Berklee College of Music, home to more than 4,000 students and a list of alumni who have collectively won more than 300 GRAMMYs and Latin GRAMMYs, and 25 daytime and primetime Emmy Awards, has standardized on Point Source Audio‘s SERIES8 cardioid headsets as their musical production microphone.
The Point Source mics debuted for the school’s momentous Berklee Performance Center Anniversary Concert: 100 Years of Musical Theater with a cast of 20 wearing the CR-8D headset.
Berklee College of Music has a diverse and talented student body representing more than 100 countries and has shaped many well-known musical professionals, such as Billboard chart-topping singer and songwriter Charlie Puth and Tony-winning Hamilton music director Alex Lacamoire.
The school’s audio requirements are stringent: “After doing our tests, we found the CR-8D to give the least coloration and the highest gain before feedback. I’ve used many other headset brands but by the time I completed tuning all of the rings out, the signal would be completely unrecognizable as a human voice. With the CR-8D headsets, the sound is much more natural after feedback corrections,” reported Alejo Planchart, production manager in concert operations for Berklee. “The exact placement near the mouth of the singer was the most forgiving out of all the headsets I’ve used before and the noise handling was very minimal, which are two very crucial factors when working with student singers.”
Responsible for over 2,200 events each year in six different performance venues, the production and theater staff at Berklee sought to find a robust headset microphone that could also deliver a highly directional pattern because many of their productions require floor monitors where feedback tends to be a major issue. Edward Liberatore, production manager for Berklee explained, “In many cases, the band and the actors are on the same small stage. Actors are performing near speakers and we needed a product that could eliminate background sound.”
Berklee has many student-run productions and beginner students are still learning proper microphone placement so it was very important for Berklee to find a headset that would stay in place throughout numerous costume changes. The CR-8D headsets were used for three straight nights of rehearsals and for the highly anticipated 100 Years of Musical Theater.
Planchart praised the product by saying, “After utilizing our headsets for four straight days we were impressed to have each headset stay on through the many costume changes. We are really pleased with Point Source Audio’s CR-8D and have three more musical productions this semester where we plan to use upwards of 15 headsets at each show.”
The SERIES8 CR-8D headset microphone has a highly directional pick-up pattern and is ideal for live performances where actors are performing near speakers, other microphones or instrumentals and feedback is at risk. Point Source Audio’s vice president of sales and marketing, Yvonne Ho, shared how this is accomplished with the CR-8D headset: “With a cardioid pick up pattern, precise mic placement is paramount; our headset’s boom flexibility and length adjustments make it easier to achieve feedback rejection without having to force the mic directly in front of the mouth.”
The CR-8D cardioid headset is part of the company’s SERIES8 collection of miniature headset, earworn, and lavalier microphones. SERIES8 is offered in the three wearing styles in either omnidirectional or cardioid pick-up patterns and have been chosen by audio professionals—including sound designers and audio engineers from the San Francisco Opera, London’s West End, Shiki Theater Company Tokyo, and more—to solve a wide variety mic’ing challenges.
Student actors at Berklee College of Music perform wearing Point Source Audio’s SERIES8 Cardioid Headsets (Credit: Berklee College of Music)
