Best equipped for live streams

The Berlin band “Milliarden” presented their current album “Schuldig” (guilty) at an exclusive live concert at Bremen‘s CLUB100, which took place without an audience due to the pandemic. Nevertheless, the gig was a great success with more than a thousand music fans celebrating the performance on the livestream. Wireless systems and wired microphones from Sennheiser contributed to an excellent sound quality. The evening was not only musically outstanding, but the accompanying concept of the city of Bremen also had what it takes to serve as a role model for supporting the music and cultural industry. “We received an incredible amount of positive feedback from fans via social networks about the performance at CLUB100,” reports Urs Maurer (management and FOH mix). “You can tell that people are really starved by now due to the culture lockdown, and of course many fans were curious about the songs from the new album. Musician friends and industry colleagues have also contacted us to congratulate us on the performance - it‘s nice to feel that there‘s a lot of unity in the artist community despite the difficult times.”

Positive feedback for live concerts

CLUB100 is a solidarity event and streaming project in the premises of Pier2 in Bremen, whose central hall can accommodate up to 2,800 people in pandemic-free times. The nationally known location has been hosting regular cultural events since January 14, 2021, with the motto “Live on stage and streamed to screens worldwide.”

By the end of May 2021, around 40 events had been staged at CLUB100 – initially as streams due to the pandemic. To attend a live stream, a ticket must be purchased online in advance. There are no plans to make recordings available at a later date, as the Bremen project explicitly sees itself as a virtual counterpart to the live experience. Thomas Holz, Sennheiser Relations Manager, is convinced of the underlying idea: “CLUB100 is a groundbreaking project that opens up a welcome perspective in every respect for creative artists and their environment in difficult times.”

The series of events at CLUB 100 is supported by the Senator for Economics, Labor and Europe and WFB Wirtschaftsförderung Bremen GmbH (economic fund of Bremen) with up to 1.1 million Euros. “We don‘t want to subsidize the closure alone, but to finance the operation under Corona conditions,” says Senator for Economic Affairs Kristina Vogt about CLUB100. „What we are doing in Bremen will hopefully have a nationwide impact.”

Milliarden trusts in Sennheiser equipment

“Milliarden” uses wired Sennheiser microphones for their performances, as well as wireless systems ew 500 G4 along with matching handheld and bodypack transmitters. Lead singer Ben Hartmann‘s SKM 500 G4 handheld transmitter was equipped with the MM 445 microphone capsule, which was specially designed for vocals. Urs Maurer is enthusiastic about the sound characteristics of this capsule: “The proximity effect is absolutely advantageous with this capsule, and I‘m pleased to say that it primarily transmits the voice and hardly anything from the surrounding room. I am truly impressed – the MM 445 capsule sounds unbelievably good. At the Bremen concert, I was positively struck by how little annoying ambient noise finds its way into the microphone head – that‘s downright sensational and worth its weight in gold for a band like Milliarden, where things aren‘t necessarily quiet on stage!”