Labrinth Selects Sennheiser For Tour

October saw singer-songwriter Labrinth take to the road for an eight-date UK headline tour. Backed by a four piece band and with plenty of guest appearances, a Sennheiser microphone and in-ear monitoring package ensured that all consistently sounded their best.
Labrinth is a regular Sennheiser user and played a major part in the company’s Masters of Sound competition earlier this year. Designed to encourage the best original up-and-coming songwriters, the Masters of Sound winner, Claire-Louise Rossi, gained valuable experience by spending time with Labrinth in his studio.
The tour took in Academy-sized venues and included eight sets of Sennheiser ew 300 G3 in-ear monitors, an AC3200 IEM combiner, two ew 572 G3 guitar systems and a pair of ew 500-935 handheld microphone systems.
Monitor engineer Ross McGroggan has been using Sennheiser equipment for a number of years and he was more than happy to continue.
"The reliability and sound quality of Sennheiser equipment are second to none," he says. "I’ve never had a single problem with their in-ear systems and the 935 is an excellent microphone. It’s really the best suited to our application - very durable and you can get a lot out of it before feedback."
One of the challenges for the audio crew was a variety of special guests who featured on various shows, including Tinie Tempah, Wretch 32 and X Factor contestant James Arthur.
"Accommodating the guests was no problem," says Ross. "I had a guest mix set up which catered for them all - I’d just put a wireless pack on them and give them a 935. We weren’t able to soundcheck with some of them, but with the 935 you know exactly what to expect. We also used our mics for the support acts and never had a problem. It all went very smoothly."
"We use what the sound team and Labrinth prefer to use and Sennheiser is consistently excellent," adds tour manager Dan White. "Ross and (FOH engineer) Ricky are happy with them. Sometimes Lab comes out the front at soundcheck and he has always been happy with the sound of the 935.
"Considering the sheer amount of miles that the equipment has covered, the fact that we’ve never had anything fall over on us is testament to its durability."
Ross agrees, saying: "The equipment inevitably gets some rough treatment on the road and it deals with it very well. I would never have any worries with it because, even if there was a problem, we know that we could ring up Sennheiser UK’s Phil Cummings or Mark Saunders and it would be sorted. The support is second to none, it’s priceless."
"I’ve had a great relationship with Phil for several years, he has been very helpful. You can always get hold of someone at Sennheiser UK," Dan adds. "There have been times when we’ve had to borrow kit for guests artists or arrange loans for a couple of days and they have never failed us. It’s really good service."
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