album, SMASH.
Performing at a spate of festivals around the globe, including Download, Hell Fest and Bottle Rock, The Offspring show no signs of slowing down, and Britannia Row Productions continues to provide audio rental services – from bespoke control packages to full audio reinforcement.
The band’s stage energy was captured perfectly at the 30th anniversary show in Anaheim, CA, where an L-Acoustics K1/K2 system was deployed at the Honda Center. The concert was mixed by FOH Engineer Greg Bess utilising a CADAC J-Type analogue console and a CADAC CDC Four compact digital mixer, while Monitor Engineer Jesse Cantrell chose an SSL 550 Plus to handle the band’s ever-growing monitoring needs.
“Anaheim was very special,” begins Jesse. “I've listened to this band since I was a kid, and probably played some of these songs in my own bands in high school, so to get to be there when SMASH turned 30 was an experience I can honestly say I never thought I'd be a part of! I feel so lucky to have been there!”
Not afraid to mix things up, The Offspring’s engineers are no strangers to jumping between riders.
“One of my favourite parts of the gig is getting to work on the mighty Midas Heritage 3000,”says Jesse. “But this year, we swapped it out on some shows for an SSL L550. Their show is growing, Dexter [Holland, frontman] and the band have some cool ideas to take this show to a new level and we needed more flexibility at monitor world to allow that to happen.”
The band– completed by lead guitarist Kevin ‘Noodles’ Wasserman, drummer Brandon Pertz born, multi-instrumentalist Jonah Nimoy and bassist Todd Morse - have retained loyal fans for over three decades now, and are promoting new album Supercharged.
Moving between analogue and digital as needed, Britannia Row has provided every rider request as looked after by Account Executive Ed Shackleton
Jesse continues: “Brit Row and Clair Global have been amazing to work with. With so many locations around the world we can always be sure to get what we need. And the service is unbelievable…. No matter what time zone we're in, someone always answers our calls. Ed has been delightful to work with and is always trying to make things both easier and better for us.”
Jesse, who is supported by Monitor Tech Emily Adams, credits her expertise with helping to enable a stress-free show: “With Emily onstage I can trust that everything is patched and mic’d up correctly. She takes care of everything so I can focus on mixing.”
He chose the SSL for his digital desk as it sounds “as close to analogue as it can get.”
He furthers: “I've mixed on almost every console out there and for what this band is used to hearing, it was the right choice.”
Jesse also implements a Rupert Neve Shelford Channel for Dexter’s vocal, in line with the analogue rig. “I wanted to make sure the change wasn't too abrupt for him, and the swap went flawlessly!”
For all wireless needs, Jesse, who is managing 15 mixes, opts for Shure PSM1000’s, and Shure Axient: “Shure is always reliable and so easy to manage with Wireless Workbench, and the sound quality is top notch.
“On top of everyone using Ultimate Ears IEMs, we use d&b audiotechnik M2wedges and 2 x L-Acoustics A15 over one KS28 sub for side fills. Everyone except Dexter has a stereo band mix in their ears with themselves on top as standard. Dexter only wears one ear and has his vocal and guitar through it. His wedge is mostly his vocal and some guitar, while the rest of the wedges are vocals and drums. The side fill mixes are mostly drums, bass and vocals and they are loud!”
Out front is long-serving FOH Engineer Greg Bess, who reflects on the system design at the Anaheim show: “We did slight modifications from our standard K1 over K2 configuration. We carefully matched the angles of the hangs to keep phase alignment as close as possible. For side coverage we had K1SB over K2 and kept our two centre hangs of KARA to fill the elusive centre coverage, which can be missed by stacked front fills.
“For ground subs we used KS28, one high across the entire width of the stage in a sub-arc set-up. This prevents annihilating the first few rows of the audience with inordinate amounts of low end. Overall, our coverage and punch were fantastic!”
Complementing the CADAC hub, Greg has outboard units including a Lexicon 960L, Gentner Audio Prism, Universal Audio Little Labs IBP, SPL Stereo Vitalizer Mk2-T 9739, and a Valley People PR-10 Rack with Kepex II to name but a few.
A new addition to his FOH camp this year is Audio Tech Jess Loma who was enlisted to be Greg’s ‘extra ears’, checking coverage and balance in every venue.
“When I first joined this team, I was very excited to see that they were using analogue desks at both FOH and monitors. It's a very energetic show and I think Greg does a great job at making it sound so clear and dynamic. He's got so much knowledge and experience; I feel very privileged to get to work with him!” begins Jess.
“We’ve been playing a lot of festivals and old amphitheatres around Europe and South America this year, where we’re often notable to do a full sound check. I’ve started to work on the multitracking/streaming feeds, which allows Greg to focus on getting his mix levels for the show while I get the levels for any streams and multitracking,” she explains.
“For outboard feeds, we work on the same desk and so at the same time during soundcheck, we need to make sure that we tell each other if any adjustments are needed that could affect each other's feed.”
For the festival control package, Greg has an ATI Paragon II P2P desk modified with a reduced frame size, and custom-built API group/matrix outputs.
Jess continues: “The channel direct outputs are fed to 2-24 channel BBR1-B recorders for tracking as well as a Sennheiser AMBEO VR mic for audience pickup through a Black Lion Auteur Quad Mic pre.
“For streaming and media feeds we use multiple matrix mixes to change the balance of the signal to suit the difference between the main mix and a more appropriate balance sent to two track feeds. Additionally, we have another mix sent to a Tascam Portacapture X8 for quick transfer to social media shots.”
Having worked with the Britannia Row team consistently this year - The Offspring hit North America, Europe and South Africa in the coming months - Jess notes the vendor service has been on point: “Britannia Row are great; their gear is always impeccable, and the communication is so quick and easy!”
