The fact that The Rolling Stones went on tour last year is nothing short of a miracle. Not only was the tour postponed from the summer of 2020, but the band’s beloved drummer, Charlie Watts passed away in August. Nonetheless, The Stones went ahead with the tour, paying tribute to Charlie throughout.
Dave Natale, the legendary front of house mixer, had worked with The Stones many times before and joined them again for the 2021 No Filter Tour. Dave is one of the most influential and respected live sound engineers, known for his work with Prince, Tina Turner, Stevie Nicks, Yes, Motley Crue, Fleetwood Mac, Van Halen, and many more A-list artists, not to mention having mixed the two most recent Super Bowl halftime shows.
Dave first used the Austrian Audio OC18s cardioid pattern precision microphones on the reunion tour of The Black Crowes early last year and was more than pleased: “I am out on The Black Crowes Tour right now. I am using a pair of OC18‘s for the Overheads and they sound fantastic!!!!,” he reported back to Austrian Audio’s artist relations manager Walter Ruehrig, and he placed an order for a “few more” that he intended to use on The Stones’ tour later in 2021.
For the The Stones’ No Filter Tour, Dave used the OC18s as well as the new CC8 cardioid true condenser microphone:
“We used the CC8 last night for the first time. We used one on the Hi Hat and we are going to try the other one on the ride cymbal shortly.”
Both tours ended up being huge successes, the No Filter Tour standing out as one of The Stones’ greatest accomplishments. What’s even more important, though, it showed that even under the most challenging circumstances, the band was able to put on a safe and inspiring live show. And FOH engineer Dave Natale, once again, proved that he’s got what it takes to mix musical events of the utmost magnitude.
For the Austrian Audio team, it was a moment of great pride when they received Dave’s message about their mics during the tour:
“We love them. I really like the fact that they weigh a lot. They are a really nice piece of functional engineering artwork!!!!!!! Please tell everyone there that they are geniuses! We really appreciate all of their hard work!”
Concerts are back, people will be connected again by shared live sound experiences, and Austrian Audio comes prepared with a line-up of fantastic instrumental and vocal mics, both shining on stage and in the studio.