The drum sound begins with a combination of Sennheiser e 901 and e 602 on kick.
“It gives me lots of attack with plenty of body,” says Joly, with McManus adding, “The e 901 is another Sennheiser home run. Unlike every other microphone out there that tries to do the same thing, the e 901 has a very natural high end. We don’t have to deal with that ‘clack, clack, clack’ that you get with everything else.”
The snare delivers with an e 905 on top and an e 904 on bottom. Additional e 904s cover the toms. The classic Neumann KM 184 pencil condenser conveys the dynamics of the hi-hat, while similarly constructed Sennheiser e 914 pencil condensers provide overhead capture.
Mainly as a means to save some hard-earned tour cash and to remain nimble enough to commit to shows on short notice, Simple Plan does not tour with a monitor engineer. Instead, Joly sets up a Yamaha LS9 console at the side of the stage, which delivers each band member’s monitor mix.
“During soundcheck, they run over on their own and make changes, if necessary,” explains McManus. “It’s not ideal, surely, but it is a pretty reasonable compromise.”
Every member of the band, along with the two techs, uses a Sennheiser ew 300 IEM G3 wireless personal monitor paired with an AC 3200 combiner and an A 5000-CP circularly polarized antenna. Every guitar and bass on stage uses an SK 2000 XP wireless instrument transmitter paired with EM 2050 receivers.
“I love the flexibility and reliability of the Sennheiser wireless systems,” said Joly. “We travel to some fairly exotic places, and I always have the latitude to dial in strong RF signals using the Sennheiser equipment.”
Both Joly and McManus have found the Sennheiser Global Relations team and Chris Isaac, Sennheiser Canada artist relations manager, to be very supportive. “Simple Plan has been endorsed by Sennheiser for ten years now, almost as long as they’ve been a band,” said McManus. “Sennheiser has always been there for us, providing equipment, repairs, and amazing logistics whenever needed.”