By Paroo Streich

New York City- Formerly head of sound at New York’s late, great Wetlands, Randy Taber has been running the FOH position at B.B.King’s Blues Club since 2001. The venue is a key part of NYC's musical landscape, offering every kind of music, from zydeco to punk, to yep, the blues. As if to underline the club’s variety, Taber recently mixed his third show in as many years three for former Squeeze singer/songwriter/guitarist, Glenn Tilbrook, just prior to the club’s major PA revamp.

Tilbrook, who typically tours solo these days, brought his band, The Fluffers, along for a dozen U.S. gigs this summer, “Glenn’s monitoring needs are basic, said Taber, who found it easy to work with Tilbrook. “He wants vocals, keyboards and kick ‘n’ snare.” Tilbrook agreed, “If I can hear all that in my wedge, I’m happy. We don’t tour with a crew, so we’re at the mercy of a club’s sound system and the guy doing the sound. We’re lucky that Randy has picked up on our needs so quickly.”

Two-and-a-half songs into the sound check, Taber had the band’s levels. “When Glenn can hear his vocal and guitar-especially his acoustic-over the band, we’re nearly there.” Taber said. The club features Stage Accompany boxes for monitoring and mains, and Trilbrook was pleased with the wedges, which he preferred to personal monitors. “I like to hear what’s happening around me, “ said Tilbrook. “I enjoy the ambiance of sound, and I wouldn’t want it to be enclosed. They’ve got a nice system here, I’m always happy with the output and so is the audience. That’s why I come back every year.”

Central to the club’s FOH position is a Yamaha PM3500 board, with racks of out-board gear tucked beneath it. Although Tilbrook likes his live sound to “boil down as simple and direct as possible,” Taber found that the Brit’s melodic, sing-along style benefited from a judicious use of effects. “I’ll use a Yamaha SPX990 voice doubler of slap delay on Glenn for the choruses, “ said Taber. “Other times, I’ll use a long delay with fallback into Lexicon PCM81 reverb. But, in general, I’ll go for a 120-130 millisecond delay first instead of reverb, because I’ve heard short delay on Glenn’s recordings. Short delay gives the listener the perception of space without affecting the clarity of sound. During the verses, I use just a reverb, so it’s really big and lush.”

Tilbrook’s distinctive tenor was captured via Shure house mics, Taber explained: “I put Glenn on a Beta 58 because it gives a little more gain before feedback, which is good for the monitors and the mains, especially with the way our monitors are configured-one on each side of the lead singer.” For drum miking, AKG 414s were used for overheads, Electro-Voice 868s for kick drum, and an EV RE200 for hi-hat. “The 414s are amazing mics,” said Taber, “very open-sounding. You can get the entire sound of the kit because their pickup is so natural, The EV 868s have enough thump and attack so you can really hear the low end and the kick drum.”

And then there were a few points where the drum kit wasn’t used. Tilbrook took advantage of B.B.’s intimate feel to leave the stage at one point and parade around, singing troubadour-style with his acoustic. “Glenn’s drummer, Simon Hanson, followed him on bongos and keyboardist, Stephen Large, was blowing into a mic attached to a tiny toy keyboard, “ Taber laughed, “really comical and the audience loved it. Glenn does this every show; it adds to the excitement of the set and his spontaneity keeps me on my toes.”

The band may have had some difficulty hearing itself away from the stage, however. “The sound coverage in the back wasn’t great at the time of his show,” said Taber, “but we’ve fixed that now.” In August, Taber undertook a considerable new audio install with Amit Peleg of InterJazz/Peltrix (Baldwin, NY), which also handled the venue’s initial installation in 1999-2000. This time, he came back to help reinforce 25 feet of upper-tier space in front of the main speakers, “When you have 1,000 people in the venue, the sound at the extreme points of the room, like the bar and the wings, is lacking because it’s being absorbed by so many bodies, “ Taber explained. “My solution was to add a delayed series of speakers focused on jus the areas that needed reinforcement. :” This reinforcement included adding eight Stage Accompany E24 speakers, two L-Acoustic dV subs, and an XTA DP224 processor.

“The zone gear allows me to run the mains much lower since I don’t need to throw them as far,” said Taber, “but most importantly, it improves sound quality all over the room.” In addition, four Stage Accompany L27stage monitors were added to the zone, as well as a QSC RMX5050 amplifier for the dV subs.

Taber is now completing install of a Digidesign Pro Tools system in conjunction with Jaime Colon of XM Satellite Radio. Colon spec’d out he new system, which will allow for live broadcast of select shows from the venue. “We were looking for someone to help us with a Pro Tools install, and they were looking for a venue to do live broadcasts from,” Taber noted, “so it’s mutually beneficial.” Taber looks forward to Tilbrook’s return to B.B.’s next year and thinks he’ll enjoy the improvements. “Hey, now Glenn will be able to hear everything when he’s up busking at the bar!”