At FOH, Jamie Landry is working from an SSL L500 console
USA - Nine-time Grammy-winning jazz songstress Norah Jones, first shot to stardom in 2002 with the release of her debut record Come Away With Me, which has sold more than 20m copies. Today, her record sales have surpassed the 50m mark and after recently completing a tour of Australia and New Zealand, she has embarked on a 24-date North American tour, where FOH engineer Jamie Landry is mixing from an SSL L500 console.
The North American tour kicked off on 18 June at Pittsburgh's Heinz Hall. Although the venues can be varied, Landry says for the most part, Jones and her band tend to play in theatres.
“It's a nice situation where she can do a theatre in most markets at this point; she doesn't over-reach, which means she can sell 2,000-plus tickets pretty much anywhere,” Landry explains, adding that all of the shows have been or will be sold-out. “She's really willing to try all kinds of different musical styles, and is up for collaborating with all kinds of different people - that really pays off.”
Landry started out on monitors for Jones before moving to FOH - and now he also wears the production manager hat. It's a lot of work, made that bit easier by his decision to move to an SSL.
“When I made the switch to SSL, I initially went with an L300, which I really liked the ergonomics of,” he reveals. “But I decided that I wanted the extra local I/O, and so I ended up on the L500; and now I am really accustomed to the layout, and very happy with it. Also, moving from the L300 to the L500 was totally seamless.
“I am not the techiest engineer in the world, so I'm perhaps a little slower than most when it comes to adapting to new equipment, but actually, I found the SSL really intuitive to mix on right away,” he says. “It also sounds amazing - that is what I love the most about it - so I enjoy working on it a lot.”
(Jim Evans)

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