Sennheiser features heavily at The Feeling?s silent gig

December 2011 saw over 100 aspiring bands given the opportunity to perform at London’s O2 arena, as it ran its December Sessions music programme, which saw The Feeling serve up a special silent performance with Sennheiser equipment featuring heavily across all 20 nights of the event.

Taking place on a specially constructed stage in the O2’s London Piazza, the December Sessions were supported by Sennheiser UK, which also sponsors the nearby British Music Experience. For every performance, the company provided ew 300 G3 GB in-ear monitors and e 604, e 614, e 901, e 902 and e 935 wired mics.

In the first of a series of events organised by Silentgig, the company supplied SKM 5200 wireless mics with KK 105 heads, KMS 105 wired mics and RS 120 headphones for The Feeling’s special silent gig, with the audience listening to the show on the RS 120s.

While The Feeling are established Sennheiser users, the silent gig marked new territory for the band, especially frontman Dan Gillespie Sells and bassist Richard Jones, neither of whom normally uses in-ear monitoring.

“In some respects it was quite similar to being in the studio, but having a live audience and no audible PA or backline made it very different,” said Jones.

“We play acoustically, even though it’s electric instruments and Swordy (band FOH engineer and production manager Jon Sword) has always said that he pretty much just puts the faders up and we’re there,” added Gillespie. “This was different, because we were giving him a dry signal. He had a lot more to do than usual.”

Although the band’s usual Sennheiser backline mics weren’t used for this particular show – everything being DI’d and drummer Paul Stewart using an electronic kit – the usual complement of Sennheiser vocal mics was in use, including Gillespie’s ‘bling’ wireless model.

“Sennheiser has been great, we’ve never had any trouble with their equipment,” said Gillespie. Jones confirmed this, adding: “It took us years of elimination and having to use what was available to find drum and guitar mics that we were happy with.

“It was amazing when we first got them, especially for the drum kit, they make a huge difference to the clarity and top end.”