The Union Chapel in London is an amazing space. If you are not already aware of the venue, in their own words it is:

"...an architectural treasure that's home to a working church, an award winning venue, a unique organ and The Margins Project for those homeless and in crisis in London"

It is a very intimate space for a gig, and as Les explains in the below video, requires bands/artists to 'work with the space' rather than just do the gig they would do in any other venue in order to achieve best results. Another of the many other quirks of The Union Chapel is that alcohol is not permitted in the Church itself, so one can grab a beer at the bar (separate part of the building!) before or after the gig. We ended up drinking tea and eating teacakes during the gig, and it made for a nice change indeed!

We know that The Union Chapel are fond of Shure microphones.  They have a whole array of Shure mics in the building, from trusty Beta 58's, to KSM313 ribbons, and even the brand new KSM8 dynamic microphone. We went to visit The Union Chapel on the day they were setting up for a performance from the wonderful 'Sun Ra Arkestra'. We spoke with Head Tech Les Mommsen to find out what mics he uses and why.

 

 

 

We'd like to thank Les for taking the time to speak with us and never looking stressed, despite having two camera crews in the building (Boiler Room were setting up and filming the Sun Ra performance while we were filming Les),  and a pretty large band to deal with!

Below are some great photos courtesy of David Baum...