Geaered Up: Seven Kingdoms Guitarist Camden Cruz Discusses the Band’s IEM Digital Rig

Through a nearly two-decade career now, Seven Kingdoms has always found a way to keep things fresh for themselves and their fanbase. You’ll get a sense of that with the band’s recent release of their cover of Mr. Mister’s “Kyrie.” Despite the obvious musical differences between the two acts, Seven Kingdoms really succeeds in staying true to the essence of the 1985 original. The song has been previously performed by the band when they play live, and it’s become something of a fan favourite. Lead singer Sabrina Cruz had previously performed “Kyrie” while going out on the town performing karaoke. She always had a blast performing it, so it made sense for the band to give their own version a try. It also splendidly emphasizes the musical versatility of the band.

It was 2007 when Seven Kingdoms originally emerged in the small city of Deland, Florida. They solidified their lineup in 2009 and began to gain momentum, being asked to tour alongside well-established acts like Blind Guardian. That tour helped introduce Seven Kingdoms to a much wider audience, and they have been riding that momentum ever since. Their last full-length was 2022’s Zenith, which was followed up by last year’s EP release The Square. Their first release under Reigning Phoenix Music, The Square, garnered the band much critical acclaim. The band will be out touring behind The Square later this month for three weeks through various European cities.

We are joined today by Seven Kingdoms guitarist Camden Cruz for our latest Geared Up interview to discuss the band’s elaborate IEM digital rig.

First things first: what’s your current setup?

Camden Cruz: “We are currently running a full IEM/Digital rig. We are running Sennheiser G4 + EW-DX2 + Combiners for Wireless Units, X32 Rack for Monitor Mixing, a shared AxeFx III for Two Guitarists, a Scarlett 18i20 for an interface to give outputs to Track L+R, Click and Bass outputs as well as controlling the midi patch changes for the AxeFx, Reaper which is loaded on an M1 MacBook Air sends signals out of our Scarlett and then we control the X32 Mixes via iPad with the Nighthawk Router. We no longer use cabs or have any acoustic air moving on stage other than the drum set or Sabrina’s Voice. And we carry all the drum mics, Multipin Whips, cables, and stage boxes with us. For FOH, we tour with an M32R with Waves and the DL32 Stagebox. We are fully self-contained for a show.”

What made you choose this particular rig, and were there any close seconds or alternatives?

“We put this rig together because it’s essential when a band starts to fly for shows that you will need this gear. It’s easier to get a consistent rig built that can fly, versus the hassle of renting or borrowing gear that will always change from place to place. It makes the day much smoother and easier when there is one consistent rig that can essentially just be plugged in and turned on, and there are very minor adjustments to make. It’s the way to go for sure and gives us a level of peace of mind we didn’t have with production at one point.”

Seven Kingdoms gear photo

What about this rig makes it so important to you?

“When you can have an IEM system like this that includes everything, like all the other parts that are included here, once the stuff is plugged in, no matter where we are in the world, we will have roughly the same exact tone as we did the city before it, the mix of the monitors in our ears is the same, or so close there is hardly any adjustments to do.

“With this gear, we are also able to hear our show very detailed so we can find mistakes and fix them as we play, since we can hear it well. It sounds like we are playing the CD in our ears, or as if we are sitting in a fully mic’d studio setting and everything sounds really great and well mixed. It’s impossible to play live and play essentially blind if the monitors are bad. This ensures we don’t have that, so this is why it’s so important. When we have a great mix to play with, you get a much better show!”

Did you use this rig during the recording of your latest song or album? If so, please elaborate on how and for what parts.

“When we recorded the last few, we used this rig mostly during the jamming portion of the writing process. But when we go to the studio it’s a little different as we run through a different system but it’s basically similar, but just on the studio’s system. When we are jamming though during the writing process it’s as if we are just on the ‘live rig’ so we can hear each other and jam it out. It’s nice. Sometimes we even have the demo guitars which are pre-recorded going so just the drummer can jam with it so there are no mistakes when he has to study. It’s cool stuff like that you can do with the rig in preparation for the studio.”

We know you love this particular rig, but are there any major cons? (Ok, you can also list the pros.)

“Honestly, there are not many cons to this other than that it’s expensive. We are lucky to be Sennheiser Artists, so that helps a lot, but the custom build to this rig and all the other components costs money, and it’s taken a few years to get the rig into this most modern/premium form that it’s currently in. There are still a few versions of this that can go from here, but this has been a tremendous workhorse for us for several years now.”

If you could, or wanted to, what would you tweak or mod on this rig?

“If we ever did go forward with a mod, it would be to build a version 2 rig from the ground up. It would just feature some fancier stuff and more flexibility. We would be moving into an M32C for the brain and then carry a second DL32 for the digital splitter to FOH, that way everything is over CAT5, and we would still get an analog splitter made, but now we could split 32 channels. We would be adding some midi-controlled lighting stuff soon as well.”

How easy is it for you to tweak this rig and get the tone/sounds you need?

“It’s very easy to get detailed with what the band hears, but legitimately, it sounds good already, so we just turn it on and get it done as fast as we can most days. It saves us time so we can do something else in the day when on tour.”

How does this rig hold up with regular touring and gigging?

“We have had this rig, or a version of it, for a few years now, and we have so far had little to no issues at all. It’s been a completely life-changing move for a band like us. We would never go back!”

Seven Kingdoms

What’s your dream setup?

“I think the next rig we get will be that, essentially, we are working on building two rigs, one that can be stored in the USA and one for Europe that we can leave. The next rig would be more expensive, I’m sure (laughs), but it would be something that would up the game a bit in signal quality and other things. That’s several years away, though, so let’s just be happy that we have the first one! That already is pretty close to a dream rig!”

Which company do you think has provided the most support to you as a musician? Any sponsors who deserve a shoutout?

“We have received a lot of help from all of our endorsements: Sennheiser, Caparison Guitars, DDrum, Bare Knuckle Pickups, JH Audio, Ernie Ball, InTune Guitar Picks… They have all helped us in getting gear or anything we need on the equipment side, all taken care of, and we are truly grateful for them!”