The Swedish indie folk band delve into pop mixes with a touring audio package from Britannia Row Productions.
Production Manager Gareth Russell is marking 10 years of touring campaigns with First Aid Kit, aka Swedish musical duo, sisters Johanna and Klara Söderberg. “Everyone’s hard work is appreciated by this artist, which is fantastic,” he began. “The quality of crew that we have on this tour is in demand, so it’s testament to the artist that our people continue to make themselves available. Everybody really wants to be here.”
He continued: “The kind of personnel available to us from Brit Row, such as our tech, Mario Bianchi, well those details are critical to me. They give us the right personality, the right fit for our tour, and enable us to have Mario on a consistent basis, which really helps. He understands the band, he understands the needs of our engineers, and he’s extremely detailed in terms of his cable management. It’s all these little things that make the difference when you’re touring.”
“We need to have the right tools, the right outboard, the right package to enable our sound engineers to perform at their best. I cannot fault Brit Row’s equipment or packaging, it’s superb, and our client handler, Jonathan Dunlop, looks after us very well. We’re a year into working together, and I feel very supported by him,” Russell commented. “We realise we’re not the biggest client they’ll ever have, but we’re also treated as a priority. I really do feel very supported by them, which gives me confidence as a PM that I can turn up daily and know that my artists are getting a consistent product and a consistent technical service.”
Andy Williamson, FOH Mixer, added:“They wanted the live sound to be bigger yet poppier with punchier drums. They’re a proper band though, not a pop band with a 60-channel track and pop attitude; their sound is steeped in old Americana with refreshing musicianship. They wanted to keep that pop sweetness on top, so it’s been fun trying to balance that.”
Williamson operated a DiGiCo SD12-96 Control Surface with a DiGiCo SD-Rack and a DiGiCo SD-Mini Rack. For outboard, he opted for some key products including a Waves SoundGrid EXTREME Server-C, a Bricasti Design M7 Reverb, Rupert Neve Portico 5045 Primary Source Enhancer, 2 Neve 5035 Shelford Channels, 2 Tube-Tech CL 1B Tube Compressors and a Smart Research C2 Stereo Comp.
He furthered: “I use DiGiCo because it’s so reliable. I have some plug-ins, but ultimately, it’s all about what’s coming down the microphones. I’ve got two nice vocal chains which are identical; each vocal goes into the Neve 5045 Primary Source Enhancer then into the Shelford Channel for EQ, levelling compression, finishing with the silk channel – which is fantastic saturation – and finally into a C1 B Compressor. I also run Waves for the rest of the band, so there’s quite a lot going on, but we do try to keep it as minimal as possible.”
Williamson noted that “it’s all about the packaging” when it comes to what sets Brit Row apart. “When companies buy equipment, that’s the easy bit, but it’s how you bring it together and who you put it out with that Brit Row excels at. There’s a lot of thought that goes into how they build things, my racks, and my preferences. They keep us looped in on every level, from the start of the build to the end. It’s a very respectful way of working.”
Monitor Engineer, Nahuel Gutierrez agreed: “They have always been the best at delivering the details that make their clients happy. Amazing engineers have come from the other side of the world just to get a start at Brit Row, loading, painting, or sanding boxes in the warehouse. Brit Row is like a unicorn in the industry, it can’t go unnoticed! And if you really want this career, they’ll see that, and they’ll give you the opportunity to progress.”
“My overall ethos on mixing monitors is to keep it as simple as possible. If I can have a desk like the SSL, which is my console of choice as it has everything I need in it, I’m happy to not complicate it with plug-ins or servers outside of the actual desk,” Gutierrez added.
Gutierrez has an SSL Live L550 Control Surface and an SSL ML 32.32 analogue stagebox with split O/Ps. For IEMs, it’s 12-ways of Shure PSM1000’s on Shure Axient.
Production Manager Gareth Russell concluded: “With a production like First Aid Kit’s, you’re going to invest in the audio. Brit Row provides a service that is exceptional, it’s world-leading and it is consistent. They have contacts throughout the world which makes my life a lot easier, and I know that we have the support of Clair Global behind us. As a small, detail-oriented and international touring production, we need that.”
