Tool live audio system upgrade

Cool article came across my desk this morning, in which Tool sound blokes Liam Halpin and Alan “Nobby” Hopkinson discuss some new audio hardware the band has employed in it’s Fear Inoculum shows:

Late last year, as fans eagerly awaited the release of Tool’s first new album in 13 years, Fear Inoculum, Halpin and FOH engineer Alan “Nobby” Hopkinson introduced an overhead speaker system to add an extra dimension to the art-metal band’s soundscapes. “I wanted it to be psychedelic, random movements that caught people out,” says Hopkinson, who has worked with the band for 20 years. “We just wanted to make the experience larger.”

“We refer to it as the effects P.A.,” says Halpin, who rejected the new generation of spatial sound systems, which require five or more speaker hangs across the stage, in favor of custom-designing a rig that would not obstruct sightlines. “The whole point of an immersive system is to enhance the show for the majority of the audience,” he says. “But how do you do surround sound for the upper bowl of an arena?”

https://www.prosoundnetwork.com/live/tool-tours-with-intricate-immersive-sound

And good news for Aussie fans as well:

Nobby originally planned to use the effects P.A. only on the initial U.S. leg following the album release, “but now we’re taking it everywhere,” he says, including the upcoming run in Australia and New Zealand.

“The band made that call. That’s rewarding.”

Looking forward to checking it out in a few weeks time!