Dave Matthews: Nothing But Meyer One of Alternative's Most Lyrical Acts Gets Heard Meyer Sound's Large Array of Products Through Meyer Sound File

Thomas, who at 24 fits right in with Matthews' demographic, who describes himself as "a freelance frat sound man. That's where I learned how to mix. I was getting into the business around the same time that they were becoming a band." He started out as their monitor mixer when Matthews' band was developing their craft during weekly shows at nightclub Trax in Charlottesville nearly six years ago. Within a year, Thomas was the FOH mixer. Two years later, Matthews's debut on RCA Records, Under The Table And Dreaming, would go triple-platinum and earn two Grammy nominations for the single, "What Would You Say."

Matthews and Thomas have been Meyer Sound aficionados virtually just as long. After hooking up with San Rafael, California-based Ultrasound as their SR company, Thomas had assembled an all-Meyer system based around the Meyer MSL-3. Sixty-four cabinets utilizing the MSL-3's pair of highly articulate 12-inch speakers and two-inch horn gave Thomas a very modular, flexible system that could be easily configured for the wide range of venue sizes that band encountered on its way up the charts.

"I really liked the system based on the MSL-3," recalls Thomas. "It was clean and very powerful and gave us the flexibility we needed at that stage in the band's career. The issue was that having a lot of components created a very complex point-source situation in which you had to listen for sound from a lot of sources. It could get confusing as we moved into larger venues. Plus, there was the fact that we had to carry around a lot of cabinets whether we needed them that particular night or not. We needed a larger, yet simpler system."

Enter The MSL-10

When the Dave Matthews Band reached into the upper-echelons of the charts in 1996, Thomas and Ultrasound's people -- Co-owner Don Pearson and Account Representative Derrick Featherstone -- helped him rethink and redesign a new system that would better carry the band through larger venues. The system for the 1996 tour was based on the Meyer MSL-10, an extremely high-power, high-performance loudspeaker system designed for large-scale music SR applications. Also designed in modular blocks with a 30-degree-coverage range per cabinet, the MSL-10 formed the basis of the left-right arrays the band used. Two rows of four MSL-10 cabinets each were hung in side clusters with a row of Meyer MSL-2 cabinets slung beneath them for downfill coverage. In addition, eight Meyer 650-R2 Concert Series subwoofers were mounted in an in-line array on the floor in front of and to the side of the stage. When the venue called for expanding this 180-degree system to a full 360-degree system, 40 Meyer MSL-3 cabinets were added as wrap-around fills.

The arrangement of the subwoofers is interesting, says Thomas. "It's an unusual, in-line array. The resonator of the sub has to be one-quarter of the wavelength of the lowest frequency you're shooting for. Our wavelength model was based on a 25 Hertz sine wave. So the Meyer subs give us a frequency response down to that frequency with plenty of power. But by arranging the subs in stacks eight to a side, we're actually coupling their resonance together and enhancing the low-frequency response and punch that much more. It sounds amazing, and also helps with dispersion by tightening the vertical throw and broadening the horizontal throw. The only real trade-off to this arrangement is that you lose about 100-plus seats a night. But it's a trade-off we gladly accept because of what it does to the sound."

At Thomas' FOH position, his racks and other ancillary equipment lists are also heavily weighted with Meyer technology. Eight Meyer CP-10 stereo five-band parametric equalizers are assigned to various speaker sets. The Meyer VX-1 Stereo Program Equalizer, with its Virtual Crossover and patented ISO input features, is used by Thomas to fine-tune the final stereo FOH mix before it's sent to the main arrays. At the FOH position, Thomas monitors near-field with a pair of the acclaimed Meyer HD-1 powered reference monitors, which he says, "gives me the equivalent of a studio-type speaker in a live sound environment, and that is a serious advantage when you're trying to make the system as articulate as possible."

Monitoring

On the stage monitoring side, mixer Ian Kuhn joined Matthews two years ago after stints with the Beastie Boys and Smashing Pumpkins while working for Chicago's DB Sound. "It's a very complex but at the same time uncomplicated monitor set up," he says. It's also very Meyer. "It's very clustered. For instance, Dave has three Meyer Stealth USM-1 wedges, the center one under my control and two that are part of his rig and that he controls from his stage position," Kuhn explains. "It gives him a lot of control over his sound and its relation to the band's own mix. The drummer's position has the Meyer CQ-2 wedges, which give us a much tighter high-frequency pattern and and thus lets less of that into the drum mics. The drummer also has a single Meyer USW-1 Ultraseries subwoofer, which is wired in series with a pair of generic thumpers attached to the drummer's seat. That has really helped re-direct and contain the low-frequency energy that accumulates around the drummer's position and, in combination with the tight high-frequency pattern of the MSL-10 or CQ-2 speakers, has made everyone's life a lot easier as the shows have gotten bigger."

Meyer's SIM® System

Both Kuhn and Thomas are self-described "addicts" for the Meyer SIM System II, the most powerful and flexible sound system analyzer available on the market. It's flexibility and ease of use allows Kuhn to use it literally constantly during performances, tweaking the monitor system on stage. "Another thing we use the SIM System for is to regularly do microphone comparisons -- using the SIM's 'compare' function to see if the mics's responses have changed over time and use and shipping. We use it every two weeks to check the band's primary mics, like the B&K ones we use -- those are studio-level mics and more prone to the effects of transport and use. It keeps our confidence level in the equipment very high."

Also, Kuhn, working with a local Chicago engineer, been using the SIM System to do something a bit out on the edge but just as useful: checking and calibrating the band's in-ear monitors. "We place a very small microphone into the ear canal along with an in-ear monitor and then check the monitor's response with pink noise," he explains. "It gives us an incredibly accurate -- down to 1/24th of an octave resolution -- representation of how well the monitors are working. You see peaks you never heard before."

Jeff Thomas also uses the Meyer SIM System II, with a dedicated unit for the FOH system. "We EQ every speaker every day -- nothing ever goes unchecked," he says. "So I've become a real slave to the SIM System. What sets it apart is that it was definitely designed around live use applications. It's less cumbersome to use than the other ones out there, yet gives you the same amount of information and does so in a way that's easier to use. For instance, I can get a print-out of every function, and it lets me see the traces simultaneously."

Dave Matthews and guitarist Tim Reynolds of the Band were preparing to head out on the road once more in early 1997, this time on a six-week acoustic tour, bringing along a modified version of their touring rig, with 16 Meyer MSL-3 speakers, eight Meyer MSL-2 cabinets and six Meyer 650 subs.

"It's going to be interesting working with yet another configuration of the Meyer system," says Thomas. "But I'm expecting it to sound every bit as good as the larger system -- articulate, transparent and just like you were in the studio."

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