The tour started in the band's home county of Cornwall, followed by dates across the country. Allen & Heath coordinated the whole PA system with local hire company 'Freq AV', and supplied the control system, including an ML3000 24-channel VCA live sound console, which was controlled both FOH and monitor mixes. The band's tour sound engineer, Rob Heilig, was very impressed with the ML's VCA grouping functionality. An iDR-8 digital mixer provided time aligned in-fills around the venue, which was packed to capacity with fans. An Allen & Heath DR66 digital processor was also used for speaker management.
The band owns an Allen & Heath powered PA mixer, a PA20-CP, which is used for sound reinforcement at all its practice sessions and small gigs, unless the venue provides a suitable in-house system. Guitarist Tom Welham commented: "We are definitely given confidence when we use an Allen & Heath mixer during live performances as the sound quality is the best. The PA series is really simple to use, as all of the controls are laid out very logically. The built-in FX and parametric EQ on the outputs, combined with the powerful amplifier, means that we don't have to heave about loads of other outboard gear and amps, which saves us time and effort."
13 Senses' album demos were also recorded using a combination of the PA20-CP mixer running monitors and an Allen & Heath ICON digital mixer, to create a stereo mix for the tape. "The quality we achieve from using the PA and ICON mixers has been so good it gave us a real indication of where we were with the songs and if any improvements could be made and enabled us to select tracks to include on the forthcoming album. The PA20-CP will definitely be used when we come to writing the next album," concludes Welham.
The band has received much support from radio stations, including Lauren Laverne from XFM and the Radio 1 DJs Steve Lamacq, Jo Whiley, Mark & Lard and Zane Lowe; they have also been play listed on MTV and MTV2. The group will be playing at T in the Park and the V festival this summer. The single 'Do No Wrong' is out on 31st May.
(Sarah Rushton-Read)
