172 lines
8.9 KiB
Plaintext
172 lines
8.9 KiB
Plaintext
Peter Watts, Road Manager interviewed by
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Frank Torker
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On the back cover of Ummagumma is a striking picture of
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Pink Floyd's sound gear. Standing nonchalantly amongst the
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speakers is Mr. Peter Watts,Pink Floyd's redoubtable road
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manager. I spoke to him the day after one of their recent
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gigs. It is 5 p.m., Sunday afternoon, May 1973.
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Frank: How old are you Pete?
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Pete: Twenty-seven.
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Frank: What's the official title of your job?
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Pete: Road Manager.
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Frank: What does that entail?
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Pete: It entails being in charge of getting everything
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together for them so that all they have to do is just walk
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on stage and play.
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Frank: How long have you been doing that?
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Pete: Ten years.I was with The Pretty Things for about four
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years...I started with the Floyd six months before
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Dave Gilmour.
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Frank: What does your job involve?
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Pete: Well...I'm mainly into sound,so I have to get
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together all their sound equipment.A lot of it I've built
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myself.I sort of ran around and picked people's brains and
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put stuff together,the best I could.Also when we're on the
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road,I make sure everything they want is together,like the
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stage is right and the power is right,and so on...Like
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when we did a twelve day tour I had to go around five days
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before hand and go to each one of those places we're going
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to play in,and just spend the day there talking to the
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promoter,the hall manager,and all the electrical heads of
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departements,going over our rider and all the things that
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we specify,making sure that they're all organized.
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Frank: What happens on a typical touring day?
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Pete: The trucks usually hit the hall about ten in the
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morning and we catch a plane to meet the trucks and then it
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takes all day from ten to four to set the equipment up,at
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least!So the whole day is just spent making sure all the
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equipment is working and the band usually come in about
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four for a sound check.
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Frank: What is the structure of their sound system?
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Pete: On stage Rick's keyboards and stack,Dave's guitar
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stack,Nick's drums and Roger's bass gear.At this moment
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they just use that as a sort of on stage sound which is all
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carefully miked;and we've got a P.A. and a mixing console
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which we have in the audience,and also a quadrophonic
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set up around the house...
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Frank: Is the quad directly connected to the Floyd?
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Pete: The quad system is in addition to the P.A. and is set up
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behind the stage,at the back of the hall and to the right and
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left,so the people sitting in the centre round about the
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mixer get a quadrophonic picture of the sound,like for the
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tape effects.Also on the mixer you can punch in,say Dave's
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guitar solo into quad,and pan it around on a joystick and
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send it round and round the hall - like when Roger does that
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scream in "Careful With That Axe" you can sort of fade
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it into quad and have it bombard you from all sides.
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Frank: Is the P.A. a specific set of equipment?
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Pete: Our P.A. isn't something you can just go in a shop
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and say "I wanna buy a P.A.,John" and come out with that.
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Our P.A. has developed with the Floyd the way their
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music's developed.
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It's just basically amplifiers,speakers,horn units and high
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pressure units that we all put together - what I'm trying to
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do is reproduce the sound that you get at home with a good
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hi-fi system in the hall,right,with the mixer so you can have
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complete control of the sound they're making on stage...
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The mikes,which are standard,on stage,they all come up
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a multicore cable to the mixer and that piece of equipment
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is specially made for the Floyd - they said what was
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needed;we had an ordinary mixer but after a few years
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I chopped it all up and rebuilt it.
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Frank: What is the P.A.'s amplification?(Shows me a
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photo.)
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Pete: That's half the amplifiers we use on the P.A. - that's
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6 Phase Linear 700s,right,an electronic cross over,and a
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compressor and we use all that each side of the stage to
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drive the main P.A. At the mixer we use 4 Phase Linear 400s
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and 2 Phase Linear 700s to drive the quad system.
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Frank: What about their personal stacks?
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Pete: Dave plays through a couple of Hi Watt 100s that
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drive an ordinary traditional 4x12 speaker which is
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essentially just a 'monitor' for him on stage,although in
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fact Dave plays very loud.His main power comes through
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the P.A. as it does for the others.Roger has 2x100 Hi Watt
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amps driving 2 bass reflex speakers the same as in P.A.
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and two high frequency horn units on the top.
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All Rick's keyboards go through another mixer which he
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also sends through the P.A.,or through his Leslies.Nick
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doesn't have a monitor because he plays loud enough for
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himself and the others to hear.
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Frank: And the mixer?
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Pete: Sound travels up the multicore cable plugged into
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the back of the mixer and it comes up on a fader like in a
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recording studio,and you can equalize the sound that
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comes through the microphones and make it treble,bass or
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whatever;you can also have echo,and control the volume
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through the P.A.i.e. you do all the instruments on different
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faders - like Nick's drum kit,there are ten different mikes
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and you set the drum balance and send the whole thing
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through another fader,and the vocals are the same,
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another sub group.In effect you've got someone sitting in
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front of this giant stereo just doing a mix of the band live.
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The guy who does it is the guy who did their last album -
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instead of doing it bit by bit as in a studio he does it "live".
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Frank: What speakers do you have for the P.A.?
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Pete: On each side we are using nine bass bins for
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reproducing any bass sound between forty cycles to about
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eight hundred.Then we've got thirty horn units both sides
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some of which are mid range and some are higher range.
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I've put these units together using a number of makes -
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Electrovoice equipment(bass range)JBL equipment
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(treble range)Vitavox equipment(mid range) - They're
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just brand components which I've used and put together
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for what I think is the best hi-fi.
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Frank: So,the sound travels from...
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Pete: All the mikes pick up the signal and send it down the
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multicore on a balanced line to be amplified by the mixer
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which is like a giant pre-amp - then you send it out on faders
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down another multicore which is a stage return which then
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goes to an electronic cross over unit which splits the signal
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three ways and sends it to the brass section of amplifiers,
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and the treble section and the mid range section of
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amplifiers.From the amplifiers they go three ways right to
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the bass units,the treble units and the mid range units.
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It's all split up and goes to the different sections.
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Frank: This for every single bit of sound put out by the
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band and from tapes?
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Pete: Yeah!
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Frank: Is that why it's so clear?
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Pete: Well...yes...but it's just part of a lot of things put
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together over the years...trying to get all parts better,
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trying,in effect to get a studio effect in a hall!
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Later on two further points were made clear: -
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1. The cross over system ensures that the right sound(bass,
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(treble or mid range)goes to the right speaker.Thus each
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speaker is used efficiently and does not try to reproduce
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sounds for which it is not specifically equipped.
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2. The nearer you are to the maximum noise output the
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more you are likely to dissort(just try turning your amp or
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player full on).The Floyd have enough amplification not
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to have to 'overload' their speakers even at their
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loudest.
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Pete assessed his role in the Floyd as reproducing to the
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very best of his ability the sounds that the band want in a
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way that can reach a large audience.I feel that it may be
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more than this.His contribution to the sound apparatus is a
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necessary part of Floyd music.The way the music is
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reproduced has itself an influence on the subsequent
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writing and desired 'quality' of the sound job.
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Somebody else could do this job,but then perhaps Floyd
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music wouldn't sound as it does.
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Road Crew
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Peter Watts: Road Manager
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Arthur Max: Lighting and effects
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Graeme Fleming: Lighting Technician
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Paul Padun: Lighting Technician - on tour only
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Chris Adamson: Sets up and maintains stage equipment
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Mick 'The Pole' Kluczynski: General Factotum,Tape
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Operator, Drum Kit,Quad
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Alan Parsons: On tour mixer - Recording Engineer for albums
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Robbie Williams: Stage Crew
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Bobby Richardson: Stage Crew
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On Tour: Trucking Crew - Four drivers and two forty-foot
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Trailer Tractors
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At Gig: 2 fork lift drivers, 6 stage hands, 2 electricians,
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2 soundmen, 8 follow spot operators, 1 house electrician
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