Radiohead's Stage Setup

Ever wonder what instruments your favorite bands are playing onstage? After seeing numerous live Radiohead shows and watching them mirror the same sound onstage as their studio albums, I had to find out for myself and see what they were playing with to get that unique sound. I did a bit of digging and found an entry from Graham, Radiohead's stage manager explaining one of my favorite bands intricate stage layout. I had no idea how much emphasis Radiohead put into their mics, but that completely makes sense when you think about how important each nuance and unique tweak is to their overall sound. Great stuff...Please read on and see the image at the bottom for their stage layout:

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Every item on stage has either a microphone or a direct connection allocated to it, in the case of Radiohead there were 64 inputs from the stage to the control systems. All the inputs from the stage go to a splitter box, often referred to as the stage box, this send the on stage information to 4 different sources, one going to FOH (front of house) where the information from stage is mixed for you, the audience, and is controlled by the mighty Jim Warren, who has been with the band since their very early days. The second send goes to me for the on stage mix. The third is used for the on stage technical mix and the forth is for external sources, for example, if the show is going to be recorded or broadcast on radio/TV as was the case at the UK V festivals this summer.

The Inputs

The Drums..

Kick Drum, Beyer M88, (Gate, Soft comp)
Snare 1, Shure SM57, (Soft Comp)
Snare 2, Shure SM57
Hi Hat, Shure KSM41
Rack 1, Sennheiser 504, (Gate)
Rack 2, Sennheiser 504, (Gate)
Floor, Sennheiser 504, (Gate)
Overhead Ride, Shure KSM32.
Overhead Hi Hats/ Crash, Shure KSM32.

Kit Ambience, a Shure MC50b, and placed in the middle of the drum kit, a nice ambient sound, good for the in-ear drum requests!

Jonny Toms, SM57 wireless, (Gate, Soft Comp)
Ed Toms, SM 57 wireless, (Gate, Soft Comp)

Mini Kick, Beyer M88 wireless. (Gate)
Mini Snare and Hat, Shure SM57 Wireless.

These channels are carry on and carry off items, therefore they are wireless so we can check they work before the appear on stage and there is no cable re patch necessary


The Vocals..

Thom uses a Shure Beta 87 with black pop shield. It is a microphone designed for very close proximity use, the pop shield is used to avoid direct contact with the metal end of the microphone. By employing the foam shield, Thom can sing very close to the mic with comfort. Therefore producing a loud and clear vocal sound. I reproduce the same consol settings for the spare vocal, the piano vocal, and the Rhodes piano vocal.

Phil uses a WCM15 vocal headset microphone, which can be converted to wireless if required.

Carry on vocals are at present: A beta 87 Wireless mic for Ed on There There, and a beta 87 wireless for Thom when he plays the Mini kit on one of the new songs!

The Keyboards,

The upright Piano has caused more problems than anything else on stage over the last 6 years. Everything possible to go wrong has, we even nearly tipped it over once! A multitude of different microphones have been tried and then discarded. This tour heralds a new approach, the new piano has a stereo sample built in, and originally we were going to use this as a last resort spare signal. However we found that it combines very well with the newly installed Helpinstill Piano Sensor and an ambient mic, a Shure MC50b hanging inside the lid. Gone are the days of low end feedback, hi pass filters up on the mics, let the sampler do the bottom end.

The Fender Rhodes is mic-ed with 2 SM57s one on each speaker.

Both the Piano and the Rhodes move into the centre of the stage during the bands performance, therefore they are equipped with an umbilical containing the audio, video and power requirements.

There are various other midi-controlled keyboards dotted around the stage; the sampler rack, which lives off to the side of the stage, controls them all. This unit also controls the drum samples. There are a total of 12 lines of information coming to me for different songs from this unit.

The Guitars.

There are 3 guitar set-ups on stage,

In the centre is Thom, he has a Vox AC30, mic-ed with a Sennheiser 609, apart from an array of footswitches, he has a control unit off stage.

Ed, on Thoms right, uses a Mesa Boogie, mic-ed with A Sennheiser 609 and a Vox AC30 mic-ed with a SM57. There is also a DI effect line. There is a mountain of pedals and off stage control involved.

To Thoms left is Jonny; he uses a Vox AC30, mic-ed with a SM57, and a Fender 85, mic-ed with an Audix OM5. There is again a DI line for effects, and 2 lines from laptops, one of which is offstage. Again a huge array of pedals but with no off stage control!

The Bass guitar is Di-ed and Mic-ed with a Sennheiser 60

The Glockenspiel is mic-ed with 2 Shure MC50bs, and a couple of Drum machines are DI-ed

The splitter (stage box)

All of these inputs end their connection at the splitter box (also known as the stage box). We have 2 off these on the Radiohead set up. One has 56 inputs and the other has 20, this is more than we need and allows for some degree of flexibility. This is what the splitter box does; on the stage side there are all the input connections, on the reverse there are 4 multi-pin outlets, between each input and output there is a small isolating transformer, these lower the possibility of interference. The first output supplies all the input channels to the FOH Digidesign conversion racks, the second goes to my conversion racks for the monitors, The third is for the on stage technical mixes and the forth is used if we are recording the show for a TV or radio broadcast.

The technical split was an idea developed as we expanded the monitor system at the outset of the Hail to the thief tour, it was based on the original idea from Duncan who had previously split his four main channels to a small mixer so that he could check that Jonny was OK during the show. Also, because there was so much backline equipment on the stage it meant that the crew were forever coming over to me to listen to their instruments if they suspected that there was a problem. There was a need for them to be able to hear selected channels during the show. This is what we designed; the 48 lines from the main splitter are sent to a patching system that allows for any 12 channels can be sent to 4 separate locations on stage. At these locations, where the backline technicians live, there are small 12 channel Soundcraft Spirit desks and self powered JBL speakers. This has also proved invaluable one unforeseen reason! Everyone now has Thoms vocal line on their speaker for the sound check so they can here him announce which song they are going to do next, this has made sound checks a lot faster, as now we all know when, for example, the piano needs pushing over to the centre of the stage. Once this system has been patched it has its lid left on for the tour! All we need to do is to connect one large input cable and 4 small outputs! One of the 4 systems has been commandeered by Ed, the 12 way desk is housed in the top of his FX rack, this is one point where he can pick up information being played by the other musicians on stage.

Line 48! This is the only line on the input list that I have not mentioned. This is for the technical communication system. Microphones, positioned at the front of house mixing desk, the monitor desk, the sampler rack and an on stage wireless microphone system are sent to a small mixing desk, mixed down to 1 line and sent to line 48, this signal is also sent to an on stage wireless in-ear system used by myself and Clive. This means that line 48 can be picked up everywhere on stage using the technical mix system.


The Outputs

There are 2 different ways in which I provide the musicians on stage with the information they require in order for them to perform. The first is using speakers on the floor, these are called wedges, and they contain both a large speaker for creating the bass part of the sound and a small speaker for producing the high frequencies. On this tour these were provided by Firehouse productions from New York. Secondly, in-ear monitors, which are custom, moulded for the individual musicians and are mixed in stereo. Radiohead use a combination of both of these, each member has determined over the years as to how they want to hear their mix.

Jonny only uses wedges, 1 in front of each of his guitar pedal boards and a third behind him for when he is playing keyboards and operating his drum machines. He has very minimal requirements and likes everything quite quiet! He has a small amount of kick drum and snare drum, piano, acoustic guitar and a touch of Thoms vocal. He also has his own guitars and keyboards. Jonny also wears custom moulded ear defenders to cut down the overall level of sound. Once he is set up and running he doesnt require many changes during a show!

Ed uses a combination of floor wedges and in-ears. He uses off the shelf Shure E5s for his in-ears and has recently converted to Shures new E500s. The wedges are mainly used for kick and snare drums. His ears are mixed in stereo with different instruments placed at different points in the stereo field to give definition. For example he has his guitars in the centre of the mix, Thoms guitar is on the right hand side and Jonnys guitar on the left, the drums are mixed with the kick and snare in the centre and the rest of the kit positioned across them. He has everything from the stage in his ears.

Colin uses wedges alone, he has never tried in ears up to now, but has shown a lot of interest in trying them on the next tour. He also has a sub bass unit behind him to add extra weight on the low frequencies, mainly the kick drum and the drum machines. He has a full mix of everything on stage.

Phil uses just in-ear monitors. He again has a full stereo mix of everything on stage and as with the other in-ear users everything is positioned in the stereo field as if he was hearing the stage without using any monitoring. Subtle changes are made throughout the show, for example when Jonny starts a song I gently increase his level so he can get the timing correct.

Thom uses a combination of both wedges and in ears. He uses the in-ears like ear defenders and uses them at quite a low level. This cuts out all the stage sounds that he doesnt want to hear. Using the ears at a low level means that he can also clearly hear the wedge mix as well. In the wedges he has all the drums, all the guitars and keyboards and in his ears he has both his and Eds vocals, the acoustic guitar and piano and different amounts of his own guitar depending on the song being played.

There are also wedge mixes for the piano and the Fender Rhodes. The piano mix has both Thoms acoustic and electric guitars in it for when being played by Jonny.