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Sennheiser Takes the Catwalk at Fashion Rocks

Fashion Rocks, a collision between the worlds of haute couture and music, kicked off New York Fashion Week with artists such as Mary J. Blige, Jennifer Lopez, Avril Lavigne and Fergie walking the red carpet in duds from their favorite designers and rocking the stage with Sennheiser wireless microphones and wireless personal monitor systems. Live event specialists, Firehouse Productions, accommodated each artist's Sennheiser spec list and provided live sound production, RF coordination and communications at the fourth annual Fashion Rocks, which was held September 5th at Radio City Music Hall and was broadcast on CBS as a two-hour primetime special the following night.

According to Vinny Siniscal, Firehouse's RF coordinator, the event utilized more channels of RF than the Live Earth event at Meadowlands in July. "Altogether we had about 170 channels of wireless. Avril Lavigne used her own Sennheiser equipment, Mary J. Blige used one of the SKM 5200 handhelds with a Neumann capsule that we have, and Fergie used the same mic. Jennifer Lopez brought her own, an evolution wireless SKM 935 G2."

Siniscal continues: "We had the same number of wireless monitors as we had at Live Earth, including eight mixes of Sennheiser G2, but then I also had twelve extra channels of Sennheiser mics that I didn't have at Live Earth. We used A 5000 CP antennas for all the microphone receivers and they worked out great. I also used the A 5000 CP for transmitting to all the G2 ears. We had eight mixes of G2 but we had 16 receivers." Despite the density of RF signals in midtown Manhattan and the proximity of Radio City Music Hall to

major broadcast facilities, "Everything worked out nicely and went off without a hitch," Siniscal reports.

Avril Lavigne has been using a Sennheiser SKM 935 G2 handheld RF mic since her first tour. These days it's hard to miss the day-glo mic, which matches the pink streaks in the singer's hair. "We had a guy who paints custom motorcycles paint our mic and stands; he did a great job," says Matthew Peskie, Lavigne's monitor engineer. He adds, "The ew 935 provides great stage rejection and complements Avril's voice while being straightforward and easy to use." The handheld transmitter is paired with a Sennheiser EM 550 G2 receiver.

Using Sennheiser has made his job easier, according to Peskie. "Working for an artist that travels around the world I find myself spending a lot of time tuning RF devices for a specific region. Sennheiser, in general, has made that task quick and easy with a clear digital display, pre-programmed frequencies and clearly laid out menus. All of that equals engineers spending less time searching for open frequencies and more time mixing, which, for anyone who has over 12 frequencies to take care of every day, is a good thing."

Lavigne's band also uses Sennheiser 900 Series wired microphones for backing vocals and across the backline. Peskie elaborates: "The e 935 vocal mics sound great with very little EQ, and the e 906 guitar mic has a nice presence on top, but it's not overwhelming. Our drummer loves how natural the e 602 kick drum mic sounds. The e 908 is a small clip drum mic that sounds great on the toms, and the small size of the e 905 mic on the snares really helps in tight places."

Fashion Rocks, which is presented annually by publisher Condé Nast and was hosted by Emmy-winning actor Jeremy Piven (HBO's "Entourage"), also featured performances by Aerosmith, Lindsey Buckingham, Jennifer Hudson, Alicia Keys, Chad Kroeger, Ludacris, Maroon 5, Martina McBride, Santana, Carrie Underwood and Usher. Many of the stars mixed it up onstage, with Fergie also appearing with Ludacris and Aerosmith and Mary J. Blige singing alongside Usher.

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Sennheiser Takes the Catwalk at Fashion Rocks

26th September 2007

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