Will Champion

Mentioned by FOH engineer Dan Green in this AudioTechnology magazine article about the Ghost Stories Tour.

AT: Are you able to borrow much from the studio mic cabinet on tour?

DG: A few bits and bobs, but the demands are very, very different on the road. In the studio, your mic choice can be all about character. But in a live context you’re after mics that reproduce transients very clearly — you need that front-end bite on most sounds to cut through. I mean, you’re not going to stick up a Neumann U67 three metres above and behind the drumkit as a ‘room’ mic, for obvious reasons. So I tend to use more dynamic microphones: SM57s on guitars and a Shure Beta52 on the bass drum. And also the Earthworks microphones which are really good for drums. They’re my close mics and from there I get a sense of depth using reverb and other plug-ins.

AT: You clearly like what the Earthworks mics are doing.

DG: They cut through really nicely and they preserve a lot of the front-end attack of the sound, which is something you really need. In stadiums and arenas you can’t really have a sound that has too much decay because the room has so much decay anyway — ‘sharp’ and ‘short’ wins every time.

The drum mics are an Earthworks love-in. Dan Green: “The transient response of these microphones is incredible. Before, I used to rely on transient enhancing plug-ins to get a similar sound, now it’s all from the SR40 overheads. One of the other benefits of the new DP30/C periscope microphones are the rugged flexible arms, this gives me options on placement.”

Mentioned by A Head Full of Dreams co-producer Rik Simpson in this Sound on Sound article.

“My drum-mic setup mostly consisted of the usual contenders, apart from an old STC/Coles 4012 ‘ball and biscuit’ microphone as a mono overhead that I love, and a couple of Telefunken 251s as overheads. But everything else is fairly standard. I play around with different room microphones depending on a) how many band members I am recording at the same time and b) what the song needs. I quite like Coles, which are kind of grimy and dirty, and I quite like B&K microphones which are the opposite end of the sonic spectrum, a lot more hi–fi. I have a Shure 57 on the snare, but I sometimes go for a Neumann KM84 if the song is delicate and the snare needs that tender touch. For the kick I have a Telefunken M82 dynamic microphone that is designed for a kick drum and that sounds really good. It is punchy and big but not too clanky. The AKG kick-drum mics are a little bit ‘knocky’ for my liking.

Mentioned by A Head Full of Dreams co-producer Rik Simpson in this Sound on Sound article.

“My drum-mic setup mostly consisted of the usual contenders, apart from an old STC/Coles 4012 ‘ball and biscuit’ microphone as a mono overhead that I love, and a couple of Telefunken 251s as overheads. But everything else is fairly standard. I play around with different room microphones depending on a) how many band members I am recording at the same time and b) what the song needs. I quite like Coles, which are kind of grimy and dirty, and I quite like B&K microphones which are the opposite end of the sonic spectrum, a lot more hi–fi. I have a Shure 57 on the snare, but I sometimes go for a Neumann KM84 if the song is delicate and the snare needs that tender touch. For the kick I have a Telefunken M82 dynamic microphone that is designed for a kick drum and that sounds really good. It is punchy and big but not too clanky. The AKG kick-drum mics are a little bit ‘knocky’ for my liking.

Mentioned in this AudioTechnology magazine article about the Ghost Stories Tour by FOH engineer Dan Green.

AT: Are you able to borrow much from the studio mic cabinet on tour?

DG: A few bits and bobs, but the demands are very, very different on the road. In the studio, your mic choice can be all about character. But in a live context you’re after mics that reproduce transients very clearly — you need that front-end bite on most sounds to cut through. I mean, you’re not going to stick up a Neumann U67 three metres above and behind the drumkit as a ‘room’ mic, for obvious reasons. So I tend to use more dynamic microphones: SM57s on guitars and a Shure Beta52 on the bass drum. And also the Earthworks microphones which are really good for drums. They’re my close mics and from there I get a sense of depth using reverb and other plug-ins.

AT: You clearly like what the Earthworks mics are doing.

DG: They cut through really nicely and they preserve a lot of the front-end attack of the sound, which is something you really need. In stadiums and arenas you can’t really have a sound that has too much decay because the room has so much decay anyway — ‘sharp’ and ‘short’ wins every time.

The drum mics are an Earthworks love-in. Dan Green: “The transient response of these microphones is incredible. Before, I used to rely on transient enhancing plug-ins to get a similar sound, now it’s all from the SR40 overheads. One of the other benefits of the new DP30/C periscope microphones are the rugged flexible arms, this gives me options on placement.”

Mentioned by A Head Full of Dreams co-producer Rik Simpson in this Sound on Sound article.

“My drum-mic setup mostly consisted of the usual contenders, apart from an old STC/Coles 4012 ‘ball and biscuit’ microphone as a mono overhead that I love, and a couple of Telefunken 251s as overheads. But everything else is fairly standard. I play around with different room microphones depending on a) how many band members I am recording at the same time and b) what the song needs. I quite like Coles, which are kind of grimy and dirty, and I quite like B&K microphones which are the opposite end of the sonic spectrum, a lot more hi–fi. I have a Shure 57 on the snare, but I sometimes go for a Neumann KM84 if the song is delicate and the snare needs that tender touch. For the kick I have a Telefunken M82 dynamic microphone that is designed for a kick drum and that sounds really good. It is punchy and big but not too clanky. The AKG kick-drum mics are a little bit ‘knocky’ for my liking.

Will Champion uses the Earthworks QTC50 microphone for drum recording, as noted in the Earthworksaudio press release about Coldplay's world tour.

Used for backing vocals on Coldplay's Viva la Vida Tour.

The band performs two songs on the ramp (stage B) and another two songs out in the audience tiers (stage C). “Our RF tech, Stephanie Thompson, handles stage C duties: cables apart from the IEMs which are the Sennheiser EW300 systems alongside a power amplifier to ensure that the IEMs work, regardless of where the band is performing,” [FOH engineer Daniel] Green explains. “On stage B, the band is once again on Sennheiser EW300 IEMs. We use two radio Neumann KK105s for Will and Guy's backing vocals, plus a radio Shure SM58 for Chris' vocals. Jonny and Chris' guitars are also on Shure wireless systems.”

Mentioned by FOH engineer Dan Green in this AudioTechnology magazine article about the Ghost Stories Tour.

AT: Are you able to borrow much from the studio mic cabinet on tour?

DG: A few bits and bobs, but the demands are very, very different on the road. In the studio, your mic choice can be all about character. But in a live context you’re after mics that reproduce transients very clearly — you need that front-end bite on most sounds to cut through. I mean, you’re not going to stick up a Neumann U67 three metres above and behind the drumkit as a ‘room’ mic, for obvious reasons. So I tend to use more dynamic microphones: SM57s on guitars and a Shure Beta52 on the bass drum. And also the Earthworks microphones which are really good for drums. They’re my close mics and from there I get a sense of depth using reverb and other plug-ins.

AT: You clearly like what the Earthworks mics are doing.

DG: They cut through really nicely and they preserve a lot of the front-end attack of the sound, which is something you really need. In stadiums and arenas you can’t really have a sound that has too much decay because the room has so much decay anyway — ‘sharp’ and ‘short’ wins every time.

Given that the original Beta 52 was discontinued at this point in history, one can assume that it is the reissue 52A.

Mentioned by FOH engineer Dan Green in this article from the d&b audiotechnik website about the Viva la Vida tour.

For Green the challenge is delivery. "There's nothing unusual up on stage at all; guitars on Shure SM57s, vocals on radio SM58s, 421s on the Toms." Will Champion on drums is a renowned heavy hitter. "Inevitably there is a lot of spill from the drums into Chris's mic, so I do spend a lot of time riding that up and down. Getting level from Chris can be tricky, but I know the songs well enough to capture what's needed."

Mentioned by A Head Full of Dreams co-producer Rik Simpson in this Sound on Sound article.

“My drum-mic setup mostly consisted of the usual contenders, apart from an old STC/Coles 4012 ‘ball and biscuit’ microphone as a mono overhead that I love, and a couple of Telefunken 251s as overheads. But everything else is fairly standard. I play around with different room microphones depending on a) how many band members I am recording at the same time and b) what the song needs. I quite like Coles, which are kind of grimy and dirty, and I quite like B&K microphones which are the opposite end of the sonic spectrum, a lot more hi–fi. I have a Shure 57 on the snare, but I sometimes go for a Neumann KM84 if the song is delicate and the snare needs that tender touch. For the kick I have a Telefunken M82 dynamic microphone that is designed for a kick drum and that sounds really good. It is punchy and big but not too clanky. The AKG kick-drum mics are a little bit ‘knocky’ for my liking.

Will can be seen in this screenshot singing backing vocals for "Us Against the World" with an SM58.

Used by Will for backing vocals.

Uses for backing vocals on tour Head full of dreams, Music of the Spheres, Moon music.