Cecil has two racks of Sennheiser’s newest wireless products, including a dozen channels of SR 2050 IEM transmitters with an AC3 antenna combiner, which he uses for 10 wireless monitor mixes and a couple spares.
Ten channels of Sennheiser EM 2050 wireless receivers (a ProSoundWeb Readers’ Choice Award winner), on an ASA antenna splitter, handle all of the Peas’ handheld and headset microphones, including a couple of spares.
Both the antenna splitter and combiner are used with the new ruggedized versions of the Sennheiser A 5000-CP helical “bubble” antenna plus an omni-directional antenna that also accompanies an RF booster way out on the runway, which Dave Bellamy of Burbank-based Soundtronics helped engineer.
Sennheiser Wireless System Manager software is used for control and monitoring, along with the Professional Wireless Systems Intermodulation Analysis System (IAS) to coordinate frequencies daily.
One of Cecil’s favorite features of the new Sennheiser IEM system is the IR sync’ing feature, which makes quick work of reprogramming the packs if frequencies are reassigned.
Plenty Of Flexibility
All IEM ear molds are Ultimate Ears UE7 except for Will.i.am, who chooses Future Sonics. Cecil is going back and forth between the two models himself until the tour settles down, when he will switch over to Sensaphonics earphones that are made of soft silicone and more comfortable to wear for long periods of time, since he also mixes two support acts on this tour.
The Sennheiser SKM 2000-XP handheld transmitters, with 935 capsules, have custom “bling”.
Fergie also uses a Shure Beta 54 supercardioid headworn mic, with Sennheiser ME 3 supercardioid headset mics on the guys because they better stand up to high-SPL voices without overloading. (Cecil adds his thanks to Sennheiser’s Krysty Jo and Kevin Jungk for their support.) He’s also taken to spraying the microphone grills with Microphome, an alcohol-free, disinfectant cleaning and deodorant foam that leaves a fresh mint scent.
Fergie with “blinged-out” Sennheiser handheld.
A Logitek PRE-10 Input Extender facilitates actively switching the four main in-ear mixes to a spare transmitter, allowing Cecil to quickly accomplish spare IEM changeover without searching through pages on the console.
Similarly, a custom Clair 4×4 switcher in the RF rack cross-patches the four main mics with spare mics while also conserving inputs at the same time.
As mentioned previously, the kick drum is electronic rather than acoustic, generated by a ddrum. The snare is mic’d top and bottom with a Shure SM57, with a Shure SM81 condenser on hi-hat cymbals and Beta 98 mics on toms as well as individual cymbals from underneath.
Heil Sound PR30 mics are applied to electric guitar cabinets, with a large number of Radial Engineering JDI active direct boxes seeing action. Assisting on stage left are Simon Matthews, Jeff Lutgen and patch-master Thomas Huntington.
Mark Frink is Editorial Director of Live Sound International.