Campbell McNeil has been Tour Manager and Front of House engineer for Aussie alternative rock quartet The Temper Trap for the past 14 months. During that time, he has deployed a comprehensive set of Sennheiser microphones which, he says, make life during what has turned out to be a very hectic schedule, that much easier.
The Temper Trap’s tour is covering Europe and Australia (where they have gone platinum) and they will be paying particular attention to the US during 2010, which they did not manage to cover as fully as they would have wished in 2009.
“The band relocated to the UK in late February 2008 to help build a fan base in Europe,” Campbell recalls. “It was only meant to be for that year’s festival season, but they just took off. We thought we’d be on tour for a year, but we’re now going to carry on until November or December this year, which will make it nearly two years on the road.”
Campbell has been using Sennheiser equipment for a number of years and it is an important element of his touring rig. “The first Sennheiser mic that really blew me away was the 935 vocal mic,” he says. “I was working in a venue up in Glasgow at the time and what struck me immediately was that it sounded like another industry favourite after you’d done a lot of work on it. But the 935 was straight out of the box and in. After that, I tried as much Sennheiser gear as I possibly could.”
Campbell’s kit list for The Temper Trap includes a range of Sennheiser microphones – e 901 on kick, e 904s on toms, e 905 on snare, e906s for cabs and further e 935s for the bands backing vocals – and for him, simplicity is the key.
“There’s already enough to do,” he smiles, “so I like things that sound really good with minimal effort. The band is happy that the 935 can take a lot of abuse, outside that they’re happy to go with whatever I recommend. Dougie literally throws the mic around and he’s been on the same mic for six months now. He’s done over 100 gigs and has thrown it against the wall, the floor or the drum kit every night and it still sounds perfect. We’ve A/B’d it a couple of times over the months with one of the mics that doesn’t get abused, and it still sounds just the same.
“The 901 kick drum mic is also incredibly rugged. It’s my favourite kick drum mic at the moment and I can’t see me ever swapping it out. The 906s are phenomenal for the guitars as well. They’ve got so much body, require no EQ and are just straight out of the box every time.
“As long as the rig is right, the mics are right, and that’s what it’s all about.”
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