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Rehearse & Record on the Road

Black Tide gets hooked up with a custom rig from JBL, Soundcraft, AKG, dbx, Crown, Lexicon and Digitech

The dilemma is the same for every touring band: How do you rehearse, write and record new material for the next record, while you’re out supporting your current album?

The solution became very clear for teenage metal wunderkinds Black Tide on March 21st, 10:30pm at Guitar Center Seattle, after a packed show at a local venue. That’s when the band first plugged into their new custom touring rehearsal/recording rig, hand-selected by Harman International U.S. Sales Director John Larabee and producer Johnny K. (Staind, Three Doors Down, Disturbed, Finger Eleven). The dream rig is comprised of choice gear from JBL, Soundcraft, AKG, dbx, Crown, Lexicon and Digitech.

Black Tide, made up of guitarist/vocalist Gabriel Garcia, guitarist Alex Nuñez, bassist Zachary Sandler and drummer/keyboardist Steven Spence, has rocked Ozzfest, toured with Avenged Sevenfold, and is currently touring in support of their new album, Light from Above, produced by Johnny K.

"They’ll be touring probably for the next couple of years to support this album," Johnny K. says, "and during that time, they’ll have to prepare their next one – rehearse, write songs, record demos, all the things that bands need to do."

The challenge is: how do you stay creative while you’re on the road? Many new bands face the dreaded "sophomore slump" when it’s time to make their second album. "Bands think they can write one song a month while touring, but I’ve seen big acts get home after 18 months and not have any songs," warns Johnny K., "It’s wise for any band to be able to capture song ideas while on the road. The trick is to do that in a way that meshes with rocking out nightly on tour, which is a whole different mindset than being methodical in the studio."

Since Black Tide worked out their great songs in a garage, the best way to document song ideas is to imitate those conditions using portable gear – a rehearsal rig with "live feel" plus recording capability. Of course, the audio quality would need to smoke any garage PA, and be free of gremlins like muddy sound and feedback, so that nothing ebbs the band’s creative flow.

Live monitoring can be a Zen balancing act. As Johnny K. notes, "everyone always wants to hear themselves louder." As much as Black Tide loves it loud, Alex Nuñez admits, "The biggest thing I’ve learned is to not let your stage volume get too high." In heavy rock, good vocal mics go a long way towards getting enough clarity so that singers don’t get drowned-out by guitar and bass amps.

"We gave them four new AKG D 5 dynamic mics," explains Larabee, "The D 5 has what we call a Laminate Varimotion capsule. Basically, it lets you get a lot more clean gain before feedback." This technology is also in the D 40 instrument mic, which is great for toms or mic’ing up amps. A D 112 kick mic and three Perception 170 condensers for overheads and snare/hi-hat complete the set, allowing for full drum recording during rehearsals. Johnny K. praised the D 112: "You get really great attack on the kick for metal." Steven simply joked in his best caveman voice, "Like drum mics! Make me louder!"

It’s no joke, though, that drummers often need a different monitor mix than their bandmates in order to really feel the groove. This made the Soundcraft MFX 20 an ideal mixer, as its two aux sends can each be set pre-fader for monitor mixes or post-fader for effects. A third send feeds the MFX’s onboard 24-bit Lexicon effects. For rehearsing and not playing to a crowd, the main faders can set up a third monitor mix.

"To create an environment similar to what the guys are used to onstage, we went with four JBL MRX512M floor wedges," says John Larabee, "These handle a lot of volume, and we powered them with a pair of Crown XLS 802 amps." Crown amps are known for their generous power and ruggedness, as Johnny K. relates: "I’ve got a couple of old Crown amps – a MacroTech 600 and 1200 – that I bought at Guitar Center Chicago, oh, I’m not even gonna say how long ago! They’ve been used and abused, in every rehearsal room I’ve had, been hauled everywhere, and they’ve never let me down." A pair of JBL EON15G2 15" powered speakers, driven from the Soundcraft mixer’s main outs, can be used as rehearsal room mains, or pointed toward the crowd at private gigs.

A DriveRack PX from dbx sits between the mixer and power amps. "It works on two levels," explains Larabee, "It actively filters out feedback, but also helps prevent it from happening in the first place. You plug a mic into the DriveRack, run a signal through your system, and a ‘Wizard’ figures out exactly what the EQ and compression settings need to be. If you start out with a speaker you know sounds good, it now sounds brilliant, because it’s tuned to the room."

Rounding out the live PA are three AKG WMS 450 Guitar Set transmitters to give Gabriel, Alex, and Zachary the mobility they need to work the crowd at gigs, the option of in-ear monitors thanks to an AKG IEM-4 wireless system, and a dbx 1046 four-channel compressor the band can use to tame peaks and get punchy drum sounds.

After Black Tide played several songs through the system, band founder Gabriel gave it high marks: "The PA was awesome, much better than what we’re used to. At really good venues, we’re occasionally lucky enough to get monitors this good. Now, we can bring these into any venue if we need to."

Steven added, "If we have to find a rehearsal hall, we won’t worry about what gear it has. We can just find a room and set up… or play in the middle of the street!"

"If we can grab an idea as it happens, then go back to it when we have more time, that’d be amazing," says Gabriel. Obviously, it’s best if bandmates can do this separately as well as together, so Harman took a two-fisted approach. The Lexicon Omega, a USB audio interface bundled with Steinberg Cubase LE recording software, lets the band take a stereo feed (or up to four channels if they want), from the mixer into a computer during rehearsals. Individually, two Digitech RP500 pedals (which also come with Cubase LE) and one RP350 do double-duty: They give Gabriel, Alex, and Zach killer effects and amp modeling, plus they’re USB recording interfaces. Johnny K. explained how this will come in handy: "The Digitech USB pedals are cool because you can record into your laptop right from a guitar pedal. Even when you can’t set up a PA and play together, each of you can do what you’d do for fun anyway; plug into a pedal, then into your amp, and jam. If you have a good riff, the Digitech pedals will get it in the computer with all the effects, then later you can show it to the guys, work out a drum part with Steven, and so on."

Gabriel sees a creative use for the new effects gear, which also includes a Lexicon MX200, Digitech VL4 vocal harmonizer, and Digitech BP80 bass pedal. "We used a lot of effects in the studio. The song "Give Me a Chance" starts with a weird little phaser on the guitar, for example. Having this gear around may give us a better idea of what we’re gonna do in the studio next time. We can do more pre-production on the road now."

Johnny K. thinks that’s a great idea, and offers these words of advice as Black Tide prepares to roll south to California: "Now that you have these tools, use them constantly, and record everything. I’ve walked in on rehearsals and asked ‘What was that song? It was great!’ The band goes, ‘What song? We’re just jamming.’ All too often, a band doesn’t realize they’ve stumbled onto something that’s simply awesome."

Ultimately, the band finds it poetic that Guitar Center is who hooked them up with Harman and their new rehearsal-meets-recording system. Why? Because they spent a lot of time there before they had any notoriety or money to buy gear.

"Zach and I used to just hang out in Guitar Center for, like, six hours at a time," recalls Alex.

Zach chimes in, "I’d call him up after school and be like, ‘Wanna go to GC?’ It was our equivalent of hanging out at the mall."

"We wouldn’t even see each other after we walked in the door," laughs Alex, "It was like, ‘See ya!’ because we’d be just playing."

Maybe it’s the good memories, but neither meticulous studio recording nor marathon touring has dampened the band’s enthusiasm for a good hang at Guitar Center. "We even did it while we were making the record," notes Zach, "Whenever Johnny came with us, he’d always leave with a new guitar!"

Steven sums up, "To this day, when we pull into a town for a show, I’ll punch up the GPS and see if there’s a Guitar Center within walking distance. I can go into the drum department and probably hear some sick drummer and learn something. It’s still like being a kid in a candy shop for me!"

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