Sennheiser UK was once again at the heart of the production at this year’s Glastonbury Festival, as high profile performers and three major stages used Sennheiser microphones, in-ear monitors and wireless systems at the core of their audio set-ups. All three headline acts on The Other Stage, The Prodigy, Franz Ferdinand and Bloc Party, used a range of Sennheiser equipment, while Lily Allen, N*E*R*D and the Black Eyed Peas all shone through a weekend of changeable weather with Sennheiser’s help. In addition, Sennheiser’s G3 products were given their UK festival debuts when Dizzee Rascal took to the Pyramid Stage with an SKM 935 G3 and Mike Skinner of The Streets used an SKM 945 G3.
The John Peel Stage is Glastonbury’s major showcase stage for emerging musical talent. The production team there employed e 935 wired mics and SKM 935 mics and EM 550 receivers for lead vocals, with a backline of e 900 mics, while ew 300 G2 IEMs were available for any band that requested them.
Mike Taylor was Production Manager on the John Peel Stage.
“The John Peel Stage has had a long relationship with Sennheiser,” he explains. “It was one of the first stages to use the e 935 vocal mics prior to their release. Since then the John Peel Stage has been happy to use a compliment of nothing but Sennheiser mics and we have never had a single complaint. We see the same faces coming back year after year, and the reaction is always positive. Every year we have zero problems with the microphones we use, even after the abuse they get at Glastonbury!
“Everyone who used our stage was happy with using the Sennheiser IEMs. They sound better than anything else out there, so why wouldn’t they? The feedback from our stage is always positive, even when people are weary at first of trying new equipment, they always leave with a big smile.
“Having the Sennheiser guys on site during the festival is just amazing. It’s nice to be able to rest assured that no matter what you throw at them they have a concise and practical solution to hand. Production teams from other stages were coming to our stage to get advice and emergency support throughout the festival. The Sennheiser guys just always seemed to be on hand when ever you needed to ask them something.”
Julian Spear, Area Co-Ordinator for The John Peel Stage and Head of Production for Liz Hobbs Group, was in total agreement.
“The products are great,” he confirms, “but what’s really great us is having Sennheiser’s technical support staff on site. On the John Peel Stage there are new bands getting their first access to equipment like the IEMs. They have questions.
“One of the reasons the John Peel Stage is so special is that it showcases new acts alongside major artists. This year the headliners were Doves, Jarvis Cocker and Echo and the Bunnymen. We had an orchestra playing with Echo and The Bunnymen. There must have been twenty people on stage, all wearing Sennheiser IEMs. It was great having Mark Saunders there to plot it all out.”
Over on The Park Stage Sennheiser e 935 wired mics and wireless SKM 935 mics with EM 550 receivers were used for lead vocals, with a wide range of e 900 series backline mics and another batch of ew 300 G2 IEMs
“On a gig like Glastonbury Sennheiser becomes the natural choice as every visiting engineer knows what they are getting,” explains The Park Stage’s Production Manager, Mark Bott. “Another reason for the choice is that of all the specs from bands I received this year the most popular choice was Sennheiser by far.
“Glastonbury presents the obvious challenge of a large amount of RF traffic on a single site and despite licensing all of the frequencies we required we had a huge amount of interference. Thanks to the support of Sennheiser’s on site team this was one headache that quickly went away. We’ve had a great relationship with Sennheiser for many years and we hope this will continue for many years to come. The support that comes along with a great range of products is a winning combination for us.”
Away on the Radio One Introducing Stage an e 840 lead vocal mic was teamed with a range of e 600 backline mics with typically successful results.
The end result, across the stages, was a multitude of happy crowds and happy production teams.
“The equipment all worked brilliantly as usual,” concluded Julian Spear.
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