2013 has been a year to remember for progressive metal band TesseracT. Following the release of their second album 'Altered State' (recently voted by critics as the No.2 album of the year in PROG magazine), they have touredNorth America with Katatonia, Cult of Luna and Intronaut, then headlined their own tour of the US, Canada and Mexico. Upon their return to the UK they were main support for Karnivool on their UK tour. Prior to this touring cycle the band, in conjunction with AKG UK distributor Sound Technology, designed an AKG IVM4500 in-ear monitoring system with full HiQnet network remote control and monitoring.
Before setting off on a tour of Europe with Protest The Hero and The Safety Fire, the boys also found the time to record a live session at the legendary BBC Maida Vale studios for the BBC Radio One Rock Show - a perfect time to catch up with bass player Amos Williams, to find out how they have implemented the AKG IVM4500 in-ear system and what it has brought to their live set.
TesseracT recording their Radio One live session at BBC Maida Vale Studios (photo credit -Kristell Gathoye)
Looking back on the past five months Amos says, "TesseracT have gone through a bit of a metamorphosis over the last cycle of touring. We've gone from a band struggling to replicate the studio recordings in a live scenario, to a band that is not only able to equal the quality and production level of our studio recordings on stage, but also improve upon these. We put this largely down to the new In-Ear Monitoring system that we designed with AKG and Sound Technology.".
AKG IVM4500 in-ear monitoring system rack-mounted components (photo credit - Kristell Gathoye)
He continues, "This system not only allows us to eliminate any stage noise, thus giving our FOH engineer, Aidan O'Brien a level playing ground when reinforcing our sound at gigs, but has had the added bonus of improving our level of playing. We can literally hear every little defect and bum note, as well as details in the tracks we had forgotten about from the studio production. It's like we can now deliver as close to the album production as possible, almost like the audience is in the studio with us, but with the added energy, atmosphere and euphoria of a live show.".
TesseracT at BBC Maida Vale studios - note the AKG IVM4500 rack behind Guitarist, Acle Kahney (photo credit - Kristell Gathoye)
AKG is distributed in the UK & ROI by Sound Technology Ltd, contact us on 01462 480000 or visit http://www.soundtech.co.uk/akg
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