Missy Elliott and the Sennheiser SKM 5000 wireless
mic make quite an entrance at MTV's Video Music Awards.
AP Wide World Photo
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SENNHEISER AND WIRELESS FIRST TAKE ON MTV'S VIDEO
MUSIC AWARDS
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEW YORK, NEW YORK: Held at the stately Metropolitan Opera House in
New York's Lincoln Center on September 6, the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards
delivered over three hours of seamless performances both on stage and
at the presenter's podium. The infrastructure and policing in the behind-the-scenes
world of wireless transmissions grew in direct proportion to the event's
media hype and degree of technical complexity, leaving Wireless First's
wireless guru Kevin Sanford with a job worthy of his talent. A truckload
of Sennheiser gear and 200-plus frequencies later, the show went off without
a hitch, letting viewers concentrate on outfits, Moonmen, and the somewhat
concocted antics of their favorite pop stars and comedians.
MTV hired industry-leader Wireless First to coordinate frequencies and
to set up the entire wireless intercom, microphone, and in-ear systems
before and during the show. On top of negotiating the complicated RF terrain
of New York City, Sanford also had to dodge the copious RF claims made
by the Lincoln Center's three other theaters and police all of the "foreign"
ENG crews who came to the event. After "choreographing" the
show, Sanford composed "the Bible" of "who-gets-what-wireless-system-when"
and then saw to its proper execution during the show. Wireless First also
handled MTV's Total Request Live and the pre and post-show events outside
the Met, adding fifteen more Sennheiser systems to the thirty in use inside.
To pull off such a monumental task without a hitch, Sanford relied on
flexible, powerful equipment and plenty of "homework". He began
with a list of bad frequencies for New York in general and then contacted
all of the sound engineers at Lincoln Center's various stages to find
out what frequencies they use. "That gets you ninety-percent there,"
Sanford commented. "However, the blessing and the curse of this industry
is that it's never the same twice. We work out most of the final details
on the spot. That's part of the reason why I like Sennheiser so much;
their equipment is agile and robust. For an MTV event, I ask myself 'where
is the last place anyone would think to use this microphone?' So I figure
out where that place is and ensure that the system will work there. Sure
enough, when it comes down to it, the producers are saying, 'let's put
the host up in the third balcony!' Sennheiser's extra twenty to thirty
milliwatts of transmitter power always turns the trick." For the
VMAs, Sanford had four of Sennheiser's frequency ranges working!
After years of consultation with Wireless First and other RF professionals,
MTV submits a request of largely Sennheiser equipment for their events
along with any special requests from the performers themselves. For the
VMAs, Sanford used twenty-four SK 50 transmitters with a dozen MKE 2 sub-miniature
lavalier microphones and as many DPA headsets. He hid two SK 250 transmitters
with MKE 2 microphones in the podium so that MTV could move it around
without any hassle. Presenters used six SKM 5000 and SKM 3072 handheld
microphones.
Sennheiser wireless were the main microphones for the event. They were
used by the main host, Jamie Fox, all of the presenters and other hosts,
in addition to performers Alicia Keys and Missy Elliott. In total, Sanford
used eight SKM 5000 handheld microphones and six 3000-series in-ear monitors
(used by U2).
The SKM 5000s held custom ME 5005-K (for "Kevin") capsules designed
by Sanford and Sennheiser to have a slight high-frequency roll-off. "That's
another reason why I'm a Sennheiser supporter," commented Sanford.
"If I have a problem or a question, I just call up John Falcone,
president of Sennheiser, and get it solved or answered. Everybody there
is great! This is the second version of my capsule - we've adjusted the
internal equalization to match my specifications, and the response from
the TV engineers has been very favorable." All of the Sennheiser
systems used the SAS Antenna Distribution Amplifiers.
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