Press

20.07.2005 - Wedemark

Live 8

With the worldwide Live 8 concerts having put the African issue on page 1 in newspapers all over the globe, the G8 meeting in Gleneagles has finished with the Group of Eight pledging to cancel the debt of 18 of the world's poorest countries under good governance and doubling foreign aid to 50 billion US dollars in the next five years.

Rolf Meyer, Speaker of the Sennheiser Executive Committee, summed up the company's commitment, "Requiring more than 1500 hours of planning and labor and in excess of one million Euros worth of equipment, the cooperation of each of the involved subsidiaries and the German headquarters was an absolute must. More than 300 channels of Sennheiser wireless and well over 1000 wired microphones had to be shuffled around the planet as needed. Everything from an extra man for the Canadian team that came from Germany to special equipment for Madonna, Dido and Faithless that had to be coordinated between the US, Canada, UK, France and Germany plus much more had to be sorted out in just three weeks."

Paul Hugo, Sennheiser's Worldwide Relationship Manager

Paul Hugo, Sennheiser's Worldwide Relationship Manager, adds, "With more than 50% of the artists listed on the Live 8 website being regular users of our products already, it only made sense that we would be sponsors. And while it was nice to be the official microphone sponsor of the biggest concert event of all time, the real reward was working together as the Sennheiser Network team with live and broadcast sound professionals from around the world, all to benefit people we may never meet but who need our help."

He continues, "After the long day had ended all around the world and we had almost recovered from all the preparation and execution I received a nice email from Harvey Goldsmith, promoter of Live 8: "You are one of the unsung heroes. Many thanks for all your help. You have helped make history. And that is just the way it felt, historic."

London, Hyde Park

Sennheiser's tour support included frequency planning, on-site technical support for the show as well as a sound engineers' lounge with a high speed wireless data network used by all of the engineers for up-to-date show and DiGiCo mixer patches. Sennheiser UK also supplied rehearsal equipment and support prior to the show to most of the bands rehearsing in London.

With the hostile RF environment of central London, Sennheiser UK designed and built a unique wireless monitoring antenna system. European Antennas of Cambridge developed two circular polarized antennas specifically for the show, driven by a unique launch amplifier system. The comment from the bands' engineers was unanimous. As Dave Hawker, Director of Engineering with Sennheiser UK, summed up, "The clarity of the Sennheiser Evolution 900 Series over other brands was obvious. Sennheiser's quality cut through, giving a remarkable sound for the crowd and the billions of TV viewers. Sennheiser certainly rocked London . . ."

Madonna and Birhan Woldu

Philadelphia, Museum of Art

Philadelphia had the biggest audience of all Live 8 concerts. On Independence Day weekend, over 500,000 people came to see the concert, hosted by Will Smith, Natalie Portman, Jennifer Connelly and Dhani Jones. Mike Wolf of Clair Brothers Audio, the audio systems supplier for the Philadelphia Live 8 concert, was more than happy with the support he received from Sennheiser Electronic Corporation, USA: "They were on site and able to reprogram the transmitters and receivers as the situation changed. No matter how much advance work you do on RF, there's always someone that shows up on the day that you didn't expect."

The majority of the performers in Philadelphia chose to use Sennheiser microphones. Up and coming UK band Kaiser Chiefs kicked off the day with Evolution wired mics for vocals and backline. The SKM935-G2 was used by Rob Thomas and Adam Levine, who each appeared with Stevie Wonder and with their own bands. Alicia Keys also sang with the SKM935-G2 as she had on her tour previously. The SKM935 was also chosen for the presenters Will Smith, Natalie Portman, Jennifer Connelly, Dhani Jones and others because it gives reliable results with a wide variety of users. Destiny's Child and Josh Groban performed with the SKM5000-N, while Dave Matthews used the Neumann KMS105 and Sarah McLachlan used the KMS150.

Destiny's Child

Chris Sharp, monitor engineer for Matchbox 20's Rob Thomas, was thrilled to have the Sennheiser team and equipment there waiting for him. "The SKM935-G2 microphone made my day. Using the new 935 I could actually add drums to the mix versus having to mix around the vocal mic. The 935 provided solid rejection of the things I didn't want in the mix."

Monitor engineer Will Miller, who regularly tours with singer Josh Groban, also helped out Sarah McLachlan on the day in Philadelphia. "I always spec EW300-IEMs and an SKM5000-N with Neumann KK105S capsule for Josh Groban - he has become very much attached to the gear he knows, trusts and likes - so for me Sennheiser was the consistency factor," said Miller. "From an RF standpoint, the transmission power of the SKM5000-N gives us confidence that you don't always have with regard to RF mics. Signal strength at the receiver has become a non-issue since we started using it. The SKM5000-N with Neumann capsule might be the clearest sounding RF mic out there today."

Sennheiser's EW300-IEM system is Miller's wireless monitoring preference for Groban. "It has a warmth and full tone that sounds fantastic to a vocalist. It has none of the harsher companding sound I've heard in other units. Plus, the ease-of-use factor when it comes to finding RF frequencies that work is second to none. And I love the variable squelch function; it lets you ensure that drop-outs are a non-issue, which can?t be said for every brand."

Berlin, Straße des 17. Juni/Siegessäule

A crowd of nearly 200,000 fans filled Berlin's "Street of June 17", eager to get a good view of the stage in front of the Victory Column.

And for wired instrument mics the Evolution Series as well as the MD and MKH Series were used. The Evolution 900 Series instrument mics once again proved to be ideal for stage work, as the microphones were quick and easy to mount with a specially developed instrument clamp. The engineers could do without mic stands which proved advantageous for the rolling risers used to save set-up time. 40 channels of wireless were used on stage but there was also a special wireless application off-stage. Eleven delay towers were used to provide sound reinforcement along the 1 km long audience area. These were linked to the FOH desk using 11 Evolution wireless rack-mount receivers and an Evolution IEM transmitter at the FOH position.

Barrie, Park Place (Canada)

Neil Young was using his own KMS140 as usual but this time he came with a special song that required a choir of voices. "We needed a mic that would bring the choir to the mix without all the bleed that would make the job impossible," said Lee Moro, working with Jason Audio. "The 935 worked great for this." Jeff Berryman of Jason Audio thanked Sennheiser for their excellent support of sound systems. "The event was quite a success sonically. Part of the credit goes to Sennheiser for providing critical wired and wireless microphones and wireless IEM systems. Your generosity, expertise, and energy are greatly appreciated. We hope to enjoy many more such collaborations with Sennheiser in the future."

Rome, Circus Maximus