Several performers utilized Sennheiser wireless systems for live performances at the recent 2009 Country Music Television (CMT) Awards show held at the Sommet Center in downtown Nashville.
Kevin Sanford of Wireless First of New York provided wireless coordination and equipment for the show and the red carpet area, including multiple channels of Sennheiser’s new fully digital EM 3732 receivers.
“I love the new 3732s. It’s very user friendly,” comments Sanford. “The sensitivity, the functionality, booster on/off, the power aspect. The readout is flawless, and its readability is exceptional compared to other systems.” Sanford is especially pleased with the antenna functionality of the new unit. “You can go into one 3732 unit and link eight units with two antennas with no need for a DA [distribution amplifier].”
Sugarland took the audience by surprise when, during a rendition of the B-52s’ big hit, “Love Shack,” the Athens, Georgia-based band joined them onstage. Sugarland’s Kristian Bush and Jennifer Nettles performed with Sennheiser SKM 5200 RF handhelds with MD 5235 dynamic capsules, with background vocals on evolution series e 935 wired mics.
Sanford oversaw in excess of 150 channels of wireless, including communications systems as well as microphones and wireless personal monitors. Onstage Sennheiser users, in addition to Sugarland, included Eric Church and Justin Moore, who both made use of the handheld SKM 5200/MD 5235 combination.
The Eli Young Band also performed with the SKM 5200/MD 5235, as well as a new 2000 Series RF handheld vocal mic with a 935 capsule, and Gloriana used a similar 2000/935 combination along with an SKM 5200 topped with a Neumann KK 105 capsule. Lady Antebellum made use of a wired MD 441 vocal mic for the trio’s performance of their 2008 single, “Lookin’ For A Good Time.”
Sanford, who fielded a half-dozen channels of the new Sennheiser 2000 Series wireless microphones, offers, “They’re beefy! They performed really well.” With everybody watching their dollars, he adds, “The 2000 Series is at a price point most of us rental boys can afford.”
Outside Nashville’s Sommet Center, Sanford maintained about a dozen channels of Sennheiser wireless. That included handheld SKM 5200/MD 5235 combinations plus ew 300 IEM G2 monitor/IFB systems for CMT’s red carpet arrival area hosts, Katie Cook and Lance Smith.
Although audio producer Michael Abbott notes that he was removed from the action, sitting in the audio remote truck, he was impressed with the performance of the new EM 3732 and 2000 Series receivers in a dynamic environment.
Noting that lighting effects on the stage set, which covered two-thirds of the arena floor, generated “a high noise floor of unwanted RF,” he says, “The Sennheiser equipment worked really well. We didn’t have any dropouts.”
