Microphone manufacturer, Heil Sound has a new endorser in the family – Contemporary Christian band Big Daddy Weave. The band was formed in 2002 when brothers Mike and Jay Weaver, Jeremy Redmon, Joe Shirk and Jeff Jones (replaced by Brain Beihl in 2013) met at the University of Mobile. BDW has recorded eight studio albums and performed for audiences worldwide. They’ve racked up accolades along the way too, including a Dove Award for Christmas Album of the year and multiple KLove Fan Awards.
Big Daddy Weave performs about 120 dates a year, mostly in 1000-1500 seat churches, and they also play theaters, small arenas and outdoor festivals. They own all their production gear including mics, consoles, lighting and video.
Matthew Grunden is the band’s FOH engineer and production manager. A 20-year veteran of the music industry, Grunden had heard good things about Heil Sound mics, and reached out to them. The factory sent Matthew a few vocal mics to try out and he immediately became a fan. “I was blown away by the off-axis rejection on the RC35 capsule. The fullness of the 35 capsule is amazing, but still has the clean top end for the clarity needed to put the vocal out in the front of the mix.”
After working with Heil vocal mics, Matthew became interested in trying out other Heil mics for the whole stage and a full endorsement deal was put in place. “We chose PR30s, PR31BWs, PR22s, and PR40s for the instrument side of the stage. The guitar amps sound fuller, the drums sound bigger compared to the other mics we used—but not in a ‘colored/pre-shaped’ way. When the instrument sounds right it makes the job at FOH less work and more fun.”
Lead singer Mike Weaver concurs, “In gospel music the message is paramount. With the Heil mic I feel like so much of the heavy lifting is happening within the microphone itself. The sound in my ears is so transparent and full, I can just sing.”
Big Daddy Weave hits the road again in January 2018.
