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PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Clyne Media, Inc.
Tel: (615) 662-1616
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Waves eMotion LV1 Classic Console & LV1 Control selected for Young the Giant’s dynamic live shows
Knoxville, TN, January 20, 2026 — FOH engineer Lloyd Williams—now serving as live sound engineer and tour manager for alt-rock favorites Young the Giant, and whose credits also include PVRIS, The Pretty Reckless, Against the Current, and many more—has chosen to mix Young the Giant’s In the Open 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 Amphitheatre, where he added to his setup the new eMotion LV1 Control fader expansion unit.
U.S. alternative rock band Young the Giant are known for their dynamic sound, blending indie rock, pop and subtle folk influences. Formed in Irvine, California, they gained prominence with their debut album featuring hits like “Cough Syrup” and “My Body.” Over the years, they have built a reputation for energetic live performances and a diverse, evolving discography.
Speaking from the band’s recent Red Rocks show, Williams shares, “This is my sixth or seventh time at Red Rocks, 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.”
“This is also my first time using the new v16 version of the LV1 Classic,” he 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.”
“There are several Waves plugins I couldn’t do this show without,” he 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.”
Video:
“Mixing Unplugged vs. Electric: Young the Giant at Red Rocks”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zbT0KzsrWs
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Photo file 1: LloydWilliams.JPG
Photo caption 1: Young the Giant’s FOH engineer and tour manager Lloyd Williams chooses the Waves eMotion LV1 Classic console and Waves LV1 ControlAbout Waves Audio Ltd.:
Waves is the world’s leading developer of audio DSP solutions for music production, recording, mixing, mastering, sound design, post-production, live sound, broadcast, commercial and consumer electronics audio markets. Since its start in the early ‘90s, Waves has developed a comprehensive line of over 240 audio plugins and numerous hardware devices. For its accomplishments, Waves received a Technical GRAMMY® Award in 2011; an Engineering, Science & Technology Emmy® Award for its Waves Clarity Vx Pro plugin in 2023; and a 2024 NAMM Technical Excellence & Creativity Award for its Clarity Vx DeReverb Pro plugin. Additionally, its early flagship plugin, the Q10 equalizer, was selected as an inductee into the TECnology Hall of Fame.Increasingly leveraging pioneering techniques in artificial intelligence, neural networks and machine learning, as well as the company’s three decades of accumulated expertise in psychoacoustics, Waves technologies are being used to improve sound quality in a growing number of market sectors. Around the world, Waves’ award-winning plugins are utilized in the creation of hit records, major motion pictures, and top-selling video games. Additionally, Waves now offers hardware-plus-software solutions (including the revolutionary eMotion LV1 Classic live mixing console) for professional audio markets. The company’s WavesLive division is a leader in the live sound sector, spearheading the development of solutions for all live platforms. Products from Waves Commercial Audio enable A/V system integrators and installers to deliver superior sound quality for corporate, commercial, government, educational, entertainment, sports and house-of-worship applications. Under its Maxx brand, Waves offers semiconductor and licensable algorithms for consumer electronics applications, used in laptops, smartphones, smart speakers, gaming headsets, TVs and more from industry leaders such as Dell, Google, Fitbit, Acer, Asus, Hisense and others.
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