The main artists he currently works with are Between the Buried and Me and Every Time I Die, both very different live shows with very different audio demands

I had been looking for the “Holy Grail” of snare microphones for years, when The Last Internationale had the opportunity to support Linkin Park on a few shows. Here I had the chance to listen to Pooch’s mix and I noticed how great his snare sounded each night. On asking him what he was using he told me about the sE4. With that microphone being upgraded to what is now the sE5, I decided to give it a go. Since that day, it has been the number one microphone that I use on snares.

Between the Buried and Me is a Prog Metal band from the USA. Their live show is highly complex, with a number of different tempo and time signature changes in each song, and with their average song length spanning well over ten minutes. Their songs can go from a Jazz break to metal at the drop of a hat. Trying to capture all of this in their live show can pose many challenges. This is where the sE microphones give me an added advantage.

Between the Buried and Me drummer Blake Richardson’s kit has a number of different sE microphones on it. To try to capture the nuances of the show, we chose to use the sE5 on the snare for a number of reasons. One of the main reasons was how well it captures the jazz style snare sections with a lot of ghost notes and side sticking, all the way up to when he is running blast beats. With no gate on the snare due to all the changes, it also provides excellent rejection of other drums and cymbals. We are also running an L-C-R set of 4400a microphones on cymbal under heads. When we first introduced them we noticed how detailed they are, without being overly bright.

Finding the right microphone for Tommy from Between the Buried and Me has always been a challenge. Having tried a large number of industry standard microphones we never found one that works well for him until we tried the sE V7. We both noticed the difference instantly. The V7 really allows me to keep Tommy’s vocal up front in the mix, whether he is going from singing to screaming or anything in between.

Having the guitaRF on the guitar cabs has really tightened the live guitar sound for both FOH and the in-ear monitors. Guitarists Paul and Dustie have both commented on how much tighter and cleaner the guitar signals are due to using these filters.

I’m also liking the V7 X – it reminds me of the Audix i5 but with more clarity and a thicker bottom end. Since I have had it on, it gives the cabs a more solid place in the mix without being bright.

An Every Time I Die show is loud and chaotic, and some shows can have anywhere up to 150 fans on stage with the band at once. It is not unusual to see the microphones being knocked off cabs and drums and thrown around the stage by fans and the band alike. Their shows can average anywhere from 107db up of just pure backline noise, before you even turn the P.A. on.

This is where the sE microphones shine. The sE5 capsule can take extreme SPL levels without the capsule collapsing and with all the microphones being built from metal, they survive the damages of the road.

Between the Buried and Me’s live shows are miked with a variety of sE Microphones. We are using the sE5 on Snare Top, 4400a on Snare Bottom, the 4400a on L,C,R Under Heads, V7 on Vocals and we will be adding a VR2 and 4400a on guitar cabs along with the guitaRF.

Every Time I Die live shows are miked with: sE5 on Snare top, 4400a on Snare Bottom, 4400a on OHS L and R, and the V7 on vocals.