Press

 

01.08.2001 - COLUMBIA, MARYLAND

Sennheiser SKM WIRELESS and evolution mics coalesce to perfection for Tim McGraws summer tour

With everything from a long-cherished Sennheiser wireless system to a variety of evolution mics, Country bad-boy Tim McGraw's aptly named "Tim McGraw on Tour 2001" is tweaked for perfection. With a completely revamped stage show and video system rivaled only by U2, McGraw crisscrossed the country for two solid months, packing at least 20,000 fans into sold-out amphitheaters and arenas every night. An eminent trio of engineers capably delivered McGraw's music to the masses in its full sonic glory: John Ward at FOH, and Billy Hawley and Jeff Priepot managing the monitor position.

After trying "everything" a few years back, the team hit upon the wireless system that McGraw now swears by. They combined a Sennheiser SKM 5000 transmitter and a stock ME 5005 supercardioid condenser capsule with a Sennheiser EM 3032 true diversity receiver. "The ME 5005 sounds completely natural," observed Hawley. "It has an 'open-air' top end that Tim is in love with. The only processing we use is a little high pass and low pass filtering with a touch of compression so the sound you hear is basically the sound of the microphone. Of course, getting the right sound at the microphone beats a truckload of processors any day."

The team's allegiance to their Sennheiser system doesn't rest on sonics alone. Hawley claimed Sennheiser's mastery of RF technology imbued the system with the kind of reliability an artist of McGraw's caliber demands. "Sennheiser is second to none in the world of RF. The system is completely stable. With Sennheiser, we simply don't worry about RF troubles."

Several wired Sennheiser microphones dot the stage as well. Sennheiser e 865s cover the backing vocalists with a sonic signature that matches McGraw's 5000 system. The first condenser microphone in Sennheiser's acclaimed evolution series, the e 865 is gaining notoriety as "the microphone built for Sting": a design that combines detailed, realistic transduction with the ability to withstand extremely high input levels without distorting.

The team recently brought "ringy", uninspired toms to life with a handful of Sennheiser e 604s. "As soon as we plugged them in, everyone on the audio crew immediately noted the improvement," recalled Hawley. "The e 604s give us control without necessitating all of the gating and equalization we used to use. Its directionality, stability, and high SPL resilience combine to produce a well-rounded, natural tom tone."

With the microphone situation well at hand, Hawley implemented the switch from a Garwood to a Sennheiser 3050 in-ear monitoring system last year. "The key to in-ear monitoring," he said, "is to bring the mix out of the center of the musician's head and make it sound like a PA system or a stereo. I do the best I can, imaging everything, detuning stereo channels to 'split them up', but after that, it's up to the electronics of the wireless system. Every in-ear system has a different sound, but the Sennheiser 3050 system is the first I've heard that effectively gets the mix outside of the musician's head. The sound is simply fantastic. Of course, it being Sennheiser, we don't have to worry about RF interference or dropouts: our transmissions are bulletproof."


Established in 1945 in Wedemark, Germany, Sennheiser is the acknowledged world leader in microphone technology, RF-wireless and infrared sound transmission, headphone transducer technology, and most recently, in the development of active noise-cancellation. Sennheiser Electronic Corporation is the U.S. wholly-owned subsidiary, with headquarters in Old Lyme, Connecticut.

SENNHEISER
1 Enterprise Drive, Old Lyme, CT 06371
(860) 434-9190, Fax (860) 434-1759
http://www.sennheiserusa.com/

CONTACTS FOR EDITORIAL INFORMATION:
Toni Flosi, AAdvert International
Phone (847) 998-0600, Fax (847) 998-0260, e-mail: tflosi@aadvert.com
Karl Winkler, Sennheiser, Director, Marketing Communications
kwinkler@sennheiserusa.com, (860) 434-9190


(PHOTO CAPTIONS)
T_McGraw.JPG: Tim McGraw on Tour 2001 with the Sennheiser SKM 5000.
*TIM McGRAW PHOTO CREDIT: Steve Jennings.