Described by the San Francisco Chronicle as having the "heavy sadness of Townes Van Zandt, the light pop concision of Buddy Holly, the tuneful jangle of the Beatles, the raw energy of the Ramones," The Avett Brothers combine bluegrass, country, punk, pop, folk, rock, indie, honkytonk and ragtime to produce a unique sound that can be a challenge to reinforce in a concert setting.
"There are a lot of acoustic instruments, and that is probably what most people think of when they hear The Avett Brothers' name," says SES director of touring Michael Brammer. "But they can really go from a whisper to a scream. One song might be kind of old-timey folk or Americana, and then they're a full-on rock band for the next number."
The broad spectrum of musical styles is not the only challenge in play on the current tour promoting the band's latest release, True Sadness. Instead of heading out for several months at a time with a couple of weeks off between tour legs, The Avett Brothers and SES generally hit the road for two weeks, then take a week or two off between each fortnight stretch.
Plus, the capacity and geometry of the venues visited can vary dramatically, from Madison Square Garden - where the tour opened in March - to Austin's Moody Theatre, a 2,750-seat venue that is home to PBS' venerable Austin City Limits. Considering all of the disparities, SES System Engineer Andrew Steelman leans heavily on L-Acoustics' Soundvision software to design and deploy the right K1 and/or K2 system for each room on a daily basis.
"The K1/K2 combo was crucial in planning for a tour as varied as this one," Brammer notes. "When we started out at Madison Square Garden, the size of the venue dictated that the system would be heavy on K1 with K2 being used in more of a fill capacity. In smaller venues, we use some system configurations that are all K2, while in some mid-sized rooms we deploy a system that is mostly K2 with some K1 added to the mix in order to round things out a little more. It's a very modular and flexible system."
(Jim Evans)