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Prince Reigns at Superbowl XLI with Sennheiser
Super Bowl XLI may have suffered through a downpour but it was Prince who reigned, with an electrifying performance that was hailed by some as one of the most thrilling halftime shows in the history of the game. Conditions were far from ideal for any electronic equipment, but the most critical item, Prince's chrome-plated Sennheiser wireless vocal microphone with a Neumann capsule, took the rough weather and the singer's rough handling in stride.
"My big worry was that Prince's mic was going to get soaked and quit working," admits James Stoffo, who has been in charge of wireless systems for the musical entertainment segments of the Super Bowl for many years. "But it never did die. It was soaking wet when we got it back, but it never quit on me."
Although there was a spare standing by, the vocal microphone, which pairs a chrome-plated handheld Sennheiser SKM 5200 wireless transmitter with a Neumann KK 105-S capsule, never stopped working, even after getting knocked around and thrown to the stage by Prince. "It worked the whole time, even though he was slamming it around and throwing it around in the rain," confirms Stoffo.
Kicking off with a rousing chorus of Queen's "We Will Rock You" that neatly segued into, "Let's Go Crazy," the opening track from the "Purple Rain" album, the no-frills halftime performance highlighted Prince's often-underestimated guitar playing. Florida A&M University's Marching 100 stormed the field to the strains of the intro to "1999" before joining Prince for "Baby I'm A Star," followed by a series of covers – Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Proud Mary," Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower," and the Foo Fighters' "The Best of You" - before the grand finale, the rather apposite "Purple Rain."
Performance sound equipment supplier AudioTek Corp. of California brought in Sennheiser 3000 series RF receivers for the event, notes Stoffo, which he installed in the rehearsal space for Prince and his band. A Sennheiser EM 1046 receiver rack, shipped from Professional Wireless Systems, ensured rock-solid reception of Prince's vocal mic.
"The NFL coordinated over 1,000 RF mics inside the venue," reports Stoffo. "I could see RF all over the place - the coach comms, the referee mics, and all the ENG guys running around. Right before halftime the transmitters are usually outside the stadium, so I don't even know if they're working. But the 1046 rack was nice and quiet, not even one light lit, and as soon as Prince started to walk down the tunnel I could see the lights starting to turn on. Once he got onstage they were pegged. I wasn't the slightest bit concerned with that 1046 rack - and it was soaking wet, too."
He concludes: "For that rack I had two of the Sennheiser A 5000 CP circularly polarized antennas. So it was pretty much an all-Sennheiser halftime show."
Prince makes use of three chrome-plated Sennheiser/Neumann hybrid handheld wireless vocal mics at his 3121 Club, where he performs several nights a week at the Rio Hotel in Las Vegas. All of the backing vocalists use a combination of hybrids and Sennheiser SK 5200 handhelds fitted with Sennheiser capsules.
The quality of the RF at Dolphin Stadium during the halftime festivities is a fitting tribute to launch Sennheiser's 50th anniversary year of wireless technology.
In picture: the downpour at Super Bowl XLI didn't dampen Prince's electrifying performance, nor did it affect the crystal clear audio from his soaking wet Sennheiser SKM 5200 microphone with Neumann KK 105-S capsule. photo Kevin Mazur/Wireimage.
8th February 2007
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