Audio-visual equipment supply company LSH Events (part of the London Speaker Hire family) has been an enthusiastic supplier and promoter of Shure equipment over the last 10 years, and was closely involved with testing the mic manufacturer’s dual-diaphragm KSM8 prior to its launch in January 2016.
“Since we opened our event and band rehearsal facilities in East London, we’ve been involved with a lot of current high-profile bands and their technical support staff,” explains Grant Turner, LSH Managing Director. “We put some KSM8s in one of the rehearsal rooms there alongside the usual SM58s, and people soon started to ask us about the new mic.”
Early adopters of the KSM8 were up-and-coming Essex-based dirty-pop band Arcaves, who had previously been using Shure SM58 and Beta 87As as live vocal mics. The band auditioned prototype versions of the mic at the 2015 V Festival, and progressed to using two KSM8s as their main live vocal mics by mid-2016. Both mics feature clearly in the video shot to accompany the band’s most recent single, Out Of The Blue, which was one of the first videos shot in the UK using a high-resolution 8K sensor.
In April, the KSM8 was the vocal mic used for what was subsequently certified as the World’s Highest Ever Stand-up Gig. Stand Up On Everest involved UK comedians Tom Wrigglesworth and Martin Mor, together with Australians Wayne Deakin and Mickey D, performing on a temporary stage erected solely for the purpose at Mount Everest South Base Camp in the Nepalese Himalayas, 5365 metres above sea level.
To see off 2016, Arcaves threw a free pre-Christmas concert on London’s South Bank on 9th December, with the KSM8 serving as the main vocal microphone.