Behind the Live Mix of Young the Giant - LV1 Classic on Tour

Jan 15, 2026 | 6,599 Views

FOH engineer Lloyd Williams breaks down how he mixed Young the Giant’s In the Open tour, balancing an intimate unplugged set with a full electric show. Filmed at the world-famous Red Rocks Amphitheater, he shares the real-world mix decisions behind a highly dynamic live performance.

When U.S. alt-rock favorites Young the Giant embarked on their recent In the Open tour, their long-time FOH engineer and tour manager Lloyd Williams—whose credits also include PVRIS, The Pretty Reckless, and many others—chose to mix the tour on a Waves eMotion LV1 Classic console. We caught up with Williams on the tour’s final stop at Denver’s famed Red Rocks Amphitheater, where he added to his setup the new eMotion LV1 Control fader expansion unit.

“This is my sixth or seventh time at Red Rocks,” Lloyd shares, “and it’s always special to return, especially with the fantastic setup I’m now working with.”

“This is the last show of the tour, and we’ve stayed true to the format throughout: alternating between an unplugged set and a full-band electric set. Each set has very different requirements. For the unplugged set, we use the LV1 Classic to run monitors from front of house. Then, for the electric set, we switch to a different show file on the LV1, moving monitors back to the stage.”

Lloyd expanded his LV1 Classic’s fader count with an LV1 Control fader bank

More Channels, More Faders

“This is also my first time using the new v16 version of the LV1 Classic,” Lloyd continues. “It supports up to 80 mono or stereo channels, which really means up to 160 inputs. We’re not at that level with this band yet; we’re currently running about 60 channels. But I anticipate that next year I’ll be taking full advantage of the expanded capacity, especially when working with other artists. Having that many available inputs is incredible.”

“One thing I’m really excited about,” he adds, “is the new LV1 Control fader bank. The team at Waves shared an early unit with me for these shows, and having the chance to get hands-on with it has been amazing. I’ve been using the Classic throughout this tour, and I sometimes found myself wanting more physical faders to grab. Now, with the LV1 Control, I can just plug it in via USB and have even more hands-on control.”

He continues, “My mix lives mostly on a single page: all my DCAs, some drum groups, and my main vocal, which is the fader I’m touching for most of the show. During the unplugged set, the band plays much more dynamically, especially the guitars. When one of the guys switches to acoustic and I’m out of screen real estate, I can now reach over to the LV1 Control and grab the faders I need in real time for those song-specific adjustments. For the unplugged set, I’m not using snapshots. It’s a very organic show, so I’m mixing constantly on DCAs. The electric set, on the other hand, relies heavily on scenes.”

With LV1 Control, LV1 Classic’s fader count expands to 34

Mixing a Dynamic Show with Full Plugin Integration

“There are several Waves plugins I couldn’t do this show without,” Lloyd notes. “InPhase has been on my kick and snare since day one. As usual, I use the indispensable F6 Floating-Band Dynamic EQ on everything. I’ve also been doing some really interesting things with PSE (Primary Source Expander), using it in ducking mode and side-chaining it to other instruments, then setting the gain structure so nothing gets through when I don’t want it to. In effect, I’m using them like dual PSE gates. I’ve also had Kramer Master Tape on the master bus for as long as I can remember, where I’ve developed some go-to settings that really shape the sound, especially with the speed and bias controls.”

“I recently started using the Abbey Road TG Mastering Chain for subtle, wide‑Q subtractive EQ, and occasionally additive EQ, especially when a PA system isn’t giving me exactly what I want. It’s very transparent. For lead vocal effects, I’m using H‑Reverb Hybrid Reverb with snapshots for the electric set. Every song has a completely different reverb setting: different input and output echoes, different reverb times, different room sizes. The goal is to recreate the reverb textures from the records. At this point, over the last two years, we’ve built around 52 snapshots, each with its own reverb design.”

He notes, “I love LV1 Classic’s size, the friendly screen, and the ability to switch between 48 kHz and 96 kHz depending on the servers I’m using. The console sounds fantastic, the Waves Signature Preamps sound amazing, and so do the two Waves IONIC 24 stageboxes I’m using. The plugins do exactly what I need, and I can shape my inputs precisely the way I want to hear them.”

Williams concludes: “In a nutshell, the Waves eMotion LV1 Classic is the console. I don’t see myself using anything else. It works for everything, especially with its small size and portability, whether it’s on a tour bus, in a hotel room, or on stage. The band loves how it sounds in their in-ears when we run monitors from it, and I love how it sounds at front of house. It does everything I need it to do right now, and with future software updates coming, there are only going to be more exciting possibilities to explore.”

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