After 40 years at the top of popular culture, Madonna is reimagining herl ive act with a beautifully curated look at her legacy alongside her present incarnation.

At the helm of the live sound is FOH Mixer Burton Ishmael - a talent who was hand-picked by the ‘Holiday’ singer upon hearing his work with Eighth Day Sound client, Post Malone. Ishmael begins: “It’s very nice to be asked to go on tour by the boss directly! Madonna is an exceptionally clever artist, and there can be a lot of pressure on a world tour, but thankfully, there’s a huge team effort going into what we’re doing, and the Eighth Day Sound crew are experts.”

He says a core action at front of house is to repeat a process that has already been done in the studio: “My job as a live engineer is to ensure that I make the music transferable to the arena setting. Not just hearing but feeling the elements contained in the songs is the step up from the technical part of mixing; being able to create emotions and connections is key,” he explains. “I must bring the energy of the artist and transfer that to the audience and vice versa, from and through my mix. It's almost like the automation phase of doing a mix on a record.”

Vocal Effects and Musical Tapestry worthy of a Queen

Lauren D’Elia, Vocal Producer and Madonna’s Audio Liaison is Madonna’s extra set of ears when she’s on stage. “I met Madonna in the studio as her engineer and vocal producer and was brought onto her last tour to help translate that to the live environment after recording ‘Madame X’. For this tour, I do the same thing but with a set list spanning her whole career. It’s a huge undertaking, and I’m working with a fantastic Vocal FX Engineer, Carl Golembeski, to bring the vocal vision to life.

“From the start of rehearsals, Carl and I sat down together and combed through the setlist. We listened through the original records and remixes and essentially reverse-engineered the different vocal chains for each song based on our findings. Once Madonna arrived, she’d get on the mic and we’d all fine-tune together. This includes different reverbs for each record, delay throws, and other effects that add to the general color and flavor of her live vocal on that record.”

Madonna’s vocals are heard via her Sennheiser 6000microphone with a 435 capsule. D’Elia continues:“On ‘Burnin’ Up’ we added a bit of distortion and on ‘Die Another Day’ we addedsome phasers and a hard-tuning setting to get that robotic sheen the originalrecord has. We strive to recreate the vocal atmospheres of the original recordsand add to it with the background vocals that Musical Director Kevin Antunes has arranged and recorded with vocalists Kiley Dean and Munchie.”

Vocal FX Engineer, Carl Golembeski adds: “I built a vocal FX performance system for real-time vocal processing to replicate the album compositions as closely as possible. In 2021 I had the opportunity to come and use it on Madonna’s shows. We worked with the studio engineers and producers to audit the songs and see how they could be recreated. The older compositions that Lauren hadn’t worked on had to find contemporary ways to be executed while still holding the energetic quality of the originals. Once dialed in, we create the mutable performance aspects so that I can perform as necessary in real-time following the artists' live dynamics. ‘Live to Tell’ and ‘Rain’ have these nice washed-out delay verbs that hug the phrases as they finish, and carry the vibe into a subtly majestic place, in my opinion.”

Musical Director Kevin Antunes gives his thoughts on how this desire for authenticity has driven the live sound for the ‘Celebration’ tour. “It’s an honor every night to step on stage with a true cultural icon. In supporting Madonna’s live vocal and guitar performance, the audience gets to experience the original studio multi-track recordings in their highest fidelity. Legendary musicians and stylistic sounds of each decade have been re-imagined with new arrangements and additional musical layers to transport the audience throughout her illustrious career.

“The approach is always cinematic because Madonna’s shows contain so many kinetic, visual elements through dance and video content. Sound design elements and new musical parts - I have a full tour keyboard rig behind the video screen - add richness to round out the overall mix. On-stage musicians include Madonna’s children David (acoustic guitar), Mercy (piano), and Estere (DJ sample pads), and Matthew Jamal features on the cello. They’re all incredibly talented and have a natural stage presence. These sound sources immerse the crowd in Madonna’s artistry and weave together a musical tapestry worthy of a Queen!”

The tour’s musical instruments are meticulously supported by Backline Crew Chief Robert ‘Bongo’ Longo, Madonna’s longtime Guitar Tech, Tommy Simpson, and Multi-track Playback Tech Glenn Erwin.

Unconventional PA

Back at FOH, mixing maestro Ishmael explains how Madonna’s record producer and collaborator, Music Producer Stuart Price, is instrumental in the direction of this detailed audio offering. “It’s great to have someone that knows the music and to have Mr. Price act as a second pair of ears. Stuart’s vision, Madonna’s vision, and with the sonic characteristics of everything we are working with here, is a ‘wow’ situation.”

When it comes to gear, it’s all chosen “wisely,” he says, from behind his Avid VENUE S6L digital mixer. “I like this desk a lot, it’s intuitive to me. L-Acoustics has been good to me too. It’s the system I started on and have had great success with, so I don't want to change that. The PA here is a little unconventional, but it allows the artist to have the whole floor laid out for her to do whatever she likes.”

Systems Engineer Andy Fitton is tuning the L-Acoustics K2 system, working closely with PA Techs Nate Peterson, Tom Lawn, Harrison Travaglino, Ellis Montgomery, and Francesco Grassi. From L-Acoustics, Dave Brooks and Chris “Sully” Sullivan provide remote application support. The design comprises K2 main hangs and KS28 subs. Outfill and side hangs are K2 with KS28 side subs and Kara II for rear hangs and center fills. The ground system is KS28, X8 and Kara II, making up an impressive total box count of 206 speakers. The system utilizes 81 L-Acoustics LA12X amplifiers and two L-Acoustics P1 processors.

Fitton comments: “The design is halfway between an in-the-round system and a traditional end-zone PA where the stage is set to one side of the arena. We wanted to have a more dispersed audio system to avoid noise on-stage and to have the speakers closer to the audience so that there is a higher ratio of direct signal to reverberation, pushing the PA Out into the arena.”

To accomplish this, the mains sit around half house.

He elaborates: “It can be complex to tune but we use the same fundamental principles that any PA system is flown with. We’ve fortunately had the backing and support from production to make it work wonderfully. Getting a show of this size in and out of an arena can be challenging, and the PA techs work exceptionally hard to keep things moving. Burton designed the system, and I think he put it best when he said the sound of this show is ‘not a greatest hits tour, but a memoir of Madonna’s life’.”

Fitton builds 3D room models using L-Acoustics’ Soundvision software and arranges the speaker deployment to achieve tonal consistency throughout the venue. Once designed and flown, Smaart tuning software and the LA Network Manager control the volume, EQ, and delay times of all the speakers individually, creating a consistent presentation of the mix throughout the scope of each venue.

A fascinating journey with Madonna

Monitor Engineer Matt Napier is at Madonna’s side stage for the 19th year, during which time he’s spent many tours with the tour’s vendor. He comments: “The Eighth Day Sound crew, in particular my Monitor Tech Roger Bammann and Comms Tech Katlyn Mountain, have been great at looking after me. In my opinion, the crew makes the gig, and Eighth Day has fielded a first-class crew for this tour, something I appreciate.”

Aptly named Audio Crew Chief, Frank Peoples, agrees: “This tour wouldn't be possible to produce without good communication. ‘Celebration’ for me is like working with a bunch of friends where you know if there is an issue, they’re looking out for you. Unified positivity is more important than ever on these tours and with the support of Eighth Day Sound, our audio crew is doing a great job at making it happen.”

Having mixed Madonna’s monitors for almost two decades, Napier explains that he constantly re-evaluates how to approach audio in this type of environment: “Looking at the changes you can make to help the artist create such a large spectacle for their fans is an evolution; I’m always striving to make the show better.

“It’s always nice to be asked back by artists you work with, and it’s certainly been a fascinating journey with Madonna. Her shows are always at the cutting edge of technology, so with each show, I approach it fresh and make sure I’m ready for the challenge. The biggest often being the environment, trying to make the IEM mix sound as consistent as possible whilst dealing with the acoustics of arenas,” he says of handling Madonna’s Wisycom and JH Audio in-ear preferences. “With ‘Celebration’, it’s often the ‘fly’ gags, keeping the in-ear mix solid despite the fact the artist is traveling in the air and in front of the PA while doing fully choreographed routines.”

As a long-time DiGiCo user, this tour marked Napier’s first time mixing on a Quantum 338. “It’s perfect for this show as we don’t have a huge channel count. The DiGiCo Mustard and Spice Rack allows me to mix everything on the console, and the ’Naga 6 Multiband Dynamic EQ is the final thing that enables me to ditch any external processing.”

Sonically, this tour looks at every aspect of Madonna’s untouchable and genre-spanning career, as Napier knows well: “She has always reinvented her sound and style, so it’s really fun to remix some of the older songs.”

Madonna’s ‘Celebration’ world tour will conclude in Mexico City on April 26th, 2024.