With an esteemed career behind the faders, Bill Sheppell has mixed for the likes of Beyoncé and Bon Jovi over the years. This year, he lent his talents to Shakira, mixing for her Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran World Tour. Sheppell sat down with TPi to discuss his workflow for the tour, which included the Universal Audio Apollo X16D.
“I started with Shakira in June, mixing the 2024 Copa América final halftime show,” began Sheppell. “Tour rehearsals started in October and went through to January 2025 with the first show taking place in early February in Brazil.”
When it came to his mixing approach, he stated how his main goal was to “keep her vocal out front, no matter what the song style”. He continued: “This went from thumping club stuff, to straight ahead rock, or a delicate ballad.”
For the South and North American tour, Sheppell and the audio team was supported by Eighth Day Sound and Clair Global.
“I work with them all the time, so it was fairly straight forward once we hammered out some details,” commented the engineer, outlining the d&b audiotechnik GSL system that he selected for the tour. “I had used a very similar rig on Beyonce’s Renaissance World Tour and had very good results. Shakira came to that show in Miami, and I was contacted to do the tour the next day. So, I brought the product I had used that helped me get the gig. I have also used d&b systems on many other tours with great results, so it was a no-brainer – especially with the advantage of ArrayProcessing.”
The system design was one of the biggest challenges for Sheppell and the audio team due to the large thrust as well as some stadiums where sound was “challenging”. He explained: “The main tools for these problems were proper PA placement, ringing out the vocal mics and using ArrayProcessing to clean up the room as much as possible.”
Sheppell selected the DiGiCo Quantum 852 mixing console for control. “It has been working out well and sounds great,” he enthused, explaining how he’s used various versions of the Quantum series for some time including the 852, the 338 or SD7.
Keeping the conversation on control, Sheppell described how he utilised the Universal Audio Apollo X16D within his outboard set. “I’m using the X16D for the reverbs as I really like the ones that UA has including the Lexicon 224, EMT 140 and AMS RMX16. The quality of the plugins compared to the analogue pieces that I am used to made me want to use the unit. They sound great and all the UA gear I have been using has been holding up well on the road.”
Although the X16D was a newer addition to Sheppell’s spice rack, he was familiar with the Universal Audio brand. “I started using an Apollo 16 unit early on, as I like the plugins available. I went to the Live Rack as soon as it came out. The optical MADI allowed me to have it go with the Optocore DD2/4 and show up as a rack in DiGiCo world that cut down latency. It also could be used in the redundant engines of an SD7 easily, being on the Optocore loop.” He expressed his excitement to further explore the capabilities of the system, adding that he planned to explore the e1x Dante preamp when he gets some time.
“The tour has been tough but rewarding,” he concluded. “The schedule and moving this stadium show around the world is hard, but the shows have been good with great reviews, so it makes it worth it. We are doing a second run of Mexico now and will be going back to South America to finish 2025.”
Words: Stew Hume
Photos: Nathan Peterson
