Cooper, as always, tahnks for posting this and I am now necroing it. Quick question for you - do you design the presets for the speakers Neal is using live? With your presets I found them to be quite dark with my CLR Atomic FRFR speakers, but they sound quite nice running through my QSC 12.1 PA speakers, so I was suspicious you might be directly programming them to work with Neal's speakers of choice.
That said, this is the hardest thing I've found about programming the Fractal. PA speakers and IEMs vary so much it can be tricky to get the EQ right. Especially when you are pushed into using new PA speakers at a rehearsal room as a member of a local band. I've developed EQ blocks specifically for my band's PA systems, but I was wondering whether the sound engineer applies cuts at the board for Neal's Fractal presets or whether you try and tweak the presets to sit well with the speakers they are using on tour (if that makes sense).
We dial in sounds using in-ears, mainly, since that's what Neal hears onstage -- but always with his Meyer wedges on and fairly loud for accurate sonic interactivity/reinforcement. We also frequently cross-check with the Meyers directly.
Consumer/prosumer speakers like the CLR, QSC, etc. will deliver far more dramatic swings in tone between brands than pro speakers, so that's no surprise. Everything has "its own sound," but top-level pro touring systems with much higher quality components (and considerably higher costs!) generally deliver far more accurately on the "promise" of "FRFR"; the differences between brands therefore logically become smaller. FWIW, though, many in the touring world, myself included, consider Meyer the gold standard, and dialing on them has become second nature given how many Fractal artists use them onstage (Journey, Metallica, M5, DT, etc.).
As far as your concerns about sound engineers, best-case scenario is that the artist loves how the tone sounds onstage, and FOH barely touches the sound, or sometimes doesn't touch it at all. The latter does happen, but it's the exception. I do, of course, work closely and somewhat in tandem with FOH engineers for Fractal's artists, but my primary concern is always how the tone sounds and feels to the artist. Once it sounds good to them onstage, FOH is well-equipped to take it from there.
