- 6 weeks ago
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On this episode of DTB’s “Gear Masters”, Don DeBiase, front-of-house & lighting director of the alternative metal band, Mushroomhead, shows off the gear that he uses, while on tour with Psychostick, Black Satellite, and Mind Incision. Mushroomhead is currently supporting their newest album, Call the Devil.
PLAY THE SAME GEAR:
Cymatic Audio uTrack24 Live Recorder & Player & Interface - https://cymaticaudio.com/product/utrack24-live-recorder-player-interface/
DMXIS Lighting Control Software - https://www.dmxis.com/
Behringer X32 Rack 40-channel Rackmount Digital Mixer - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/R0Ry7g
Apple iPad - https://amzn.to/3Qm79NP
RF Venue Wireless RF Distribution System - https://www.rfvenue.com/
Tech 21 SansAmp - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/dyRo6K
CITC Maniac Moving Head Geyser Effect Light - https://amzn.to/4mcD3rW
VIDEO INFO:
Film Date - October 28, 2025
Location - The Vixen in McHenry, IL
KEEP UP WITH MUSHROOMHEAD:
Facebook - https://facebook.com/mushroomheadofficial
Instagram - https://instagram.com/mushroomheadofficial
Twitter - https://twitter.com/mushroomhead
FOLLOW US:
Website/Email List - https://www.digitaltourbus.com/#/portal/signup
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/digitaltourbus
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/digitaltourbus/
TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@digitaltourbus
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/digitaltourbus/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/digitaltourbus
Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/digitaltourbus/
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-tour-bus-llc
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/user/digitaltourbus
VIDEO SUMMARY:
00:00 Introduction
00:39 Skip Intro
01:14 Lighting
02:15 Water Drums
03:17 Playback & Wireless
ABOUT DIGITAL TOUR BUS:
Digital Tour Bus is your backstage pass to your favorite touring artists! With daily video releases, we cover all genres, and have had the pleasure of featuring the likes of Matchbox Twenty, Twenty One Pilots, Megadeth, MGK, Papa Roach, AJR, Pierce The Veil, Simple Plan, A Day to Remember, and thousands of others over the past 15 years. "Bus Invaders" takes you inside an artist's home on the road, "Cooking at 65mph" showcases the culinary skills of artists on tour, "Gear Masters" unveils the equipment musicians use on stage, and "Stage Threads" dives into the meaning and inspiration behind the clothing artists wear during their performances.
Affiliate Disclosure:
Some of the links in this description are affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you if you make a purchase. Your support helps me continue to create content like this. Thank you!
Buy official DTB merch at http://digtb.us/merch
On this episode of DTB’s “Gear Masters”, Don DeBiase, front-of-house & lighting director of the alternative metal band, Mushroomhead, shows off the gear that he uses, while on tour with Psychostick, Black Satellite, and Mind Incision. Mushroomhead is currently supporting their newest album, Call the Devil.
PLAY THE SAME GEAR:
Cymatic Audio uTrack24 Live Recorder & Player & Interface - https://cymaticaudio.com/product/utrack24-live-recorder-player-interface/
DMXIS Lighting Control Software - https://www.dmxis.com/
Behringer X32 Rack 40-channel Rackmount Digital Mixer - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/R0Ry7g
Apple iPad - https://amzn.to/3Qm79NP
RF Venue Wireless RF Distribution System - https://www.rfvenue.com/
Tech 21 SansAmp - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/dyRo6K
CITC Maniac Moving Head Geyser Effect Light - https://amzn.to/4mcD3rW
VIDEO INFO:
Film Date - October 28, 2025
Location - The Vixen in McHenry, IL
KEEP UP WITH MUSHROOMHEAD:
Facebook - https://facebook.com/mushroomheadofficial
Instagram - https://instagram.com/mushroomheadofficial
Twitter - https://twitter.com/mushroomhead
FOLLOW US:
Website/Email List - https://www.digitaltourbus.com/#/portal/signup
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/digitaltourbus
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/digitaltourbus/
TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@digitaltourbus
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/digitaltourbus/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/digitaltourbus
Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/digitaltourbus/
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-tour-bus-llc
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/user/digitaltourbus
VIDEO SUMMARY:
00:00 Introduction
00:39 Skip Intro
01:14 Lighting
02:15 Water Drums
03:17 Playback & Wireless
ABOUT DIGITAL TOUR BUS:
Digital Tour Bus is your backstage pass to your favorite touring artists! With daily video releases, we cover all genres, and have had the pleasure of featuring the likes of Matchbox Twenty, Twenty One Pilots, Megadeth, MGK, Papa Roach, AJR, Pierce The Veil, Simple Plan, A Day to Remember, and thousands of others over the past 15 years. "Bus Invaders" takes you inside an artist's home on the road, "Cooking at 65mph" showcases the culinary skills of artists on tour, "Gear Masters" unveils the equipment musicians use on stage, and "Stage Threads" dives into the meaning and inspiration behind the clothing artists wear during their performances.
Affiliate Disclosure:
Some of the links in this description are affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you if you make a purchase. Your support helps me continue to create content like this. Thank you!
Category
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FunTranscript
00:00I call it the fridge because it's about as big as a fridge, a fridge and then the freezer.
00:04And the water sprays out on the head.
00:05And of course Simon's really good with putting all the tape on and all like the caulk.
00:09Okay, get ready for the blinder.
00:10Okay, get ready for the strobe.
00:11Or hey, get ready to black out.
00:12Okay, come back in.
00:39Hey, what's up?
00:40My name is Don DiBiase.
00:41I am the front of house and LD for the band Mushroomhead.
00:44And we are here out on the Call of the Devil tour.
00:47And I'm here to run down our production for you guys.
00:51And so basically I have everything set up different for me for this band.
00:57Now a lot of sound guys and LDs would do things completely different.
01:00But this is just kind of how I work in my little world.
01:03So to start off with some of the gear that everyone's seen with this band.
01:07From the water drums to even like some of the lighting.
01:10I have all the lighting on time code through a computer.
01:13And how I do certain things with some of our effects and tracks and everything.
01:17We do it a little bit differently.
01:19So I've got everything off of a player versus a laptop.
01:22And everything kind of runs through MIDI.
01:25And some of the cool pieces that we have for what we're doing is this.
01:29This is something that we've always loved.
01:30We have a what it's called by CITC.
01:33It's called the Maniac.
01:34Now they have newer versions of these.
01:35And you can see these are a little older.
01:37They've been around our camp for about 10 years.
01:39And what it is is it's a lighting mover.
01:41But what's cool about it is it's got a geyser built in.
01:43So the geyser could spray out at all different ways.
01:46I have it programmed to go like in an X.
01:48Like you know the X as much as it does the X face.
01:50I have it programmed to go out straight or up top.
01:53Which is kind of cool.
01:54And the same thing with all the standard movers, blinders.
01:58We still have some of the old colored sticks.
02:00We might be moving into different facets with lighting as time comes on.
02:04In the side we have our normal strobes and movers.
02:07Now some shows we'll bring like six to eight trusses.
02:10Some of them we'll just do a few depending on the side of the stage.
02:12But then of course also we have our water drums.
02:15Which you know the band has been famous for.
02:17Which Simon is one of the players.
02:19And you know two unbeknownst sometimes we make the joke that you just do the hey the Fonzie tap and
02:25then the water comes out.
02:25And that's kind of how it works.
02:26But there is a little bit more mechanics in the plumbing realm that I'm not really sure of how it
02:30works.
02:31But I know these guys will step on the thing.
02:33The water comes out.
02:34And then when they do the performing you know the water will sprout here.
02:37Hydraulics.
02:38And it's all through.
02:39It's all hydraulics.
02:40Just a little bit like I think that's like an old machine.
02:42Machinist.
02:43Like for like running a lathe or something in a machine shop.
02:46That's kind of how that works.
02:47And then you know with a pump and pumps through the water.
02:50And the water sprays out on the head.
02:52And of course Simon's really good with putting all the tape on and all like the caulk so none of
02:56the water gets through.
02:57And this DMX is.
02:58And we've got DMX lights in there.
02:59And we have to re-plug in.
03:01Which is way under there.
03:01Yeah.
03:02So basically that also if you wanted to come around here.
03:04Obviously we have standard strobes, colored strobes and regular white strobes.
03:09Some of the lights are just basic what you'd know.
03:12But here's the catch.
03:13Here's how I run everything differently.
03:14So here's the rig.
03:16And I'm going to get to where all these modules are for a minute.
03:18As you can see this rig's already on.
03:19But this one's a little bit older.
03:20So what I have to do is the old, I'm a little older guy.
03:22So I have to do the Fonzie A and I kind of hit it.
03:25And all of a sudden it just kind of goes on.
03:27And there it is.
03:28Now it just all turned on because of the old Fonzie.
03:31So basic what we have is a lot of bands are using in-ears.
03:35Some of our guys use both.
03:36We use in-ears and monitors.
03:38So I have it set up to where we have some of the older modules with in-ears.
03:43We have vocal mics.
03:45And at the same time I have it set up to where like everything's all labeled and organized.
03:50I've got all the antennas.
03:51And it looks kind of gross to like some future sound guys.
03:53But this actually works for me.
03:54I've got some of the flags I haven't set up yet for, you know, for the distance, for some of
03:59the vocals.
04:00I've got a cool dual channel for the guitars through a company called RF Venue.
04:03Which makes really cool stuff.
04:05Which I'm not finished setting up today yet.
04:07But it'll get there.
04:09Then we also have Kempers.
04:10Which a lot of guys use Kempers and Quad Cortex now instead of amps.
04:13And then I still am an X32 guy.
04:17But my big thing with the X32 is I still mix on an iPad.
04:20A lot of sound guys are always on my case that I don't use a desk or whatever.
04:24But I'm faster on the pad.
04:26And for me, in being a one-trick pony with this band, for me, the pad is the way to
04:30go.
04:30And that's what I do.
04:31So I pretty much have it all set up on here.
04:32To where I've got, you know, I'm a very organized guy.
04:35So I like having everything color-coded with my drums, my guitars.
04:40And this is 101 for every sound guy.
04:42Nothing special.
04:43But I love how I have everything set up to where it's like very organized, etc.
04:47So I don't mix on a desk.
04:49The key to all this is, for me, is with the players.
04:53We have a track player.
04:55This is an older company.
04:56Unfortunately, they're not around anymore called Cymatic Audio.
04:58And I still love it because it's all about the organization for me.
05:01I love how things are organized when it comes to, I could hit one button and it plays everything
05:07from our effects, 808s, all the different stuff that you would have in a click source for Aiden.
05:12But it also has a MIDI out so I could change all the Kemper channels for the guitar tones.
05:17And I could change all the lighting and the sounds and the lighting and all the banks and all the
05:21different things, the geysers.
05:23Everything's programmed off of hit and play.
05:24But it's all the ways to get there with the computer programs to organize it to said player.
05:30And that's what I really like about it.
05:31And everything's all in one housing.
05:33We call it the fridge because it's about as big as a fridge.
05:35A fridge and then the freezer.
05:37That's what we call it, the fridge.
05:38And it's a bigger, older style of unit for what kids are doing in the modern world now.
05:43But I like it because I know it.
05:45I know it well.
05:46And I could troubleshoot anything.
05:47I could be mixing it in front of a house and I ever see or hear something go wrong, I
05:51can run up with the pad, throw the pad to the side, fix what I have to and get off
05:54stage.
05:55And I've got it down to a pad.
05:57And, you know, at some point we might get some new modules and stuff here and there.
06:00But for right now, I've been running with this.
06:01It works.
06:02I've got my router for the pad.
06:04No more antennas.
06:05And it's like everything's as modern as it can be.
06:07But we still go with some old school stuff like the Sans Amp and everything.
06:10But these thematic audio players are the key.
06:13So anybody out there that's a gear nerd or anything, if there is new future stuff that you guys would
06:18know when it comes to new backtracking players, MIDI modules, anything.
06:23Anyone that wants to chirp in on the thread and let me know, hey, you should be doing this.
06:26I love it.
06:27Hit me up.
06:28I love, you know, talking gear and everything.
06:31So I'm all about, like, anything I can do to be in a modern world and keeping it going and
06:35just nerd out with you guys.
06:36For sure.
06:37So also what I'd like to touch on is with the lighting.
06:39So I mentioned when you hit play, I have a program called DMXs.
06:44And Dave at stagelighting.com is the guy who really was my mentor through getting through a lot of that.
06:49I want to give him a shout out because of the fact that I learned so much off of the
06:52different programming.
06:54And what we do in real time is, since we have our lights on the ground package, I know what
06:58my color schemes are going to be and I know what's going to happen from strobing, etc.
07:01So a lot of real talented lighting guys, they know how to tie into the house.
07:06So when they hit play, everything in the house is ready to go.
07:09How I do it is a little more old school.
07:11I will sit next to an LD and since I'm mixing, I will give him some lighting cues for blinders
07:15and certain things.
07:16But I also give him a cheat sheet that has the color codes of what I'm doing per song.
07:20I would show you that, but I don't want to give away our set list.
07:23And so what's cool about that is I could sit with him or her and as they're going through different
07:29things, they could see the color schemes.
07:31And I could say, hey, there's going to be a blinder.
07:32One, two, three, four, blind.
07:34So as you're watching the show, know, when certain things hit off really cool, I might be queuing him or
07:40he might be queuing me on certain things.
07:42Or, you know, we kind of talk out the show together almost like how a team of people behind a
07:47football game would be on the truck switching from camera to camera.
07:50While you're watching that, you don't see or understand, like, when those screens are switching, there's people back there going
07:56nuts.
07:57Hey, camera one, camera two, we're kind of doing the same thing with lighting.
08:00So, hey, okay, get ready for the blinder.
08:01Okay, get ready for the strobe.
08:02Or, hey, get ready to black out.
08:04Okay, come back in.
08:05And I'm always giving like a one, two, three, four, along with our BPM because I know the show like
08:09the back of my head.
08:10You know what I mean?
08:10So, yeah, so that's kind of what we do.
08:12So thanks for watching my nerdiness of the gear rundown here for what I do for the portion of Mushroom
08:17Head.
08:17And please come to the show.
08:18You can find where the shows are on all our socials from Facebook to mostly Instagram.
08:23And at the same time, you can check out our new album called The Devil on all music platforms.
08:28Thanks a lot.
08:41Thanks a lot.
09:02You
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