Sennheiser and K-array on Jason McCoy's One-Man Retrospective Headline Tour

	Jason McCoy

Country music star Jason McCoy marked the recent release of his fifth studio album, Everything, with a cross-country headlining tour across twenty-six Canadian cities. For its audio backbone, the tour featured Sennheiser wireless transmitters and receivers, as well as K-array loudspeakers, which are distributed by Sennheiser.

This one-man retrospective, which started in Kamloops on March 4th and finished in Halifax on April 21, celebrated McCoy's return to his legendary roots as a soloist after five years spent with the popular country-rock trio, The Road Hammers. The technologically advanced show -- which included special guest appearances on a 45'-wide video screen -- featured a custom-tailored touring package comprised Sennheiser SKM 2000 wireless handheld transmitters coupled with MMK 935 microphone capsules, Sennheiser 2000 series in-ear monitors (IEMs) and K-array's highly efficient KR 200S loudspeakers, which were sourced from dealer/owner Derek Gould of GV Audio in Regina.

On each of his tour dates night after night, the Sennheiser SKM 2000 and 935 capsule assisted McCoy in delivering a smooth response, and with absolutely zero RF interference. McCoy, who reflected on the recently completed tour from his family farm in Ontario, commented on the sound quality: "The 935 capsule was incredibly responsive to both the harsh and the quiet dynamics of my vocals. It just delivered that big, clean sound again and again, night after night."

Onstage, McCoy also relied on Sennheiser's 2000 IEM wireless monitoring system, which features up to 3000 frequencies in up to 75 MHz switching bandwidth. "All the wireless equipment did what Sennheiser promised it would do, without exception" says front-of-house engineer Geoff Kent. "I had no issues with crosstalk or drop outs."

Kent was particularly pleased to have Sennheiser at the input stage and K-arrays loudspeakers at the output. The KR 200S loudspeakers feature a big sound within a compact footprint, measuring just 5.5 cm wide and 7 cm deep and weighing 20lbs. total.

"Those K-arrays are extremely powerful," said Kent, who used the system in venues ranging from 100 to 900 capacity seating. "It took all of about three minutes flat to set up the KR 200s system, then I would just eyeball it to aim it. A lot of in-house engineers and house-staff would look at the K-arrays, scratch their heads and say, 'That's not going to work -- you need to use our PA system.' But then we'd fire up the K-arrays, give the system a sound check, and everyone would be just blown away."

The small size of the K-arrays also made travel less expensive since they could fit easily in the back of the 40' bus, "....or a Honda Civic, for that matter," recalls Kent. "The K-arrays also played an integral role in helping make production feasible in venues lacking in-house production capabilities," he added.

Lighting/video director Sean Hooper appreciates the KR200s slim profile. "Video was a very important component of this show--a virtual band, so to speak, behind Jason and his acoustic guitar," explained Hooper. "We had various segments that included Jason doing interactive vignettes with other country stars like Amanda Wilkinson, a segment featuring the history of his music videos and so forth. Even in a 150-seat theatre, obstruction of sightlines was never an issue and we didn't have to worry about a big stack of speakers blocking the stage."

Sonically, Kent says the K-arrays delivered the goods. "The K-arrays had an excellent response, even down to as low as 200 hertz." Although the tour was acoustic, Kent would run ten additional tracks in addition to vocals and acoustic guitar. "I always went for the biggest mix I could have in a room. The K-arrays, along with the Sennheiser wireless allowed me to achieve high fidelity this show required every time."