BUENA PARK, CA (January 2, 2002) —For over 30 years, singer/songwriter/performer Neil Diamond has been a staple in the world of pop music, enjoying a longevity which may be credited to dedicated fans, long-term band members and a technical staff that is constantly looking ahead to new developments in technology. On the current tour (in support of Diamond's latest release, Three Chord Opera), that technology includes a variety of professional audio equipment from Yamaha, including PM1D Digital Mixing Systems in the front of house and monitor areas, and 10 Yamaha 01V Digital Mixers onstage and operated by band members.

Diamond's current tour features a variety of professional audio and musical equipment from Yamaha.

The move toward an entirely digital audio system is merely a natural progression of technology, according to sound designer and front of house engineer Stan Miller. "In the 35 years I've been doing this, I've always thought about the 'next thing,'" he explains. "After all, we're not playing vinyl records anymore. I had been using computers and other digital gear for ten years, so this was not a difficult adaptation. In a live situation, you're dealing with acoustically imperfect environments, and cannot alter the laws of physics with a digital system. However, it will provide two key elements—100% recallable controllability and overall reduction of the noise floor.

"This system has been a work in progress," he continues. "On the last tour, we used 02Rs for the band and for Neil's vocal, and before that, 14 Pro Mixes summed into a short frame PM3500—all with stereo inputs—so it was a 'final mix.' We now have a system that is digital all the way into the power amplifiers, including patching, and that was never possible before."

Front of House engineer and sound designer Stan Miller at the PM1D, which he describes as, "...not really a 'console'… It's a work surface, like a giant computer mouse."

He continues, "We have a 96-in, 48-out PM1D for the front of house and monitor areas. The PM1D is not really a 'console.' It's a work surface, like a giant computer mouse. We carry a spare engine, so there are ways for the house to run monitors and monitors to run house in an emergency. I save mixes to SmartMedia cards as a backup, and we can even drop in an analog console in an emergency, so we could run a show no matter what happens. We're using all the of the PM1D's onboard effects, no outboard at all!"

Onstage, ten of the 17 band members control their monitor mixes using 01Vs connected digitally directly to the system engine. "This system has really evolved," Miller explains. "The band has been controlling their own stage mixes for some time, using various analog and analog/digital hybrid systems. Unfortunately, those systems had too many buzzes, and signal that wasn't clean. The keyboard players had used 01Vs and were very happy with them. Shortly thereafter, the guitarists switched from analog rackmount mixers to 01Vs. Now, with the Yamaha 01V/PM1D combination and patching in the digital domain, the noise floor is way down with little signal loss or degradation."

Ten of Diamond's 17 band members control their monitor mixes using 01Vs connected digitally directly to the system engine. According to Miller, with the Yamaha 01V/PM1D combination and patching in the digital domain, the noise floor has decreased with little signal loss or degradation.

Diamond's house PA consists of 80 identical JBL VerTek cabinets with mirror-image pairs of left and right line array stacks, a small center cluster aimed at the floor, and a center rear fill for complete 360° coverage. "The cabinets are made of Carbon fiber and are half the weight of similar boxes," Miller adds. "The rigging hardware is comprised of a bar-and-pin system on the side of the cabinets, so you can decide how much to open or close the spaces between the boxes. Each stack only requires two rigging points, and there are no pullbacks."

All cabinets are driven with Crown 5000 series amplifiers. "All the amps have IQ System-controlled CobraNet cards in them," Miller explains. "There's a DSP in every amplifier that controls all the processing, time delay, and EQ. It seems strange to be connecting amps together with Ethernet cables," he adds, "and our techs were worried about the little connectors, yet they're very reliable."

Monitor engineer Bernie Becker.

Band members currently use hardwired Firehouse/Shure in-ear monitors, with Diamond using wireless earpieces. "Neil is on earpieces for the first time," he explains. "Initially, he had some reservations about being able to hear the audience. He's made the adjustment nicely, singing better and not straining." Musical equipment from Yamaha is also featured onstage in the forms of a grand piano shell retrofitted with a P80 Keyboard, and string section retrofitted with Soundlab SMS in-body microphones.

Miller contends that while digital technology has changed the face of live sound, there are still limitations. "It has taken awhile to understand that digital products have to operate within a certain window, and there is a learning curve. However, this tour is a great example of what is available, and what can be accomplished. When I started with Neil, I had two loudspeakers, a 4-channel tube mixer, tube power amps—and that was state-of-the-art! Now, my ideal system would be a virtual channel and a computer."

Neil Diamond Sound Production Team:
Stanley Miller: Sound Designer and Senior Front-of-House Engineer
Bernie Becker: Monitor Engineer and Neil Diamond's Senior Recording Engineer
Sam Helms: JBL and Crown System Designer
John Drane: Senior Systems Tech.
Greg Lopez: Assistant Monitor Engineer
Lonny Wayne: Production Crew
Art Isaacs: Production Crew
Christy Zellman: Production Crew