Jamaica on the World Stage- Glastonbury

In a continuation of the Jamaica on the World Stage – Coachella article, where we, with the help of live audio engineer Gregory Morris, delved into life on the road with Protoje and his Indiggnation band. We now managed to get some time with Claude “Weakhand” Reynolds, live audio engineer for Chronixx and the Zincfence Redemption. Weakhand gave us some insight about working with the band on one of the largest stages the United Kingdom has to offer.

Glastonbury Claude ‘Weak Hand’ Reynolds Chronixx Engineer

How different is your preparation for a show like Glastonbury as opposed to a regular tour stop?

The biggest difference with a festival like that, as opposed to a regular tour stop, is the level of production. Everything runs on time and there are huge crews to help with everything.

In terms of equipment, what was used for the show?

For this show I was on an Avid Profile console and a massive L-Acoustics PA system.

Does the band you work with request anything special from you to better engage the audience?

It is always the responsibility of the engineer to make sure everything on stage translates well to the audience, they can hear everything they see on stage clearly.

Does the sound in the venue change depending on the audience and how do you compensate for that change?

Yes it does sometimes more drastically that others. We will have a great sound check when the venue is empty and then when the audience comes, it sounds totally different. To compensate, for the first 5-10 minutes of the set there are a number of things I have to adjust (levels, EQ’s, compressors, gates, effects.) until I get it back to where I’m comfortable.

How do you know when you have done your job especially well, do you have cues you look for in the crowd?

There are a few cues I look for. The response of the audience and also the house crew. After show they will come and commend you on a good show.

Please add anything you feel would help the people reading understand the specialness of the moment for you and the band you work with.

There are a lot of moments on and off stage that makes the band special. On stage, the cohesiveness we they play and off stage the reasonings we hold, football, the overall energy. We roll as brothers.