RIGGED: THE CONTORTIONIST’S JONATHAN CARPENTER (VOCALS/KEYBOARDS)

July 5th, 2012 at 3:00pm
MetalSucks

MetalSucks is sponsoring the Intrinsic 2012 Tour featuring The Contortionist, Jeff Loomis, Chimp Spanner and 7 Horns 7 Eyes. We start our Intrinsic Rigged series with The Contortionist’s vocalist and keyboard player Jonathan Carpenter. Loomis walked us through his live gear setup in a Rigged column a couple of months back and we’ve got one from Chimp Spanner on the way. Here’s Jonathan:

I like to bring my own vocal mics on tour for sanitary reasons. It also keeps things more predictable. When I run around the stage I use a Sennheiser 935; it’s a super cardioid and has plenty of output before feedback. The Shure Beta 57 is my choice for the mic on a stand when I’m behind the keyboard, as its mid-range is a bit brighter than the Sennheiser. I’ve recently introduced a Yamaha MG82 mixer to my setup to allow more volume and EQ options on the fly during the set each night.

RIGGED: THE CONTORTIONIST’S JONATHAN CARPENTER (VOCALS/KEYBOARDS)

For live keyboards, I utilize the Yamaha MO6 synth to recreate sounds from Exoplanet and Intrinsic. It has split and layering options so I can combine patches to give a more textured sound. I usually like to have it pass through a small two-channel mixer so I can give Front of House a strong signal, and it provides an overall EQ option for me on-stage.

My pedalboard consists of the sustainer pedal for my keyboard and an Electro Harmonix Voice Box stompbox using the Vocoder setting. I have that 100% wet and being sent into an additional channel on my mixer so I can blend it into my dry vocal channel.