Front-of-house engineer German Tarazona chose Waves’ SuperRack LiveBox for The First Howl World Tour for XG, a Japanese R&B and hip-hop girl-group based in South Korea.
The new SuperRack LiveBox Dante supports up to 128 channels, and features low latency, PSU redundancy, and the reliable industry-standard SuperRack Performer audio plugin host, all in one 2U unit. Each SuperRack LiveBox Dante purchase also comes with the Waves Live bundle, which includes over 50 must-have plugins for live mixing. SuperRack LiveBox gives live sound engineers and creative artists access to their VST3 plugins by diverse brands.
“I have been a Waves user for over 10 years and have witnessed its evolution firsthand. Waves has consistently listened to engineers like us who are constantly on the move using Waves tools during our tours,” Tarazona commented. “This gave me the confidence to add Waves SuperRack LiveBox to my touring rig. While Waves offers excellent plugins that meet our needs, there are other brands, like Valhalla and Plugin Alliance, for example, that also create products that I find very useful. It was time to integrate them all into a single system. This is why the stability I already had on the tour has been enhanced with the LiveBox.”
“I’m using the Dante version of the LiveBox, which provides effective latency compensation. On this tour, vocals are the most important aspect, and I’ve been able to incorporate new tools to make our show sounds better each time,” He continued. “I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to set up the system. Once everything was installed on the Livebox and I configured Dante, it became a simple daily routine of starting my session, and everything is ready to go. Finally, the integration with my DiGiCo Quantum 338 is spectacular. I have over 80 snapshots during the show, and the synchronisation between them is very stable.”
Tarazona’s setup for the XG tour includes a DiGiCo Quantum 338 + SD Rack 56×40 (32bit cards), a Waves DMI-Waves card (for recording) and two Waves SuperRack LiveBox Dante units.
Waves plugins play a vital role in Tarazona’s workflow: “The Waves Abbey Road RS124 Compressor is a must-have for vocals; it provides perfect control, allowing me to keep the voice present with great clarity and intelligibility. The F6 Floating-Band Dynamic EQ manages the critical frequencies in my handhelds and headsets, making it the ideal tool for achieving consistent sound in my lead vocals. Additionally, I use it on my final groups, to control or highlight the frequencies I deem necessary during my shows,” he added.
“When I have seven lead vocals at the edge of the riser in front of the PA, there’s no better ally than the Dugan Speech plugin. It maximizes feedback reduction while the microphones interact. H-Reverb Hybrid Reverb is my go-to reverb for any musical instrument or vocals. The parameters of the reverb are very specific, which allows me to achieve the desired result at all times,” He continued. “The API 2500 acts as the perfect glue for my parallel compression groups. Its emulation is so close to the original that I truly feel like I’m operating the real thing. The API 2500 plugin is my favourite compressor.”
“During my recent world tour with XG, I added the Waves Livebox unit and was pleasantly surprised by its performance. The low latency via Dante was immediately noticeable. My SuperRack file was seamlessly recognized by the SuperRack, allowing me to add all the necessary plugins effortlessly. This upgrade has been a game-changer, providing all the tools I need within a familiar system. Managing seven energetic live vocals in such a dynamic show is challenging. These artists connect deeply with their audience and Waves, with the new SuperRack LiveBox, has been an incredible ally on this tour,” Tarazona concluded.
