latest news headlines

Sennheiser and Neumann Mics Bring Season's Greetings to Troops Away From Home

As the year draws to a close, the Air Force Reserve Command will be bringing holiday cheer to service members stationed abroad through a schedule of live performances and broadcast events. Sennheiser's artist relations manager, Tim Moore - an experienced live sound engineer and tour/production manager - is supporting those efforts by providing Sennheiser microphones and technical expertise, and will be joining the ‘Operation Season's Greetings’ tour of bases in Europe and Southwest Asia for the second consecutive year.

Recently appointed to his position at Sennheiser, Moore formerly worked with Jamie O'Neal and traveled with the country music artist on last year's ‘Operation Season's Greetings’ tour. Earlier this year, he said: "The Air Force called me looking for her production contact and asked if I would be interested in going again. I said, 'absolutely!' I've never done anything as rewarding as these Air Force tours. These people are away from home for so many months."

Sennheiser also provided equipment and support for ‘Holiday Notes From Home’, a live-to-tape concert that was held at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville at the end of October that will be broadcast on the Armed Forces Radio and Television Network during the holiday season. The event featured the Band of the U.S. Air Force Reserve - who will be joined by the U.S. Air Forces in Europe Band on Operation Season's Greetings - with R&B star Aaron Neville, country band Lonestar and gospel vocal group Take 6.

Acting as A1 and production manager for the ‘Holiday Notes From Home’ taping was recording and mix engineer David Cherry of AVDC, Inc. Cherry combined his Sennheiser and Neumann microphones with those supplied by Moore to cover many of the strings, brass and percussion players in the Air Force orchestra. "I also used Sennheiser SKM 935 G2 handhelds for an Air Force vocalist and the commanding officer, Lt. Gen. John Bradley, as well as their Command Chaplain," reports Cherry. "And I used the SKM 935 G2 on the hosts, Lorianne Crook and Charlie Chase."

In total, says Cherry, there were 88 inputs being recorded, including Neumann KM 140 miniature microphones on the first and second violins, viola and oboes, KM 184 miniature mics on the first and second flutes, and large diaphragm BCM 104 mics on the alto, tenor and baritone sax positions. Sennheiser MD 421s were deployed on the French horns and tuba, with three MKH 416 shotguns covering the acoustic bass players. Evolution series e 914 condensers on two percussionists and e 906 on electric guitar amps rounded out the onstage complement of Sennheiser

microphones.

Cherry, who has worked with the Band of the U.S. Air Force Reserve on similar broadcast shows for nearly ten years, reports: "We had only one mic with RF issues, and it was not a Sennheiser! The Sennheisers were rock steady."

Jamie O'Neal will be joined on this year's Operation Season's Greetings tour by Latin singer Melina León, comedian Dick Hardwick and six New England Patriots Cheerleaders. Moore reports that his microphone list for the tour will include eight Sennheiser SKM 935 G2 handhelds with EM 550 G2 receivers as well as MD 421 and e 609 SILVER models, plus a broad selection from the evolution 900 series, to provide coverage of all the musicians and the majority of singers and announcers.

The Operation Season's Greetings 2007 tour will visit Landstuhl Medical Center in Germany and perform at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, RAF Mildenhall in the U.K, Incirlik Air Base in Turkey, and forward operating locations in Southwest Asia. The project started more than nine years ago and was designed as a way to bring entertainment to troops away from home and family during the holidays. This year's effort is a collaboration between the Band of the U.S. Air Force Reserve and the USAFE band, along with USAFE Services.

The Band of the U.S. Air Force Reserve consists of sixty full-time professional musicians who are assigned to the Air Force Reserve Command, Robins Air Force Base, Georgia. The band travels in excess of 100,000 miles per year performing over 400 concerts extensively throughout their primary geographic area of Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi, as well as Air Force Reserve installations worldwide.

‘Holiday Notes From Home’, a live-to-tape concert that was held at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, will be broadcast on the Armed Forces Radio and Television Network during the holiday season featuring the Band of the U.S. Air Force Reserve and a strong contingent of Sennheiser microphones.

News Type:

latest news headlines

Sennheiser and Neumann Mics Bring Season's Greetings to Troops Away From Home

28th November 2007

HEADLINES

news archive

search stories