Sennheiser Sees The Funny Side With Mick Perrin Productions
Stand-up comedy is one of the most ‘naked’ forms of performance. No screaming guitars or thudding drums to hide behind, just one performer and their words. This means the voice has to sound excellent, which is why Mick Perrin Productions (MPP) - one of Europe’s foremost promoters of comedy tours - has forged a closerelationship with Sennheiser.
Eddie Izzard, one of the UK’s leading stand-up acts, is currently on a major tour of UK and Europe arenas with Sennheiser equipment, but the relationship between MPP and Sennheiser goes back much further, starting with George Glossop, Izzard’s long term Sound Designer .
“The relationship started with Eddies production via Sennheiser US and, separately, through rental company Delicate Productions and Scott Scherban, who used to mix Eddies arena shows,” says Sennheiser artist relations manager Mark Saunders.
“George and Andy Lillywhite (Sennheiser UK’s chief engineer) also go back a long way on the technical side of things and when Eddie’s arena European arena tour was booked, that’s when my phone rang and things have rolled on from there.”
Where the relationship really cemented itself was at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where MPP was promoting a number of shows and Sennheiser pulled out all the stops to help.
“We have a broad spectrum of acts on the books, with around 15 of them in Edinburgh this year. It was really good to be able to service them well,” says Nick Hanford, MPP production manager.
“All the microphones we used at the Fringe were Sennheiser. To be able to give acts who are working on a very low budget, doing daytime shows, the facility to use radio equipment was a really nice thing to be able to do.
“It’s equipment they would never normally be able to afford at the Fringe, in addition to all the other costs they incur, so it made them feel a little bit special and that we were looking after them.”
He adds, “I’ve known Mark since he helped me out four or five years ago with a couple of mics for a band, so it’s a really nice thing to keep that continuity going.”
Eddie Izzard’s current tour sees the comedian using a Sennheiser G2 system with an 935 capsule.
“It gets a bit of physical abuse, but it’s been as solid as a rock all the way through. That’s one of the main requirements - you turn it on and forget about it because you know it’s going to work,” says George.
“If you’re doing a band with 96 channels and you lose one, you can get by. But with just one man it’s an awfully naked position to be in. The fact that the microphone delivers every night is invaluable.”
He continues, “The 935 capsule works really well too. Eddie has a very wide dynamic range and it really helps with the transparency of what he’s doing. The other thing I really like about the G2 is the weight and shape of it. It sits really nicely in the hand and Eddie likes it because he does a lot of mic swapping.”
Another benefit of the Sennheiser wireless technology has been the ease with which the sound crew have been able to get audio to otherwise very difficult places.
“Newcastle Arena is a tricky venue because, in order to get a signal to the delay speakers which cover the balcony, you have to use about 300m of copper. We got round it by using Sennheiser in ear monitor receivers on the delays, which saved us hours of messing around,” says George.
“One of Eddie’s requirements is to hear show relay in his dressing room and there have been a couple of occasions where we couldn’t get cable there, so we’ve used that system there too. We put it up against something else that was much higher power and it didn’t cut it, whereas the Sennheiser went straight through the concrete!”
The benefits of the company’s RF technology were also very much in evidence at the Edinburgh Fringe, where the Beijing Film Academy was doing a typically Fringe-esque, off-the-wall version of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Underbelly, which is adjacent to a number of other venues.
“They were using 20 channels of radio and I thought it was going to be really bad news,” says George. “But with a rack of G2s I didn’t have a single problem in 21 days. Everyone else that I spoke to had issues, but I didn’t have one. And that was thanks to Sennheiser!”
Receiving five star reviews for his mixture of dry wit, mime and - of course - excellent sound, after Eddie Izzard’s current UK and European dates he heads to the USA in January. Sennheiser equipment will, of course, be going as well.
“UK, Scandinavia, Holland, the States - it’s really nice to keep that continuity going with Sennheiser,” says Nick Hanford, who is production managing the Izzard tour.
“Obviously the gear is excellent, it’s just what we need for spoken word shows and it’s always in perfect condition. Sennheiser provides the whole package, which is ideal for us. It’s a lovely relationship and we feel very supported.”
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