John "Bruno" Wayte has been involved - in the sound business for five years. For about half of that period he has worked for the Entec hire company - but the only band he works for on the road is Magazine. He has in the past worked for the Sweet and Snafu - but health problems demand that he restrict himself to one tour a year these days. Magazine - despite Bruno's modest disclaimers - are known to have a pretty good live sound - and the Entec rig they used on their recent tour is similar to the one they used on last year's late summer outing'.

Bruno is of the classic roadie build endomorphic - steatopygious and hirsute and like most roadies he is under no illusions about what life on the road really involves - viz. lots of elbow grease - a reasonable amount of ale quaffing and the odd laugh from time to time. The pop star is permitted to get temperamental and petulant when things don't go right. The roadie - when things don't go right - remains tightlipped and ashen faced until they DO.

I visited Bruno at the Drury Lane theatre where he was strutting and fretting upon the stage prior to taking up his position at the mixing desk. This desk Was located on the lowest of the three balconies a compromise - obviously. Later Bruno would be taking up position at various points in the theatre to assess the changes in acoustics; generally - he reckoned the Drury Lane to have a pretty reason able sound.

"The only real problem" he says"is getting a decent sound upstairs on the higher balconies - but I can always get a reasonable mix from one gig to the next."

"The thing about the desk being here on this balcony is that you tend to feel there's not enough bass - so you have to keep running down to listen to it in the stalls as well. There again. you can never take the mix you're hearing at a sound check too seriously - because as soon as you get a crowd in - the acoustics alter and it Sounds completely different - This is a 2000 seater hall and the bodies absorb certain frequencies. particularly the bass end. so what I do is to use to the sound check as a way of making sure everything's working - and for ironing out the more obvious things Dave Formula (keyboards) - for example - tends to turn himself right up during the gig - and although during the sound check he might sound all right you have to bear in mind that he won't stay at that level."

"Magazine are a very loud band - actually. They like a lot of noise behind them on stage. Sometimes 1 think they play too loud and lose the subtley. There's a lot of things going on that an audience can just lose if the volume gets too high."

The rig is approximately 8K in power - total - the wattage coming from eight (four per side) BGW 750 power amps. The bass bins are four 2x15" Martin/Gauss design per side - with three Martin "Philishave" low mid 2x12" horn loaded cabinets. JBL 2482 diaphragms In three Entecand two Vitavoxdesigned enclosures for high mid - and JBL 2440 diaphragms in Vitavox horns redesigned by Entec for the top.

The crossover is thus fourway - though it can be run three or even five ways when required. Designed by Entec - it has a series of LED strips for checking levels - and fits into an armoured rack along with two 27 band Klark Teknik graphic equalizers (one per side) and a Sony cassette player - which is used simply as a signal source for making sure that everything is working.

Built into the crossover is a tone tester which gives out a tone at each crossover point (i.e. from bass to low mid - low mid to high mid - high mid to high) to eliminate phasing - and also a pink noise generator

Why the BGW amps?

"Well actually I prefer Amcron DC300's" Bruno confessed. "The ones we use at Entec used to belong to the Faces that should tell you how old they are and they still work fine. We've also got sane Midas power amps - which are OK for using with monitors. The spec of the BOW's is excellent - but unfortunately you can't always go by spec readouts. There's a world of difference between the performance of an amp while it's lying on a laboratory bench and Its performance after it's been thrown out of a.truck a few times. The Amcrons will stand up to that sort of treatment they'll go on working."

"Thats all I ask -. actually something that bloody works when you switch it on. The BOW's have a habit of cutting out halfway through a tour. Two of these have conked out in the last two weeks."

"The way I test an amp is to pick it up and drop it about three inches. If it's still working then it'll probably go on working."

The desk used for the Magazine outing is a tried.and trusted 32 in - 8 out model Midas manufactured about three years ago.

"This particular desk was in bad shape when we got it" Bruno recalls. "It got involved in a bad crash while Ian Gillan had it - but now it's as good as new - or nearly Entec have got three of this type - and I would say that Midas are the best on the market without a doubt. This one is pretty big and hefty to carry about but then It Is a 32/8 desk. It had a pint of beer spilled into it when At was with Wishbone Ash still works! I've never known a Midas go down - and that's the criterion for the gear I use. It's also got everything on it you could ask for."

The echo is obtained from a Revox tape machine with Varispeed - with which it is also possible to get a pretty reasonable ADT (Automatic Double Tracking). Bruno finds it easy to use and reliable. The MXR DDL is with Magazine - used only on the snare drum the phaser/ flanger consists of four vertically mounted "cards" two phase and two flange modules.

"They're very reliable as well. I know I keep on about it - but - reliability is what you need on the road. You can't have things in a glass case."

By this stage all was in readiness for the sound check proper to commence. The band' mooched around on stage waiting for Bruno's yelled instructions from behind the mixer: in between yells - and twiddles with the controls. Bruno muttered various asides which I in turn jotted down in my trusty reporter's notebook.

"There are two DI boxes - on keyboards and bass. They were made by a bloke called Stephen King who works for a small company called Orass Audio. The bass - as I say - comes straight off Barry's Ampeg stack and for the keyboards we only mike the Leslie. We use a Shure SM57 on top and a 58 on the bottom."

Dave Formula has an ARP synth. Yamaha organ - Yamaha string machine and Yamaha's electric piano - all of which run through his own onstage MM 12/2 mixer.

The guitar goes through a Marshall combo miked with a Shure 5M57. The drums require a little more attention. Bruno uses what he freely admits to be. a "strange selection" of microphones - but he prides himself on getting a very hard - up front drum mix.

"The drum sound I aim for is one I heard a while ago on a live Jeff Beck album. I can't even remember the title of it now it might not have been released in this country. But the drums were mixed very loud and very dry. That's the best way of making sure that the overall sound isn't mushy. I mean. the drums are the basis of all rock music that's what you're tapping your foot to - or banging your head - as the case may be."

For the bass drum he uses an AKG D12 - and a Shure SM57 for the snare. There are three Beyer 201's - one on the hihat and two as overheads. The toms each have an AKG 190E.

"The 190's are scorned by some people - but I've never really known why - unless it's just the fact that they're about the cheapest AKG make. They've got a good flat response and they cut out a lot of the bass.rumble. 'But the main point about them - as with everything - is that they can be dropped from a great height without getting damaged!".

All the instrument miked having been tested - it was time to get a rough overall mix while the band played a couple of numbers. Bruno asked them to keep going through the same two numbers so that he could hear them from various points all over the theatre. As preliminary twiddling went on he told me about the vocal mikes.

"For backing vocals we've got a couple of SM57's. I prefer them to 58's because they're better at cutting down background noise. You have to watch out for Barry's voice - though - because it's completely different from his speaking voice. You can't - test his mike just by getting him to speak into it."

"Howard (Devoto) uses an ElectroVoice DS35. It's a good mike - suits his voice. and it's good on monitors."

Ah yes - let us not forget those monitors - without which no one can hear a dicky bird of what anyone else is playing. Most punters. quite naturally - don't realize the importance of monitors on stage and get restless when - during a gig - the band appear to be getting apoplectic about them not working. A separate monitor mix is set up using a Midas 16/2 desk at the side of the stage; there are six mixes; each member of the band - plus the monitor engineer - get the mix they want. The overall output goes via another Klark Teknik graphic.

Howard Devoto has a pair. of Tychobrae wedges (bought from the Faces) each consisting of two JBL K120's and a JBL 2470 diaphragm on the horn. Keyboards and drums have two Entec converted Tychobrae full range cabs - including a passive crossover driving two Gauss 5840's and a 2482 horn. John McGeoch (guitar) and Barry Adamson (bass) each have a Martin LE200 wedge. with a 15in Gauss driver and a JBL 2470 diaphragm on a "pepperpot" horn. The stereo side fills consist of JBL 4560 bins (two per side) used on the bass and mid frequencies. plus a Gauss 4000 on a slant plate run by a Pro Audio 3 way crossover.

How about support 'bands? After all - they have to be mixed as well - but there's no way they will get as careful a check as the headliner. In this case. Simple Minds had proved very understanding and cooperative.

"They've been very good' Bruno said"I've done sound for a lot of bad support bands - but the Simple Minds roadies have got the gear on and off quick - and the band haven't complained or demanded the impossible. That comes as a great relief when you've got enough problems with the main hand. Not' he added hastily - that Magazine are troublesome

I left him to it.

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