Currently touring their own brand of ‘metalcore’, Sheffield’s Bring Me The Horizon recruited monitor engineer Jared Daly during 2014 – and have found themselves using Shure’s flagship Axient wireless system and PSM1000 in-ear monitors on his recommendation.
With input from each of the band, he has subsequently upgraded their IEM and helped them to use Shure wireless technology on their current US venture. ‘The band have always used in-ears,’ he explains. ‘They all have very specific mix requirements, including click tracks and cues. ‘The band and crew have been using Shure PSM900 units for a few years on stage; they owned those when I joined. Oli [Sykes, lead vocalist] used wedges for monitoring on-stage, throughout their 2014 dates. But as that tour was finishing, they were thinking of upgrading, because they were getting a few dropouts at gigs where the RF spectrum was really busy, like at festivals. So at Wembley in 2014, they tried out a rack of Shure PSM1000s, and Oli changed over to in-ear monitors.
‘The guys all liked the 1000s, so we started using them in 2015. The 1000s are much more stable in a festival environment; the two antennas on the beltpacks make all the difference.’
When the band played the Reading and Leeds festivals, the Axient AXT600 spectrum manager was added, and Sykes began trialling an AXT200 handheld wireless mic with a Beta 58 head: ‘The AXT600 has made my life so much easier,’ Daly reports. ‘It’s a big step up from what the UHF-R system offered, and being able to sync it with Wireless Workbench is a game-changer. Now we have the Axient mic as well, I can check audio levels throughout the show and back off the vocal gain on the fly remotely via the software if it’s too high. Oli constantly switches between singing and screaming, so finding a gain setting that works for both is a priority, and the ability to change it during the show is excellent.’
Given the crowded state of RF spectrum at music festivals today, Daly has found the Axient spectrum manager very useful on the current tour: ‘At some of these gigs, I’m scanning for sources of interference throughout the show. Last week, when we arrived at one festival here in the States, I couldn’t find a workable set of frequencies for us to use before our changeover time at all. But when we set up and were line checking, the frequency manager automatically found a clear set of frequencies, including multiple redundant back-up frequencies, and assigned our gear to them.’
Given the reception the wireless kit has had from the band, it’s no surprise that Daly now has plans to switch more of the band’s live rig over to wireless operation and control it via Wireless Workbench: ‘We’re putting wireless routers into the back of the guitar racks now, so that we can control and deploy frequencies over the network, including the UR4Ds,’ he reveals. ‘Basically, we’re linking everything now, and because it’s all Shure and it’s compatible with the spectrum manager. I don’t envisage changing this kit now for the rest of the tour.’
On completion of the US tour leg, the abnd return to the UK for a further series of gigs later in 2015.
