TORONTO – Country music artist Jason McCoy performed at 26 Canadian cities with Sennheiser wireless transmitters and receivers and K-array loudspeakers in support of his fifth studio album, Everything. GV Audio in Regina, SK provided the gear. The solo tour ran from March 4 (Kamloops BC) to April 21 (Halifax, NS).
McCoy, performing solo after five years as part of the Road Hammers trio, toured with Sennheiser SKM 2000 wireless handheld transmitters, MMK 935 microphone capsules, Sennheiser 2000 series in-ear monitors (IEMs) and K-array's KR 200S loudspeakers. He credited the 935 capsule, in particular, as "incredibly responsive."
FOH engineer Geoff Kent added that "all the wireless equipment did what Sennheiser promised it would do, without exception. I had no issues with crosstalk or dropouts.
"Those K-arrays are extremely powerful," Kent added, even though they measure only 5.5cm in width, 7cm in depth and weigh just 9Kg. "A lot of in-house engineers and house-staff would look at the K-arrays, scratch their heads and say, ‘That's not going to work – you need to use our PA system.' But then we'd fire up the K-arrays, give the system a sound check, and everyone would be just blown away."
Kent used the K-arrays in venues ranging from 100 to 900 capacity seating, and noted that "it took all of about three minutes flat to set up the KR 200s system, then I would just eyeball it to aim it. The small size of the K-arrays also made travel less expensive since they could fit easily in the back of the 40-foot bus – or a Honda Civic, for that matter.
"The K-arrays had an excellent response, even down to as low as 200 Hz," Kent continued. Although the tour was acoustic, he would run 10 additional tracks in addition to vocals and acoustic guitar. "I always went for the biggest mix I could have in a room. The K-arrays, along with the Sennheiser wireless, allowed me to achieve high fidelity this show required every time."
Lighting/video director Sean Hooper also appreciated the KR200s' slim profile. "Video was a very important component of this show – a virtual band, so to speak, behind Jason and his acoustic guitar," Hooper noted, of the 45-foot-wide video screen used for the tour.
"We had various segments that included Jason doing interactive vignettes with other country stars like Amanda Wilkinson, a segment featuring the history of his music videos and so forth. Even in a 150-seat theatre, obstruction of sightlines was never an issue and we didn't have to worry about a big stack of speakers blocking the stage."
For more information, please visit www.sennheiser.ca.
