The band members used Tin Pan Studio for their live concert from home for the worldwide music initiative promoted by Sennheiser.
Like other musicians in coronavirus lockdown, the five members of the British band Mamas Gun, famous for their album Golden Days, were struggling to find a way to play together from their homes or studios without suffering latency or other problems. They found the solution in the Tin Pan Studio tool, which lets musicians jam, rehearse, create, record and play music together over the internet simultaneously, each from their own home or studio. Thanks to this innovative technology, Mamas Gun was able to deliver a hugely successful live streaming concert as part of the worldwide #DontStopTheMusic music initiative promoted by Sennheiser.
When the pandemic broke out, Doug Hunt, a live sound engineer and director of Doug Hunt Sound & Light Ltd., had to cancel all his jobs, so he began looking for a way to help bands keep performing remotely over the internet. "Like everyone else, I couldn't find anything up to the task," he admits. "I couldn't find anything that offered professional musicians fast enough monitoring and that also had great audio quality."
Desperate to keep working with his favorite bands, Hunt came up with what would become Tin Pan Studio. The technology behind Hunt's model is innovative, since it combines, on the one hand, server-based ultra-low-latency monitoring for the musicians and, on the other, studio-quality audio that the engineer mixes. As soon as he had a working prototype ready (which he called "DougMons"), Hunt contacted MG Management, Mamas Gun's agency, to see if they wanted to try it.
"Not only have I been working with Mamas Gun for years, but they've become good friends and I love their music," Hunt confesses. "They were the perfect test bed for the new software, because they have very high quality standards, they're excellent musicians and I knew I could count on their much-appreciated patience."
Thanks to Tin Pan Studio's technology, Mamas Gun was able to deliver a hugely successful live streaming concert as part of the #DontStopTheMusic initiative promoted by Sennheiser.
Hunt worked with Mamas Gun to test his software and keep improving it until everyone felt confident using it for live broadcasts, which they did shortly afterward, one for Soho Radio and another for the band's own channel. During the band's performance, what stood out most, apart from the near-zero latency of the live broadcast, was the absolutely crystal-clear audio.
"To get good results, you need microphones with excellent sound and headphones that provide good isolation. That's why we've always relied on Sennheiser," Hunt explains. "The evolution 900 series microphones are what I always use when I need excellent sound and good noise rejection. Choosing Sennheiser HD headphones was also an obvious decision, since they combine comfort with good isolation."
At the same time the band was working with Hunt testing his Tin Pan Studio technology, Brian Hurst, owner of SoulandJazz.com and a Sennheiser brand ambassador, introduced Mamas Gun to Andy Egerton, Sennheiser's head of artist relations. Together, they looked for a way for the band to take part in the audio specialist's worldwide #DontStopTheMusic initiative. And the Tin Pan Studio project was a perfect fit.
"Routes to Riches, Mamas Gun's first record, came out in 2009," Hurst notes. "It was a very promising debut for the band, whose reputation has grown stronger over the years, helped in large part by the exceptional and truly moving voice of the group's founder and lead singer, Andy Platts. Their album Golden Days, released in 2018, was my album of the year; it's a must-listen. I strongly recommended that Sennheiser invite them to become one of its featured artists, since this band's work and sound are perfectly aligned with the values and style the company stands for."
After a series of rehearsals, the band presented its performance earlier this week as part of Sennheiser's #DontStopTheMusic project on Sennheiser's Facebook page, with all five band members playing together live from the comfort of their home studios, while the Tin Pan Studio program ensured a broadcast with virtually no latency. The event was a first for Sennheiser's live streaming platform and showed how useful technology can be for remote music performances.
"Bands like Mamas Gun thrive on live shows and touring. Much of their chemistry, creativity and development as musicians comes from playing together as a band," admits Carly Martin-Gammon of MG Management.
"The combination of Tin Pan Studio's innovative technology with Sennheiser's rugged audio equipment has not only allowed the band to keep giving their fans a truly impressive live experience, spiced up with all the adrenaline the best live concerts deliver, but has also allowed them to keep developing artistically."
The band couldn't agree more, pointing out that in times like these it's very hard for musicians to get together in a studio to rehearse, and that Tin Pan Studio has made their dream of playing together again come true. "Not only can we play and rehearse new and old songs together, but we now have better-quality sound thanks to Sennheiser's microphones and headphones," says Dave Oliver, the band's keyboard player.
Chris Boot, Mamas Gun's drummer, also knows Sennheiser products well and for years has been religiously using an MD 441 mic to record the snare drum.
"Sennheiser continues to stand out as one of the most important brands in the audio industry," he says. "I've been lucky enough to record in some of the most prestigious and successful recording studios in the UK. And in every one of them you could be sure to find a wide selection of Sennheiser microphones. My go-to microphone for recording snares is an MD 441. Working with Sennheiser products guarantees high-quality audio recording and, what's more, they're always reliable and rugged."
Sharing her impressions of this experience, Carly Martin-Gammon highlights how important it is for bands like Mamas Gun to be able to perform together again and how Sennheiser's #DontStopTheMusic initiative offers them the perfect platform.
"For me, it's become crystal clear that the five hugely talented members of this band create a special, overflowing magic when they play together," she explains. "The strong connection between them goes beyond the physical need to be together on the same stage. Personally, I felt a lot of joy and happiness seeing them play together once again thanks to this innovative technology, Sennheiser's equipment and its #DontStopTheMusic initiative. It has helped people understand how important a performance is for creating bonds among the musicians themselves and with their fans."
"Sennheiser launched the #DontStopTheMusic campaign so that artists and musicians around the world can showcase their talent online in the absence of in-person shows," says Andy Egerton.
"Coordinated by our colleague Jessica Dabbs in the United States and the rest of our relationship management team, the initiative has so far provided a virtual stage for more than 90 performances. We enthusiastically support innovative technologies that allow successful bands like Mamas Gun to keep delivering their magnificent live performances and keep music alive over the internet."
