Billie Eilish’s FOH Engineer, Drew Thornton (Podcast Episode 6)

Since Billie Eilish began touring, Drew Thornton has been the Front of House Engineer-taking this show all over the world to arenas, stadiums, and festivals. Drew shares his approach and techniques as a live audio mix engineer in this in-depth interview.
Drew’s Instagram: / drewmthornton
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[@jas_bataille]

I really wish all the young singers that comes to my stage wishing and trying to hard to sound like Billie could understand the level of not only technique and control, but also the sheer amount of technical work involved on the FOH side to make vocals as breathy and quiet as those come alive on stage. Also, that they will have to deal with the heartbreak that it's impossible to sound like this starting to play live. Billie knows how to project very very well and her breath control is beyond belief, but it's not gonna work without the insane compression, EQ, verb work AND the tracks. There are quite a few young singers who need to understand that you cannot simply replicate this live even if you do know how to sing really well.

[@tx3851]

No front of house can make up for awful hushed vocals....

[@josiahsmiley8477]

How do live engineers like Drew protect their hearing in big stadium shows when, like he said, even the crowd is clocked at 118dB. Do they use attenuators or IEMs or something?

[@veniaminkalman]

Is Drew still a FOH for Billie?

[@nomadine85]

When you say Billie didn’t like the mix on BBC live lounge, does that include her covers from way back? Like “The end of the world” and “you don’t get me high any more”? Or do you mean the bbc live coverage of festivals?

[@xicoamc]

This was awesome! Would love to see a walk through his show file with a virtual playback to really get a grasp of what he is doing

[@HoldenLeDinh]

Thank you for this! It’s really helpful to get an inside look on professional live sound. As a solo gigging musician, with the occasional band gig, it’s mind blowing to know the precision you guys are performing and the fact that what y’all are doing during the show is a performance in of itself🤯

[@iConnectivitySupport]

Great convo gentlement. Nice to see some familar faces talking about what we love on our UA-cam feed.

[@philflyzuckermanmusic6137]

I am curious to know if sound engineers get regular hearing tests?

[@jade7661]

So interesting

[@davidwainscott4583]

I heard Drew's mix at Music Midtown 2023. It was perfection. I knew the issues he had with Billie's vocal, and she sounded amazing. As a live engineer since 1977 and touring FOH in the 80's for everyone from The O'Jays to Beatlemania to Guns 'N Roses, it was the best mix I've ever heard, and with all you had to deal with.

[@radioflyer2030]

24:08

[@mattrixx_audio]

Just saw this and the point about the LR buss processing, as opposed to backing up to the source or groups for broadcast, is soo relevant now, especially in the ATMOS broadcast world. Buss processing doesn't do anything in the bed and object world. ie Doesn't do anything with objects tracks and only messes the balance with them when used on the bed buss.

[@dwaynearthur1476]

Great interview , Both parties bring their insights into doing live sound and it is greatly appreciated ! 😊

[@anthonycarrillo8390]

Great video guys! Thank you

[@jstov]

Great interview, thanks for sharing!

[@TheViken1]

great guy, great interview

[@djabthrash]

Great chat.

[@stephane2347]

Awesome podcast/interview !!! Thank you 🎉

[@mitas3484]

Was surprised they run it on the C1500, but very capable console for sure!