Nicholson recently took up the FOH engineer's role after coming highly recommended. He says, "They are a great band to work for; totally into their music, very knowledgeable and informed about the technology and what it can do, and all have brilliant personalities."
The UK touring system was L-Acoustics V-DOSC, chosen because it "sounds great" confirms Nicholson, and also because of its flexibility when it came to dealing with the variety of venues, ranging from student unions to London's Hammersmith Apollo. For the majority of shows, the PA had to be ground stacked, which entailed a bit of daily on-the-spot improvisation by the experienced Adlib crew of James Neale and Marc Peers, but was a good exercise and a chance for the system to show its true versatility, says the company.
The main hangs in its largest configuration were 10 V-DOSC boxes with three dV-downs a side, plus six ground stacked subs a side and 4 ARCS front fills.
Nicholson's FOH console of choice is currently the DigiDesign Profile. They ran a ProTools HDX system with this, multi-tracking each show so it could be played back through the console the next day, to tweak the system with the band playing 'virtually' live. It also offered the band an opportunity to listen to their previous show realistically through the PA.
A standard Adlib system control rack contained two Dolby Lakes for all the processing and EQ, and everything was powered via LA8 amps. Systems tech James Neale would fine tune the set up in each venue using SMAART software.
Monitors are mixed by Paul Moore who is now using a Soundcraft Vi6 console. He first encountered the desk at a show at Koko, London, where it was the house desk and an instant hit with both him and the band. Thereafter, Adlib dispatched one to band rehearsals before the tour, and they soon decided decided it should become their regular desk.
The band all use Sennheiser G3 IEM. For some onstage air movement and atmospherics, two ARCS and an SB28 sub a side were positioned upstage, plus a dV-SUB for drummer Glen Power.
Adlib's Marc Peers looked after all things in monitor world including the microphone package which was primarily Sennheiser with a couple of Shures, says the company.
Nicholson expands that Sennheiser were "extremely helpful at rehearsals in demonstrating their new E965 condenser mics with cardioid settings for lead singer Danny O'Donoghue - which has now become his current mic of choice."
The wired version of the same model is also being used by the other 3 band members, and Sennheiser have assisted in ensuring that they have the right kit to work on the relevant frequencies in Australia (their first stop after the UK tour) and the USA.
Colin Rogers the band's Production Manager states, "Having Adlib on board for The Script's first tour of the new album Science & Faith was one of the main reasons it all went hitch-free. All of the Adlib team are among the most down-to-earth people I've met whilst touring, nothing is ever too much trouble for them. Through Adlib, the band have also found - in my opinion - one of the best up-and-coming FOH engineers in the UK, Richard Nicholson. I would recommend Adlib every time for touring."
(Claire Beeson)