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Iron Maiden - Live Sound Survival Kit w/ Ken “Pooch” Van Druten

Waves Audio

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Mixing live sound isn’t a walk in the park - check out how Iron Maiden’s FOH engineer mixes the band's massive tour, plus we asked him to share some behind-the-stage stories of the live mixing challenges a live sound mixer needs to deal with…
We talked to Pooch about the gear behind Iron Maiden's FOH mix, the plugin chains for Iron Maiden lead vocalist Bruce Dickinson, and how Pooch mixes Maiden bassist and leader Steve Harris's bass guitar - an all-important element of Iron Maiden's sound - with both DI and bass bus plugin chains.

Pooch’s live setup for Maiden is powered by the Waves LiveBox, check it out: https://www.waves.com/hardware/superr...

0:23 Three things I wish more people knew about mixing live sound…
2:29 Pooch’s gear & setup
4:22 Mixing Bruce Dickinson’s Vocal
6:30 Mixing Steve Harris’s Bass Guitar

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20 Comments

@kmudorgan 2 months ago (edited) Pinned

In the second half, he looks like a kid showing off his favorite toys :) ❤ Definitely a huge part of his success has to do with his infinite passion for his work and for music.

@tonyborisov574 2 months ago

I watched my favorite band Iron Maiden this May ( 2026) in Sofia, Bulgaria. Ive seen Maidens several time in Bulgaria, as well in Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest. Last time, this year, the sound was PERFECT! Better than ever.

@MrCorSmit 2 months ago

If Pooch is on FOH, then Tater should be running monitors

@markkent294 2 months ago

Fascinating stuff! Thank you.

@theoldbiker 2 months ago

Back in the day, my biggest worry was one of the echo tape loops breaking, oh how it has changed!

@decomposing1 1 month ago (edited)

Man it would be killer to sit with this guy and learn that equipment i bet he is a good teacher all that stuff he rattled off blowing my mind.

@mantiscide 2 months ago

I saw IM live last week and I was wondeting about Bruce's chain. Thanx.

@ZoeandZacsDad 3 weeks ago

Just saw Iron Maiden in Bristow, Va and it was the best sounding concert I have ever heard. Sounded just about perfect!

@MatthewERandell 2 months ago

Thanks Pooch. I consider FOH the 7th band member- like a second performance stage / a cockpit on the aircraft. Exciting stuff.

@re4lczech1 2 months ago

I have been to IM show last month and the sound was briliant. Surely very complex, you could tell but result clear and very powerful.

@Spoolz07 2 months ago

This is fascinating!! More please!

@MikeYoungAU 2 months ago

That was cool. Good answer first up as well.

@dchords_global_productions 3 weeks ago

Thanks pooch
Very insightful.
I must definitely purchase a live box
Nice vocal chain 😊

@AberrationNexus 2 months ago

It's all about the Goosebumps

@r4f1-s 2 months ago

All my Salute goes to you Sir👍👍👍👍👍

@Theo-swag 2 months ago

defeedback so goood!!!!!

@glintlintjewas3517 1 month ago

Great editing... Wow.

@michaelyolch 2 months ago

Loooooove these FOH interviews!!!

@mikemarkowski7609 1 month ago

I mentored a live sound newbie and strongly emphasized the "psychology" aspect. Tech, specs and gear are great and important but the human factor, the interaction, can not be over-emphasized. At least if you want to be called back....

@Unchained_202 3 weeks ago

I heard the waves live rack at a church. Just because you can use 300 plugins doesn't mean you should put 150 on every channel! I bypassed their plugins and the mix sound objectively 10 times better!