Skunk Anansie tour audio provided by Entec

Entec renewed its long relationship with FOH engineer Paul Ramsay and Skunk Anansie for the band’s ‘Black Traffic’ tour of the UK and Europe, which concluded last month.

A d&b Audiotechnik system was specified – similar to the band’s very first production tour back in 1996, but with several major system and technical advancements. This time the d&b set-up was a J-Series line array, which was looked after on the road by Entec’s James Kerridge and Richard Gibson.

The venues varied between 1,200 and 12,000 capacities, so the key was having a system that was fully – and easily – adaptable and straightforward to fly.

In its largest format, the PA comprised eight d&b J8 speakers a side with four J12 downs, along with eight V8s left and right for the side hangs. A great deal of bass is required for Skunk Anansie’s live shows, so eight B2s a side were deployed for the larger events – arranged in a distributed bass array when the venue allowed it – along with four J-Infra subs. On stage, there were four Q10s and four Q1s along the stage for in and out fills. The whole system was powered by d&b D12 amps.

Ramsay specified a Midas XL4 console for the tour, despite using a Digico SD7 for festivals during the summer and he also used a variety of outboard gear, including a TC Electronic 2290 delay and M6000 reverb, Eventide H3000 harmoniser, Lexicon PCM 91, two Yamaha SPX 990s, two Avalon VT 737 valve compressors, two BSS DPR 901s, a dbx 1066 and two dbx RM160s, six Drawmer DS201 gates and a Midas XL42 mic preamp, together with two Summit DCL200s valve compressors and two XTA D2s dual dynamic compressors.

Monitors were looked after by Richard Gibson and mixed by the band’s engineer, Gerry Colclough, using a Midas Pro 9.

The side fills were two stacks of d&b C7, and two C7 subs were provided for drummer Mark Richardson, with the band all on their own Shure PSM900 IEM system. They also carry most of their own mics – primarily Shure, but with a few others, including Royers.

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