2003 LPU Tour - Band Live Notes

Introduction: First of all, I apologize for how long this took, I meant to write an analysis for this as soon as LPL acquired it, but it fell off my radar for a while. Anyway, I'm sure a lot of the FOH notes from this rehearsal set might as well be in a foreign language for some people, so I'm going to do my best to explain what all of these notes actually mean. Hopefully this gives you some extra insight!

Analysis:

"FOR BRAD DIVENS - VOCAL EFFECTS"

A quick refresher for anyone who doesn't already know, Brad Divens was LP's FOH engineer prior to Pooch. He's known to have worked with the band from early 2001 (and possibly earlier than that) through the Summer Sonic shows in 2006.

"FOR CHAZ - 990 ON AT ALL TIMES except when talking between songs. he likes a little delay on the choruses in general."

The "990" that is mentioned throughout these notes is referring to a Yamaha SPX990, which is a rack-mounted effects processor that LP uses for vocal reverb effects. Chester's vocals are nearly always run through this, as are a lot of Mike's singing parts. Chester also apparently likes to have a little bit of delay on his vocals during choruses, presumably to make them sound "bigger" and create a contrast in sound. Particularly around the Meteora era, nearly every LP song had a "big chorus" that was sung by Chester, so this makes a lot of sense.

"FOR MIKE - A LITTLE REVERB, COMPRESSED HARD (can i get it compressed into my ears as well?)"

For Mike's vocals, he prefers not to have them run through the SPX990, as the big echo-y reverb sound tends not to sound good with rapping, so he instead opts to have a more subtle reverb added, presumably at the FOH console itself. He also likes to have his vocals compressed, which makes a lot of sense for a rapper, as it helps balance out the volume level (a lot of rappers tend to lose volume on the last couple words before they take a breath, so this helps prevent an audible "drop out" of Mike's vocals in spots). He also apparently wants the compression effect to be present in his in-ear monitors as well, so he can hear himself better.

"DONT STAY

delay on chester: "don't stay" in beginning and middle of chorus. half notes.

delay on chester: at end of chorus 2, "stay." whole notes, like one step closer.

can we get distortion on chester in bridge?"

The first of many vocal delay effects mentioned here. The first line refers to the delay on the sustained "don't stay" lines Chester has in the choruses, the second refers to the sustained "stay" that Chester sings leading into the bridge. The OSC reference is basically saying that the delay on this part is similar to the last "break" leading into the bridge of One Step Closer (since Brad Divens worked with LP on the Hybrid Theory cycle, it would've been helpful to use more familiar songs as reference points, as he would've had a couple years of experience mixing them). They also apparently experimented with distorting Chester's vocals on the bridge, but I don't believe this wound up being something used during live performances.

"SOMEWHERE I BELONG

mike and brad's guitars should be even in this song

slight delay on chester in verses

slap delay on chester in bridge (slap or quarter note delay)

big delay at end of bridge "today." whole note."

I wouldn't say Mike and Brad's guitars were ever "even" on this song, Brad's always seemed to stick out more to me. In fact, I always had a hard time picking Mike's guitar out of the mix during the Meteora cycle...but I digress. More vocal delay effects here, the first is on Chester's lines during the verses (for example, the way his voice echoes and fades on the last syllable of "when this began"). The second seems like a more experimental thing, as I can't remember there being any delay on Chester's vocals during the SIB bridge around this time...I know they added a delay repeat on the last two words of "I will never be..." in later years, but I don't think that was present in 2003. The last one refers to how the last word of "I'll find myself today" echoes several times leading into the final chorus.

"LYING FROM YOU

delay on chaz - held out notes in beginning of each line (you, etc.)"

Pretty self-explanatory, this refers to how Chester's voice echoes on "you," "go," and "see" in the chorus of this song.

"PAPERCUT

delay on chester in verses"

Self-explanatory again, Chester's backup vocals during Mike's rap vocals echo a couple times (both the whispered "why" parts and the shouted "SIDE...EYES...LIE" part he's always done on the live version of this song).

"POINTS

chaz - chorus - end delay on "learned" (half note)"

This refers to how the word "learned" at the end of each chorus in Points of Authority echoes a few times.

"RUNAWAY"

Hey, nothing special for Brad Divens to do on this song! Maybe he should go bug Fiore or something...

"FAINT

mike's guitar should be in front of brad's here

chester - delay in verses (rapping)

delay on chester in opening, 1/2 way thru of chorus

chaz uses bullhorn in bridge - make this angry

can we put 990 on mike in choruses? it needs to be OFF in verses."

Again, surprised that Mike's guitar is supposed to be more prominent on this one, as I always thought that Brad's was either louder, or both guitars were pretty equal at best on any 2003 live recordings of Faint I've heard. The verse rapping delay refers to Chester's backup parts on "I am" and "So I," which both echo a bit. The chorus note refers to the phrases "I can't feel" and "Time won't heal" in the choruses. If you listen to the Meteora album version of Faint, those lines are sustained, and the lines that come after them ("the way I did before" and "this damage anymore") are actually an overdubbed vocal part. I'm assuming this was done to attempt to replicate that as best as they could for the live version. Apparently Chester was also using a bullhorn (megaphone) for the screaming bridge during rehearsals, but this never wound up being done live. The "make this angry" note probably refers to using some kind of distortion effect for this part. Mike also has the SPX990 on for his chorus vocals, as he sings the harmonies along with Chester on "I won't be ignored."

"BREAKING THE HABIT

mostly chester

"breaking the habit" - tons of delay

all of bridge - delay"

As we all know, BTH wound up not being played until November of 2003, but it's cool to see they had rehearsed it this far in advance. No Mike vocals on this one (at least not in 2003 - he did start singing the harmonies in the second verse at some point during the MTM touring cycle though), so the only vocal effects are for delay on the "breaking the habit" lines at the end of each chorus, as well as the entire bridge (most noticeable on the long sustained words - "walls," "fault," etc.).

"FROM THE INSIDE

brad's guitar should be the focus in this song.

mike raps "everyone feels so far away from me." delay on "me." half notes.

chorus - wet

long "you" into bridge: wet

as we get into bridge screaming, dry

music cuts, chester sings "take everything from the inside" - very wet, with flange.

ending - chester sings "you / you / you" - this should be dry"

Not surprised that Brad's guitar is up front on this one, as all of Mike's guitar parts on this song double what Brad plays, Brad just plays by himself in some sections. Mike gets the delay effect on his vocals for a change here, as his single rap lines midway through each verse have echo on the last word. The chorus being "wet" just refers to the vocals having more reverb than usual, and apparently they wanted even more reverb for the sustained "you" leading into the screaming bridge. The bridge itself is "dry," which makes sense, as the reverb is primarily used to "sweeten up" Chester's singing voice, and there's definitely nothing "sweet" about the bridge! For the nearly-acapella line Chester sings at the start of the last chorus, the reverb is pushed back up, and a flanger effect is also added for just that one line (this is actually easier to hear on the studio version, but they apparently did it on the live version too, or at least attempted to recreate it during rehearsals). Lastly, they cut the reverb out again for the repeated "you" lines that close the song.

"HIT THE FLOOR

can we put 990 on mike in choruses? it needs to be OFF in verses."

Like on Faint, they used the SPX990 on Mike's vocals during the choruses (and I'm assuming the bridge as well), primarily for when Mike harmonizes with Chester on "and then it's all gone."

"WITH YOU

verses - chester - delay."

This is just like on Chester's "rap" backing vocals on Papercut and Faint, where his lines echo. The opening line "I woke up in a dream today..." is an example of this.

"CRAWLING

mike and brad's guitars should be even in this song."

Once again, that's not really how this came out. Mike's guitar on Crawling was a LITTLE easier to hear on the Meteora touring cycle than it was in 2001-2002, but not much.

"IN THE END"

Nothing for Divens to do again...Fiore's probably hiding from him by now, so his next best option might be to try stealing Sean Paden's hat...

"EASIER TO RUN

mike's guitar should be in front of brad's here

chester's vocals should be very wet. especially on chorus.

delay and verb?

especially on opening line (and when it repeats)

put 990 on mike on this

mike - verse 2 singing needs delay, but it must cut out when rapping starts.

mike - tons of delay and verb on last chorus section (following bridge, after v2)"

Lots of notes on this one! This is the one song I can think of from the Meteora cycle where Mike's guitar actually did seem to be "up front" as the notes suggest. The next 3 lines basically just refer to Chester having a lot of reverb on his vocals on this song, along with possibly some delay, particularly in any spot where he sings "it's easier to run." Mike has the SPX990 on his vocals for this song, which makes sense because he sings a lot of backup vocals and only has a couple small rap parts. Speaking of Mike's backup vocals, that's exactly what the last two lines refer to - his singing vocals in the second verse and last chorus are very prominent, so he wanted some extra delay/reverb to have them match up better with Chester. He also makes a specific note to have these effects cut out at the end of the second verse when his rap part starts.

"PLACE FOR MY HEAD

end- screams "take...a...way" - delay through end."

Hey, I finally figured out what Chester's screaming at the end of this song! I always thought it was "get away," huh. Anyway, Chester's end screams have some delay on them.

"ONE STEP CLOSER

delay on chester in verses - full note

on "just like before" - put a heavy flanger on mike, then remove for chorus

make sure to get the delay in the bridge (similar to don't stay) on "break"

then remove for bridge. bridge is extended and will have talking"

The first line refers to Chester's vocals echoing in the gaps in the verses - "anyMORE...beFORE..." etc. The flanger effect on Mike's sung line for the pre-chorus makes sense (the vocals on that part in the studio version have a bit of an "underwater effect" to them), but I don't believe this wound up being used during live performances. The last two lines refer to the last "break" at the end of the second chorus that leads into the bridge having delay on it, with a note to cut the vocal effects afterward for the extended bridge (this may have been prior to them deciding to do the Reanimation bridge, as I believe there were some additional vocal effects used there that aren't mentioned).