Bilk’s long career has seen many milestones including the 1960 hit ‘Strangers on the Shore’ - the first recording to simultaneously top both the UK and US charts, a collection of gold and platinum discs for record sales, and the MBE he received in 2001 for services to music. 50 years at the top of his profession have not dimmed Bilk’s enthusiasm for live performance and during preparations for his 2003 UK tour, Bilk’s tour manager and front of house engineer for the past 30 years, Les Squires, called Audio-Technica to see if he could put a couple of microphones which had been recommended to him through their paces.
"Every time A-T put a microphone in front of me I found it to be better than what we had been using, which is why we have finished up having a channel list which is packed with Audio-Technica," explains Squires. That channel list is made up of two AE5400s, two AE4100s, three A4033ASMs, one ATM23HE, one ATM25, two ATM35s and an AT wireless system. "I really like the fact that Audio-Technica have such a wide range of mics. I have mixed and matched manufacturers before, but there is something neat about having all the microphones from a single source. It also helps that Audio-Technica, and in particular, Paul Mason, have been very easy to work with and have paid special attention to matching exactly the right products to each part of the band’s sound."
(Ruth Rossington)
