For the recently concluded fourth season of NBC Television’s highly rated “America’s Got Talent,” Audio Mixer Larry Reed regularly utilized an array of Sennheiser and Neumann microphones fpr the competing singers, dancers, comedians and entertainers, as well as guest artists and the panel of three celebrity judges.
Reed reports that the Sennheiser and Neumann wired microphones were used mainly on guest bands. In addition, a couple of the show’s guest vocalists made use of wireless handheld microphones. “We brought in Sennheiser SKM 5200s for Susan Boyle – who used a Neumann KK-105 head – and for Leona Lewis,” he notes.
“America’s Got Talent” features a panel of judges that includes Sharon Osborne, David Hasselhoff and Piers Morgan, who were all outfitted with Sennheiser MKE 2 lavalier mics and the compact SK 5212 RF package.
As for the mic inventory available for the guest bands, Reed continues, “I had an e 901 for the kick, 604s on all the toms, and, my absolute favorite mic in all the world, the KM 84, on hi-hat and overheads,” he recalls. “The new drum mics are fabulous, low profile, great diaphragm, and dynamic, so I don’t have to worry about phantom power.”
Guitars were mic’ed with e 906 supercardioid dynamic models. “Plus,” says Reed, “we had the standard MKH 416 looking onto the stage for any kind of effects, tap dancers, or anybody yelling or screaming. That’s the standard for me.”
One group, Recycled Percussion (a new Sennheiser endorser), who placed third in the finals, truly put the Sennheiser mics to the test, according to Reed. “I almost exclusively used e 604s on the tubs that they were playing, which worked out really well for us. They take a folding chair and turn it upside down, and throw the tub on top of it. It was hard to find a way to mic it, but we mounted the 604s to a support bar on the folding chair, and that worked very well for us.”
For one of Recycled Percussion’s performances that involved water pouring onto the tubs, he adds, “I specified MKE 2 Platinum lavs, because a water molecule is bigger than the sound ports of the mic, thus making it waterproof. In any case,” he says, “the fortunate part was that the tub worked in our favor to waterproof the mic, since it was sitting on top of it.”
Reed, a freelance audio mixer, typically specifies Sennheiser and Neumann microphones for any show on which he is hired to work.
