Tin Pan Studio joins Sennheiser music initiative
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When the pandemic hit, Doug Hunt, live sound engineer and MD of Doug Hunt Sound & Light, had all his work cancelled, so he started looking for ways to help bands perform together remotely over the internet. “Like everyone else, I came up short,” he says. “There just wasn't anything available that had fast enough monitoring for professional musicians while providing great quality audio.”
Desperate to continue to make music with the bands he loves, Hunt set about creating what became Tin Pan Studio. The technology behind Hunt’s creation combines ultra-low latency server-based monitoring for the musicians, with studio-quality audio for the engineer to mix. Once a working prototype (then called ‘DougMons’) was complete, Hunt reached out to MG Management, Mamas Gun’s management, to see if they wanted to try it out.
“I've worked with Mamas Gun for many years, they have become good friends and I love their music,” shares Hunt. “They were the perfect test bed for the new software as they have extremely high standards, are musically excellent, and I knew I had their (much needed!) patience.”
Hunt worked together with the band to test his software and develop it to the point where everyone felt confident using it for live broadcasts, which followed shortly afterwards - one for Soho Radio and another for the band’s own channel. Apart from the nearly latency-free live stream, what stood out most during the band’s performance was crystal-clear audio.
“Getting good results relies on great sounding microphones and good isolation from headphones. That’s why we have always relied on Sennheiser,” explains Hunt. “The evolution 900 series have long been go-to mics for me when I need the combination of great sonics and excellent noise rejection. The choice of Sennheiser's HD headphones is also a no-brainer, as they combine comfort with great isolation.”
At the same time as the band was working with Hunt and testing his Tin Pan Studio technology, Brian Hurst, owner of SoulandJazz.com and a Sennheiser ambassador, introduced Mamas Gun to Sennheiser’s Andy Egerton. Together, they looked for a way for the band to be part of the audio specialist’s global #DontStopTheMusic initiative.
Following a series of rehearsals, the band completed their performance earlier this week for Sennheiser’s #DontStopTheMusic initiative on Sennheiser’s Facebook page, with all five band members playing together live from the comfort of their home studios, and with Tin Pan Studio ensuring a near latency-free stream. The event was a first of its kind for Sennheiser’s live streaming platform and showed just how useful the technology could be when it comes to remote music performances.
“Bands like Mamas Gun absolutely thrive on the live and touring side of the business. So much of their bonding, creative thinking and growth as musicians comes from them playing together as a band,” says Carly Martin-Gammon from MG Management. “The combination of Tin Pan Studio’s technology and solid audio equipment from Sennheiser has not only enabled the band to continue to offer their fans a genuinely impressive live experience, along with all the adrenaline that the best live gigs offer, but it has also allowed the band themselves to keep pushing their boundaries together as players, too.”
Chris Boot, drummer for Mamas Gun, is also familiar with Sennheiser equipment and has been religiously using an MD 441 for snare drum recording over the years.
“Sennheiser introduced the #DontStopTheMusic campaign so talented artists and musicians around the world can showcase their talent digitally in the absence of physical shows,” says Andy Egerton, relations manager associate at Sennheiser. “Co-ordinated by our colleague Jessica Dabbs in the US and the rest of the Relationship Management team, so far the initiative has offered a virtual stage to over 90 acts.”
