Girls Aloud, Britain's biggest girl group, are currently on the Tangled Up tour of UK arenas accompanied by Sennheiser in ear monitors and custom designed microphones.
The microphones in question, five SKM 935s individually decorated with pink crystal by CrystalRoc, were warmly received by the band at the beginning of the tour.
"We revealed the mics to the girls before the final dress rehearsal in Sheffield," explains monitor engineer Nick Maddren. "I gathered the girls just before they started and pulled back the cover. There was a mix of screams, hands covering mouths and loads of excitement. The standard mics were immediately returned and the new ones disappeared like it was like Christmas day. CrystalRoc did an amazing job and the mics looked amazing."
Beneath the bling, the mics were still Sennheiser SKM 935s.
"The 935 capsule was definitely the right capsule for this tour," confirms Maddren. "It has great feedback rejection and the wonderful vocal sound works really well for the girls."
In addition to the mics, Maddren also took an eight-way Sennheiser ew 300 IEM system out on tour.
"The ew 300 has always been my choice of IEM pack," continues Maddren. "They have great audio quality with plenty of volume and I've always been able to get a strong clean RF signal. Plus the small size of the pack works well with girls' costumes. The Girls Aloud tour has always used ew 300 IEM systems and can¹t see the need to change in the future.
"Using the recommended RF plot from the Sennheiser support team has made this tour an easy experience. From the moment I turned on the mics and IEM packs I had a clean, consistent signal. The audio quality is great and even with every mic and IEM pack, so it never takes long to set up. I couldn't ask for anything more."
The Sennheiser mics and IEM are put through their paces every night when Girls Aloud walk off the main stage along a 40-metre bridge out to a B-stage in the centre of the audience.
Front of house engineer Bunny Warren added, "The metal bridge and the distance from the stage would normally interfere with radio systems, but once again with help from the Sennheiser support team we created a system that covers both the main stage and B-stage. So far we've had very few if any RF issues. The mics have great feedback rejection and tight patterns that help when they walk in front of the main PA. And when the girls are 40 metres away they still have a good strong audio signal in their ears so they don't get put off by the time delay from the main system."
