Jeff Feldman talks being on tour with Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda

Growing up in Montreal, Canada, music was always a leading force in Jeff Feldman’s life. At 6 years old, when he had the choice between swimming lessons or piano classes, he didn’t even have to contemplate before deciding on the instrument. From then on, he immersed himself in music, from classical, to pop, to rock, and everything in between. As he grew older, he started to learn more instruments, including the bass guitar, and began forming bands and writing music in his teens. For a young Feldman, it was never a question of if he would be a professional musician, but when.

Now, Feldman is living that childhood dream of making music professionally under the famed stage name Alone Architect. This leading songwriter, musician, and producer wears many hats, working with other acclaimed artists such as Roniit and Crywolf, but one of the highlights of Feldman’s career came very suddenly when he was asked to go on tour with Mike Shinoda of the Grammy award-winning rock band Linkin Park.

Linkin Park is one of the most recognizable bands in the modern rock scene. They’ve won dozens of awards, including two Grammys, and sold over 26 million albums worldwide. As one of the founding members, Shinoda is recognized around the world as a leader in the music industry, and being asked to come on board his tour was a tremendous honor for Feldman, and a defining moment in his career.

“This was an opportunity that just came out of the blue to me. Any time you get the opportunity to work with someone of Mike Shinodaʼs caliber and pedigree, it’s a no brainer. Not only are you surrounded by one of the most influential artists and songwriters in modern history, but he’s also just really down to Earth and a great human. Just being able to go out on the road and learn from all the talented people on tour, and be a part of that atmosphere was an incredible experience,” said Feldman.

Working on Shinoda’s “Post Traumatic Tour” Feldman was the first call to replace the regular Ableton Playback Engineer who had another gig lined up. Feldman is extremely well versed in the software, as it is what he regularly works with. He was a perfect fit.

“I definitely didnʼt sleep that much on tour as we were going pretty hard, with many cities in a few nights, and you always have to be ready to perform to the best of your abilities, so I definitely worked really hard at making sure I was at the top of my game. Every show on this tour was amazing, with great turnouts and incredible crowds, and one of the highlights of the tour, and of my professional career was whenever Mike would play the Linkin Park song “In the End”, by himself on piano and have the crowd sing all of Chester’s parts. I donʼt even have the words to describe how emotional and amazing it was to see and hear all those people singing their hearts out, in unity and love for a man whose art had touched them so much in their lives,” said Feldman.

Feldman didn’t have long before work on the tour began. There was approximately a week of pre-production at Third Encore in Los Angeles, after which the tour started on October 10^th, 2018 in his home town of Montreal, and continued down the coast to Orlando, Florida. Feldman also returned to work three festival style radio shows on December 6^th, 2018 “Not So Silent Night” festival Brooklyn, NY, the “Not So Silent Night” festival San Jose, CA on December 8^th, 2018, and the “KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas” festival Los Angeles, CA on December 9^th, 2018.

On each show, Feldman had many tasks that were pivotal to making them and the tour a success, as the Ableton Live setup was essentially the brain behind the music being pumped out from the speakers. First and foremost, he was required to set up the Ableton Playback Session,

which controlled the keyboard patch changes, guitar patch changes, and ran Shinoda’s

vocal effects and all of the background music that the live stage musicians were not performing. He also was required to set up instrument stations on stage (keyboards, guitars, electronic drum pads, bass), set up Shinoda’s effect and processing/guitar rig and ensure it was

communicating effectively with Ableton, maintain tuning and switching of guitars and basses

throughout the show, and anything else technical pertaining to Shinoda aside from his vocal mic or in ear monitors. Feldman’s job was to do all that and make sure Shinoda didn’t need anything at all during the performances, ensuring perfect concerts for the many fans.

“Being a part of the ‘Post Traumatic Tour’ was so amazing. The tour was such a success and it was amazing to see all of the fans singing their hearts out each and every night. Just seeing the level of the audience’s engagement throughout the whole tour was so gratifying to me. Feeling all the positive and expansive energy throughout each and every show was simply an experience and emotion that I’ll never forget and I’m extremely grateful and proud to have been a part of this,” Feldman concluded.