George Michael has completed the six-week-long North American leg of his 25 Live tour, the third and final leg of an exhausting global tour lasting nearly two years. The tour featured a stage full of Sennheiser and Neumann microphones, including the singer’s wireless handheld of choice, a Sennheiser SKM 5200 fitted with a Neumann KK 104 S capsule.
“Combining the Neumann capsule with the Sennheiser wireless system has thrust the legendary Neumann sound to the top of the wireless domain,” explained George Michael’s long serving personal monitor mixer and audio consultant, Andy ‘Baggy’ Robinson. “It’s opened up new dimensions in sound for sophisticated live-performance engineering. For me, the Neumann KK 104 has a warm, smooth and clean response that requires virtually no EQ. Despite a loud backline, I can always place George’s vocal exactly where I want it in the mix.”
With Robinson on paternity leave for or the North American leg, Steve May took his place overseeing Michael’s monitor mix. Simon Hall mixed monitors for the band, which included drums, percussion, a bass player, sax/keyboard player and three guitarists on the top tier of the elaborate stage set. The two keyboard players and six backing vocalists, also on Sennheiser SKM 5200 wireless handhelds with Neumann KK 104 S capsules, joined the star of the show on the stage’s bottom tier.
“George is very happy with the vocal mic, and we’re all very happy with it as well,” confirmed front of house engineer Gary Bradshaw. “At Madison Square Garden, for example, we had a thrust into the audience, so he was way out in front of the PA all night, and it was fine. It was loud and it didn’t feed back. It was amazing!”
The 25 Live tour is additionally utilizing eighteen channels of evolution ew 300 G2 personal wireless monitors with multiple receiver packs. Full-range ew 572 G2 wireless guitar systems are used on two of the guitar players, and additional wireless packs are used with e 904 clip-on mics on the congas when they move downstage for parts of the show.
The complement of Neumann wired microphones includes U 87s on drum overheads, KM 184 on hi-hat, and TLM 170 Rs on saxophone.
“There’s an inner stereo pair of the KM 184s and an outer stereo pair of the U 87s on percussion,” continues Bradshaw. “There’s nothing close-miked, and it works really well. The percussion player is happy with it. Coverage in his ears is really good.”
Additional evolution wired microphones include an e 901 on kick drum and e 904s on toms.
The set design of the 25 Live tour rules that both monitor engineers are working backstage, and to overcome the inherent challenges of the large-scale video wall, Sennheiser’s unique Vulcan IEM launch system has been utilized. Vulcan is the brainchild of Dave Hawker, Sennheiser UK’s Technical Director, and is a unique dual-amplifier configuration to enable large multi-channel IEM systems to operate faultlessly in RF-hostile live touring environments.
“Working with Sennheiser on the previous eighty-plus shows on the 25 Live tour has provided us with an exceptional level of support,” confirms Robinson. “While the standard of the wireless microphones, wireless monitoring and wired microphones has been of the highest level, it’s the support that really makes a huge difference. Being able to make a phone call from anywhere in the world and getting relevant advice is invaluable.”
George Michael returns to Europe later this month where he will play his last ever live shows in London and Copenhagen.
For more information about Sennheiser please visit www.sennheiser.co.uk or call:
Robert Collins, Sennheiser Pro PR
T: 07966 294 877
