PRODUCTION PROFILE: Hozier
Below: Backline tech and Hozier’s guitar tech Murt Murphy with the arsenal of instruments used throughout the set; Matthew Kilmurry sitting next two the Avolites Sapphire Touch, his work on the tour has earned him a place in this year’s shortlist for TPi’s Lighting Designer of the Year.
able to fix it. My set up has also been great for festivals as I can set up and pack down in no time, which is essential for those type of shows. I think that having a smaller set up might be the way forward as everyone is trying to save money these days. As technology improves it is becoming much easier to have a much smaller footprint on the stage.” Along with the console Dunphy is making use of a Yahaha Rio 3224 and a 1608 along with a Lake card. One of the biggest challenges that Dunphy faced as a monitor engineer for this tour was that he was having to produce a rock ‘n’ roll mix that included seven live singers with 48 inputs and 32 outputs. “The whole show is really vocal driven. Andrew has a background in gospel and choir singing and that is the sound that he always wanted to maintain in his live performance. However it’s quite a challenge to mix that many vocals along with all the instrumentation. I made the decision to move everyone onto in-ears back in 2014 because wedges simply weren’t working. Nobody in the band had used them before and it certainly was a bit nerve racking when we took all the speakers away from the stage. But thankfully it all worked out well.” Dunphy’s in-ear of choice is the Ultimate Ears UE 18’s along with the Shure PSM 1000’s for transmission. All seven band members are on along with two members of
the crew and Dunphy himself. “There is nothing that really compares to UE in-ears on the market and it is what Andrew feels most comfortable with. He can tell when we use something else. Shure have also been incredibly helpful for us over the years.” Also on stage are two d&b audiotechnik Q-Subs for the benefit of Rory Doyle, Hozier’s drummer. As well as making use of the Shure PSM 1000’s, as an endorsee of the company, all vocal microphones used on the tour are also Shure with all the backing band using Beta 58As. For this run the production have also been testing the new Shure KSM8 dynamic microphone for Hozier’s main vocals. “Shure’s artist relations manager approached us to test run the new microphone,” explained Dunphy. “I have never been keen on using a condenser microphone on Andrew’s voice as we have so many vocals on stage and it was already hard enough controlling the ambiance in certain venues and there is always a risky of the mix becoming very washy. However Shure came to me and said their new KSM8 dynamic mic was very similar to a condenser but had very little proximity effect; and they were right! The gain structure was exactly the same for what we had been using and it fit perfectly into my files. As we don’t have production rehearsals to change something as major as the lead vocals is
always risk but it has worked out perfectly. The microphone has a lot more presence in the mix and it sits really well in Andrew’s IEMs.” Completing the on stage team are Murt Murphy and Fred Burke. The two split the job of backline techs with Burke taking care of stage left, which includes drums, bass and keyboards with Murphy taking care of stage right, which includes cello, keys and, most importantly, Hozier. Speaking to Murphy while surrounded by his sizeable arsenal of instruments he talked about his expertise within the Hozier camp. “It certainly is busy. He uses lots of different guitars which he swaps throughout the show. It certainly keeps me from falling asleep.” As well as PHG / Litton Lane offering the majority of the backline gear, the Irish songwriter also has several amp endorsements with both Vox and Fender who supply his live amps. Despite the abundance of in-ears, Hozier’s production have opted out of using wireless packs for his guitars. “There is really no need for it at the moment and it has the advantage of producing a truer signal,” stated Murphy. LIGHTING Illuminating Hozier and the rest of the band has been the job of Matthew Kilmurry for just over two years. After taking a brief break from the tour in 2014, he returned at the latter end of
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