The Joy Formidable follow Glastonbury with intimate Rough Trade performance

Following a hugely successful performance at this year’s Glastonbury festival, The Joy Formidable headed to East London’s Rough Trade record store for a rather contrasting intimate performance last night.

Having just performed on the festival’s Other Stage, and with a host of other major festival appearances to their name, Neak Menter, the band’s live sound engineer, is clearly aware of the limitations that come with mixing sound at a festival, as opposed the opportunities to create a more distinct sound that comes with preparing for the band’s own shows. This is something that Menter regularly likes to do.

“I do this thing with the snare drum, where I take a copy of the snare top channel and flip the phase so it’s a complete cancellation. I then compress it, so it has a very fast attack and release, and then high-pass filter it, creating an expansion that only effects the top end,” Menter explained. “So, when the snare’s struck the top end is nice and clear, as is the bottom end, and the under-snare is still ungated. I’m really into taking live sound forward in this sense.”

A full feature with Neak Menter will appear on the website later this month.