Sennheiser UK is joining Tour Supply Ltd backstage in production areas throughout the British Festival Season at the Tour Supply Mobile Store, branding the store with Sennheiser banners and posters and providing a comprehensive range of Sennheiser products.
The Tour Supply Mobile Store is stocked with a huge selection of equipment, solving all the last minute problems production managers, techs and engineers inevitably face at festivals. And included in that stock is a wide range of Sennheiser microphone and wireless equipment.
Speaking from the Production Area of the Download Festival in Donington Park, Tour Supply CEO Lance Wascom explained why the Company is delighted to have Sennheiser on board for the summer.
“People call us with orders when they know we’re going to be at a festival,” said Wascom. “Today we have orders waiting to be picked up by Marilyn Manson, Faith No More and Motley Crue. On every international tour stuff is going to break and people are going to forget things or lose equipment in customs. We’re a service to a festival’s production and a service to the bands. People are a lot less tense when they know we’re here to solve those inevitable problems.
“Our relationships with the manufacturers are just as important for us as our relationships with the bands,” he continued. “We have a great relationship with Sennheiser in the USA and here in the UK, and it’s a fantastic addition having Sennheiser here working with us on a festival like Download.
“We were on board with Sennheiser when they launched the G1 in-ear monitoring system. That immediately became a staple product for bands on tour and us. The G2 followed this and is extremely popular also. Of course everyone at Tour Supply is very excited about the new G3 range. I’d hazard a guess 80 or 90% of the bands performing at Donington today are using Sennheiser in-ears.”
In addition to the on-site branding and wide range of products, Sennheiser UK made sure one of their experts was on hand at Download in the production area to provide instant answers to questions that might arise.
“Rarely do engineers at this level need any advice about the equipment,” points out Wascom, “but having someone from Sennheiser here on site to help answer technical questions lends a lot of credibility to what we do. We’re not just a dealer. We’re partners servicing the bands as part of the festival. So having Sennheiser here to be part of that is a huge thing for us.”
The Tour Supply Ltd and Sennheiser UK festival partnership was set up by Artist Relations Managers Mark Saunders and Phil Cummings.
Saunders explains.
“We have worked closely and very successfully with Tour Supply in the UK since they started business so when we were offered this opportunity by Tour Supply’s Paul Collis, we were eager to get involved. Working with Tour Supply not only allows us to spend more time understanding our customers’ needs, it helps us support our engineers and artists at the festivals.”
Tour Supply is about to celebrate its eleven-year anniversary. Starting in St Paul, Minnesota in 1998, the Company now runs offices in Los Angeles, Minnesota, New York City, Nashville and Manchester and has become a fixture on the international touring circuit.
Photo credit: Robert Collins
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