At FOH for the band is engineer Paul Gallagher, who has worked with the group since their very beginnings. "Glasgow is a small town with a great music scene. I worked with Iain [Cook] and Martin [Doherty] in different bands before Chvrches. I think the first gig I worked for them was a small show in Edinburgh in front of 100 people. It's been a journey watching them progress to the venues they are now playing."
Given the massive stage volumes at play, Gallagher has enlisted the Rupert Neve Designs 5045 Primary Source Enhancer on Mayberry's lead vocal microphones. "I had been using the [Rupert Neve Designs] Master Buss Processor in the studio and then used it live...then a band called Shura were on tour with Chvrches and their engineer highly recommended [the 5045]. He gave me a shot and I was very impressed.
"Lauren, who handles the majority of lead vocals, swaps between a wired microphone and an RF microphone. I'm using both channels [of the 5045] on these. It's great for shutting the mic down when it's not in use, while leaving the envelope of the source sounding natural. We are using [Sennheiser] 965 capsules - they can be sensitive, so it's great for getting more gain without building up feedback. I've found since using the 5045, reverbs and delays sound tighter."
(Jim Evans)
