UK - Despite two multi-platinum selling albums, being a three time Grammy Award nominee, Ivor Novello and MOBO award winner and enjoying a public profile that most singers can only dream about, it took 2006 X Factor winner Leona Lewis until the summer of 2010 to embark on her first headline tour.
Monitor engineer Ant Carr did some promo work for Lewis earlier in the year and has previously worked for Syco, her management company, so he was ideally placed to get the best from the singer's voice in the array of arenas that the Labyrinth tour took in.
"This year Leona was to tour with a fresh band, so it was a good opportunity for me to come in," he says. "To be honest, choosing Sennheiser was a no brainer for me. It's my choice of microphone and the in-ear stuff is great."
Carr has Lewis, plus her four-piece backing band, two backing singers and techs, on ew 300 IEM systems, split over two frequency bands to keep RF congestion to a minimum. Meanwhile, microphones are five Sennheiser 5200 handhelds with EM 3532 receivers.
"I'm running everyone on the 5235 heads," he says. "We decided that they were best suited to the arenas we're playing in now and they've been brilliant. They really suit Leona's vocal range and I think it's absolutely the right microphone for her voice.
"Sennheiser has also supplied me with three further mics and one dual receiver for promo and television work, so she's always got the same equipment."
The tour relies heavily on spectacular visuals and Sennheiser ensured that the company's equipment played its part in projecting a sumptuous image.
"Sennheiser was very helpful, via CrystalRoc, in customising one of her handhelds, which is chrome with loads of crystal all over it," says Carr.
Sennheiser UK's Phil Cummings has looked after the tour, making sure that Lewis's most important asset - her voice - always sounds at its best in the live environment.
"Phil has been brilliant," Carr concludes. "Sennheiser is always available on the end of the phone whenever I need to speak to anyone - what more could I ask for?"
