PM5000 BRINGS SIMON & GARFUNKEL TOGETHER—LIVE
Press Release
Posted 2004-07-25
For a duo that made their mark in the music world as folksingers, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel carried more than just a pair of acoustic guitars on their highly-touted “Old Friends” reunion world tour—instead, they were backed by a seven-piece electric band, additional effects returns and more than 60 inputs.
Veteran front-of-house mixer David Morgan, whose credits include Bette Midler, Steely Dan and Carlos Santana, was more than up to the challenge, having worked with Simon for 17 years. The one thing that truly excited Morgan about this tour was debuting the first of Yamaha’s new PM5000 analog consoles on the road.
The Yamaha PM5000 includes many new features that meet the needs of the sound reinforcement market by retaining the layout of the industry-standard Yamaha PM4000 while offering the control convenience, digital recall and versatility of the PM1D.
The PM5000 features all-new redesigned mic preamps and EQs, 52 inputs, 35 mix buses, 12 VCAs, a 16 x 37 matrix and 1,000-scene recall. Morgan also used a Yamaha 02R digital mixer to handle 13 additional inputs from percussionist Jamey Haddad, loading in a data disk of settings he’s used working with Haddad since 1999 as starting points for his mixes.
“The PM5000 reminds me of a circa-1970s studio board,” says Morgan: “sweet-sounding mic preamps and very smooth EQ. I used to carry outboard preamps, especially to handle the low end of the kick drum, and the direct or mic’d bass. There’s no need for that with the PM5000. The bass is incredibly tight, and there’s none of that grainy sound in the eight-to-ten K range. It’s really good-sounding analog, with a reasonable amount of digital control and ergonomics that have a familiar PM4000 feel.”
Front of house engineer Dave Morgan handled front of house mixing duties with a 52-input Yamaha PM5000.
Morgan uses every channel EQ. “To achieve a natural sound with close-miking, you need to use lots of knobs, especially when dealing with all that proximity effect,” he says. “Using EQ helps me create a space for each sound source so it stands out in the mix without unnecessary volume increases.”
The touring rig also includes a 44-box Clair Brothers i4 line array system, powered by Crest amplifiers and driven by a Clair i/O loudspeaker control system. Vocal chain processing includes Tube-Tech CL2A compressors, Lexicon 224Ls and 480L reverbs, a tc Electronic 2290 delay and an Eventide H3500 UltraHarmonizer. Other gear includes a tc Electronic M5000 on acoustic guitars, tc A4000s for drums and piano, dbx 160L limiters and Summit DCL-200 compressors. Morgan uses Shure Beta 87C microphones for both Simon and Garfunkel’s vocals.
“With all its motorized faders, beefed-up frame and logic circuits, the PM5000 does seem slightly heavier than the PM4000,” adds Morgan. “But aside from that, Yamaha has done a great job of evaluating the needs of front-of-house engineers, and with the PM5000’s four stereo and eight mono matrix outs, it could be a great monitor board as well.”
The PM5000 retains the layout of the industry-standard Yamaha PM4000 while offering the digital recall and versatility of the PM1D.
Besides having four extra VCA groups on the PM5000, Morgan also likes the 12 stereo sends and the new muting system, which blinks to show the next mute group.
“The live sound industry showed a strong demand for familiar, efficient analog user interfaces, as well as digital-style recall capability,” states Larry Italia, general manager, Yamaha Commercial Audio Systems division. “The PM5000 was engineered to fill those needs and become the successor to the PM4000. The comment from engineers who are familiar with the layout of the PM4000 is that they feel right at home on the PM5000. The basic control layout has been retained, with some modifications to accommodate the new features. We’re happy that one of the early production units plays a major role on such a high-profile tour.”
For more information on the PM5000, write Yamaha Corporation of America, Commercial Audio Systems Division, P.O. Box 6600, Buena Park, CA 90622; telephone (714) 522-9011; e-mail infostation@yamaha.com; or visit www.yamaha.com/proaudio.
