Mixing Queensrÿche Live in ’25

Knoxville, TN (April 16, 2025)—With its canny mix of metal and prog rock, Queensrÿche is still on the road, currently making heads bag involuntarily on its 2025 “The Origins Tour.” Along for the ride is front-of-house engineer Andrew Peters (Dragonforce, Iced Earth), who has brought the Waves eMotion LV1 Classic console on the journey.

Peters explained the choice, noting, “The sound quality is absolutely stunning, a significant step up from other consoles I have used in the past. With the LV1 Classic and the Signature Preamps in the Waves IONIC SoundGrid stageboxes on stage, it’s a whole other beast, making the sound sonically huge.”

While the desk is compact, Peters noted that the user interface had everything he needed at hand: “Navigating the system and patching is both straightforward and beneficial. I’ve never encountered a day where I was confused about how to operate something on this console. Even after my first use, moving around the system became second nature, like clockwork.”

As might be expected, the desk makes the most of having integrated Waves plug-ins, and Peters has put them to good use throughout the production’s run. “I use the H-Comp Hybrid Compressor as the perfect buss compressor for drums,” he said. “My go-to key vocal delay, which I use in almost every song to replicate the band’s albums to accuracy, is the Waves H-Delay Hybrid Delay. Using the Waves Space Rider on my vocal reverb gives my singer and backing vocals just the right amount of space and sauce. I insert JJP Drums and the Vitamin Sonic Enhancer on my toms to give it that extra snap and attack, making the toms always present in the mix. The Magma Tube Channel Strip always gets the job done on my bass channel for that rich analog sound, and I rely on the Q10 Equalizer on the majority of my channels as the ultimate multiband parametric EQ.”

Intriguingly, Peters uses the desk to also provide monitors…to the lighting designer. The LV1 Classic sports Waves’ eMo IEM (immersive in-ear mixing), so he provides an entire FOH mix to help the designer follow along with the band, enhanced by 3D panning for an immersive experience.

Queensrÿche is always on the move, and its current tour will take the group—and Peters and the eMotion LV1 Classic—across the Americas through July.