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Vans Warped Tour Rocks Sennheiser
Outdoor shows can be punishing on sound equipment, but several bands on this year's Vans Warped Tour found their favorite Sennheiser gear up to the challenge. The tour, a summer tradition since 1995 that combines extreme music and extreme sports, came to an end in late August after a trek through 25 states and four Canadian provinces that began in late June.
Rapidly-rising pop-punk sensations Paramore wowed the crowds on the Vans Warped Tour before heading off to Europe to sold out dates in the U.K., followed by shows in Japan and Australia. Ronnie Gardner, FOH engineer for the Tennessee-based band, says, "The Sennheiser 935 is a perfect match for Hayley Williams' voice. It helps achieve a natural sound in the live atmosphere."
Pete Robertson, FOH Engineer for Coheed and Cambria, notes that the equipment is very reliable. "Sennheiser equipment stands up well on the road to the punishment we give it day in and day out." Robertson favors evolution900 series microphones for vocals: "The Sennheiser 945 vocal mics give me the clarity and gain I can't find anywhere else."
The band's monitor engineer, Joey Brueckmann, agrees that the equipment is robust. "The overall performance of Sennheiser products, including the e 945 vocal mic, which we used on all of the vocals on the Warped Tour, is untouchable. In the harshest conditions and festival environment Sennheiser mics and personal wireless monitors units are flawless," says Brueckmann. He singles out one particular feature for special praise: "The evolution wireless ew 300 IEM's frequency scan feature makes searching for an open
frequency super fast and painless."
Equipment on the Vans Warped Tour was subjected to blistering heat and dust as the eight-week tour, which began and ended in California, wound its way through the desert Southwest, the South and into the Midwest and Canada during the height of summer. The tour, which features over one hundred bands on up to ten separate stages, typically visits amphitheaters, fairgrounds and other open spaces at major cities along the way.
Casey MacGregor, FOH engineer for Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, says: "I use a Sennheiser wireless e 835 for my lead vocal and the e 604s for my toms. Since I started with Red Jumpsuit, that's the exclusive vocal mic model that our singer likes to use, and it works just great for me, too! He likes the weight and the feel of it, and he really likes the way it sounds in his ears." Adds MacGregor: "It fits his voice well and the reception is really great. We don't have a lot of interference trouble with it, but if I do, it's easy to find another clean channel. I hope to be using a lot more Sennheiser gear soon."
Mike Bakowski, who has toured with AFI, Taking Back Sunday, Hellogoodbye and New Found Glory, mixed Boys Like Girls on the Vans Warped Tour. He comments: "Hands down, Sennheiser makes the best sounding, dependable, and, most importantly, durable microphones out today. This is especially important on the long and demanding tour that the Warped Tour is - and then some."
He continues: "My band use Sennheiser wireless systems when they look to a
dependable and affordable way to be wire free." Bakowski, who has worked nine of the thirteen Vans Warped Tours and also mixed Cute Is What We Aim For and Bless The Fall on this year's tour, is a big Sennheiser fan. "I used Sennheiser HD 25 SP headphones on Warped because you don't get a soundcheck. It's important to get the truest reference through your headphones, and my Sennheisers do just that."
21st September 2007
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