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FOH sound engineer Dani Munoz’s setup, which employs the eMotion LV1 Live Mixer and Waves plugins

FOH sound engineer Dani Munoz

 


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FOH Engineer Dani Munoz Chooses Waves eMotion LV1 Live Mixer for Lykke Li Tour

KNOXVILLE, TN, September 10, 2019 — FOH sound engineer Dani Munoz (Kali Uchis, Ricardo Arjona, Chromeo) chooses tools from Waves Audio, including the eMotion LV1 Live Mixer and Waves plugins, for the Swedish singer/songwriter Lykke Li’s So Sad So Sexy 2019 tour.

Front-of-house engineer Dani Munoz embarked on his first tour using the eMotion LV1 live mixer with the Canadian reggae fusion band Magic!. Since then, he’s been using it steadily around the world and back. This time around, he’s taking the LV1 out with Swedish singer/songwriter Lykke Li. Munoz remarks, “I first took it out in 2015 during the Don’t Kill the Magic! world tour. Back then it was a dual touch-screen setup with a Mac mini, a SoundGrid Extreme server and four DiGiGrid IOX SoundGrid interfaces for I/O. That took about four road cases, but since then I’ve been on a mission to make my rig as compact as possible without compromising on sound quality, but instead, improving it. The fact that Waves added features to the LV1 like custom layers, allowed me to rethink my layout to the point where these days I’m rocking a single touchscreen, making space in my rig for other toys.”

He continues, “Currently, I travel with only two Pelican Air Cases with Circle Three designs for my flyout racks. Inside I’ve got an Axis One compact computer, a SoundGrid Server One-C, a DiGiGrid IOX, a DiGiGrid MGB coaxial MADI-to-SoundGrid interface, a couple of outboard FX units, and a single touchscreen monitor. Setups have been a breeze. I literally walk in, ask for a 4-foot road case; my entire setup is assembled, and I’m ready for PA lines in 10 minutes. We’re flying into most of these festivals and a lot of times we don’t get a soundcheck. So virtual soundchecks with the Waves Tracks Live recording software have become the norm these days.”

“I love mixing an artist with such a unique voice,” Munoz says, “making her vocals sit in the mix the RIGHT way is pretty much what this gig is about for me. The main goal is to bring the audience as close as possible to her while keeping everything very stylish and faithful to the concept of her music. I care about every single person in the audience being able to understand what she’s singing and saying; even all the way to the back of the venue, and that’s one of the biggest reasons why I use the plugins.”

He explains, “Her vocal chain runs like this: the F6 Dynamic EQ for the real-time analyzer, low-pass and high-pass filters, and some initial EQ to clean up the proximity effect etc. Right after that I have the Primary Source Expander, which I engage and disengage to minimize mic bleed on songs like ‘Little Bit,’ where she sings extra quiet. That goes into a CLA-76 ‘Bluey’ because, after years of using it, it’s still my favorite vocal compressor. It does ballsy compression, and it’s been my friend when it comes to bringing her vocals up close and keeping her wide dynamic range in check. The chain then goes into Sibilance, my favorite de-esser at the moment. Then I use the H-EQ for some final tone adjustments, and finally, Vitamin gives the final shine and excitement that keep her vocals still sounding lively.”

Munoz continues, “On her albums, Lykke is known to have a very lush sound with reverbs and time-based effects sort of ‘dancing’ around her phrasing, and I try to replicate that as closely as possible without pushing her too far away in the mix. For some of these effects, I’m IN LOVE with everything Abbey Road: the Waves Abbey Road TG Mastering Chain, the Chambers and the Reverb Plates are my favorites right now. Luckily, eMotion LV1 has a very powerful and intuitive scene workflow, so I can rely on it to make these effects change style from song to song at the push of a button. Other effect plugins I’ve used on her vocals are a long hall preset in the Waves IR-Live Convolution Reverb, and a very lo-fi 300 ms Waves H-Delay plugin-setting for the big spacious sounds. I used another instance of H-Delay with a clearer and more pronounced feedback sound for all the tap delay cues. Then there’s the amazing Waves Doubler, which I used at 4 voices and in parallel: the Dave Pensado preset for vocals worked out perfect for me.“

“Fans show up to concerts to hear their favorite artists,” Munoz says, “so it’s always the goal to maintain enough familiarity but with the excitement and dynamics of a live concert. My approach to achieving this is partly forensic, and partly comes from studying Lykke’s music and her own notes and feedback. I had a few conversations with her during our production rehearsals about my approach to vocal effects. She’s very involved in these decisions. She came to FOH often to listen to my recordings and make sure that I stayed true to her vision, while giving me the freedom to add my own flavor to it. Having such clear objectives made my job really easy. The biggest reward for me was that after one of these listening sessions she said, ‘I don’t think it’s ever sounded better than this.’ That made my day!”

“In addition, I'm using the F6 Dynamic EQ throughout the band channels, and a variety of other Waves plugins for processing. On drums I have Cobalt Saphira and API 2500; the bass guitar has the dbx 160 compressor; on keyboards, I use the Renaissance Compressor, Kramer PIE Compressor, and Center, and for background vocals I love the CLA-2A.”

Munoz adds, “I have to give a big shout-out to Lykke’s amazing band: Lars Skoglund (musical direction/drums), Anders Stenberg (guitars/bass), Mikael Sundin (keyboards/guitars), and Rosemary Longdon-Hughes (background vocals). They’re such great instrumentalists and so in touch with their parts, the music and the artist that they don’t get in the way of Lykke’s vocals but instead enhance her performance. I felt really lucky to work with such nice and professional people. They’ve been her band for about a decade now and the quality of the sounds that come off that stage really allows me to focus on the movement and tonal quality of the mix.”

Munoz sums it up: “I want to say I’ve been extremely proud to see the LV1 on many major festivals in the past couple of years. I love to see how engineers who use the platform do it with such passion for the craft. I’ve seen many skeptics who are deceived by the small form factor change their opinion once they hear it for themselves; it’s truly a great-sounding console. I love the contrast of walking in with just a couple of Pelicans and then rocking world-class festival stages like Coachella and Hyde Park!”


...ends 1133 words


Photo file 1: Munoz_setup.JPG
Photo caption 1: FOH sound engineer Dani Munoz’s setup, which employs the eMotion LV1 Live Mixer and Waves plugins

Photo file 2: Munoz.JPG
Photo caption 2: FOH sound engineer Dani Munoz

About Waves Audio Ltd.:
Waves is the world’s leading developer of audio DSP solutions for the professional, broadcast, and consumer electronics audio markets. Since its start in the early '90s with the introduction of the Q10 equalizer plugin, Waves has gone on to develop a comprehensive line of over 150 audio plugins, including industry standards like the L1 and L2 Ultramaximizers, popular vintage console models, and innovative mixing tools like Vocal Rider and the Artist Signature Series. For its accomplishments, Waves received a Technical GRAMMY® Award in 2011, and the Q10 was selected as an inductee into the TECnology Hall of Fame. In 2016, Waves released the eMotion LV1 mixer, a revolutionary live digital mixing console that provides real-time audio mixing for front-of-house, monitor, studio and broadcast engineers. Waves technologies are now used to improve sound quality in virtually every sector of the audio market, from recording, mixing, mastering and post-production to broadcast, live sound, and consumer electronics. Waves has over 25 years of expertise in the development of psychoacoustic signal processing algorithms that leverage knowledge of human auditory perception to radically improve perceived sound quality. Waves’ award-winning processors are utilized to improve sound quality in the creation of hit records, major motion pictures, and top-selling video games worldwide. Waves offers computer software and hardware-plus-software solutions for the professional and broadcast markets. The company’s WavesLive division is a market leader in all live sound sectors, spearheading the development of solutions for all live platforms. Under its Maxx brand, Waves offers semiconductor and licensable algorithms for consumer electronics applications. Waves technologies dramatically enhance audio performance and are used by industry leaders such as Dell, Google, Fitbit, Acer, Asus, Hisense and more.


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