FoH sound engineer Curtis McKenna has been working with Tate McRae since 2022, standing by her side from her club shows to her current arena tour, Miss Possessive, across South America, Europe, and North America.
Throughout this time, Curtis McKenna has worked with a wide range of sound systems and developed a clear preference for the one he believes best suits this artist’s needs: the SL-Series from d&b audiotechnik.
The controlled directivity of d&b’s SL-Series makes it the ideal solution for the challenges posed by the live sound on Tate McRae’s current tour.
Every time we use d&b—whether it’s KSL, GSL, or even the J-Series—Tate’s voice always sits really well in the mix. Thanks to the cardioid system, I could mix a bit louder without sound spilling back onto the stage. Tate feels more comfortable and always enjoys the show more, explains McKenna.
The tour’s audio rental company was UK-based 22live. Though a relatively new name, it boasts Paul Timmins (formerly of Capital Sound), Spencer Beard, Alex Penn, Stefan Phillips, and Simon Gladstone (all from the former SSE Audio), bringing together many years of experience.
From the start, it was clear that the staging would be anything but conventional. The design, provided by McRae’s production manager AJ Sutherland, featured a main stage with a central catwalk extending into the audience, ending in a T-shaped stage, as well as a B-stage with a scissor lift at the opposite end of the arena, behind the FoH mixing position.
“Like most singers, Tate doesn’t like performing directly in front of the PA system”, explains McKenna. Therefore, the challenge faced by Simon Gladstone, 22live’s technical director, was to define a system that kept sound out of the performance zones—especially the powered T-stage—while still ensuring the audience around it could hear clearly. Precise directivity control was key, and that’s where the d&b SL-Series proved its worth.
The main PA system uses eight rigging points with d&b’s SL-Series. GSL arrays on each side of the structure are supported by flown SL-SUBs and complemented by KSL side clusters and XSL rigging points at 270˚. In the KSL arrays, several 80-degree KSL8 units were used instead of the typical 120-degree KSL12s to provide tighter control over sound spill in the extended catwalk area.
All of this was processed with ArrayProcessing. The predictability of the main sound system and its cardioid behavior are key, because we can see exactly where it will impact the catwalk area. There are people standing on the sides of the catwalk with a PA cluster behind them, so controlled directivity really helps, explains Gladstone.
While avoiding direct SPL pressure on the main stage and catwalk, the GSL clusters aimed at the B-stage created other challenges. These were solved by system technician Joseph Pearce using d&b’s R1 Remote Control software to mute individual boxes as needed while Tate McRae rose up on the scissor lift at the B-stage.
To ensure a full audio experience for the audience surrounding the stage and extended catwalk, d&b E8 fills were placed along each side, with Y10P point sources positioned along the top of the “T”. Additional flown Y10Ps completed coverage for areas adjacent to the extended runway.
An interesting note on McKenna’s challenge as the person responsible for the mix is the extraordinary influence of social media. Since people in the audience record every show on their phones and the footage quickly goes viral online, McKenna must ensure the sound reproduces as clearly as possible.
Obviously, I make sure the sound in the arenas is top-notch, but I also want all those phones out there to capture Tate’s vocals exactly how she and I want them to be heard, he says.
With a typically loud crowd, that can be another challenge. McKenna has found that a touch of outward saturation on the vocal channel works really well to bring it forward, while the clarity and dynamic range inherent to the SL-Series provide the right tone to meet the demands of the 21st century.
