Post by Heather on Jan 5, 2009 11:46:08 GMT -5
Sennheiser Mics
Avril Lavigne is one girl who knows what she wants, goes after it, and gets it. Right from the start, her choice of microphone has always been Sennheiser. For “The Best Damn Thing” tour, she’s opted for a rhinestone-encrusted SKM 935 G2 with an EM 550 G2 receiver.
Wedemark, Germany - May 2008: Sennheiser microphones have become a familiar sight on the numerous concert and television performances by Canadian punk-pop princess Avril Lavigne. Over the last couple of years, she has seldom been seen without her custom-painted, day-glo pink evolution wireless vocal mic. Lavigne has kicked things up a notch on her current tour, taking four rhinestone-encrusted Senn-heiser handheld RF microphones, along with a stage full of Sennheiser and Neumann backline microphones, on a jaunt that will take her around the world for much of the rest of the year.
Avril Lavigne has been using a Sennheiser SKM 935 G2 vocal mic paired with an EM 550 G2 receiver since the start of her previous tour, according to Jim Yakabuski, who has been mixing front-of-house since her very first tour, and got her started using Sennheiser microphones. “Everything is sounding great and the RF quality is fantastic. We haven’t had any problems with RF. Her vocal mic really does sound great,” he says.
On this tour, in support of 2007’s “The Best Damn Thing” album, in place of a day-glo pink version of the mic, says Yakabuski, “She’s gone a step further and has bejeweled four of them.” The same designer who recently created the individualized mics for the Spice Girls customized the mics, which are black, silver, pink and a combination pink and silver. “She switches out the four different color combinations throughout the night,” he says.
According to Yakabuski, “The dynamic 935 handheld offers a performance that is better suited to Lavigne’s vocals than the model she was previously using. The 935 is much easier to handle in terms of ambient levels on stage. It rejects a lot more of the band and has a smoother response across the board. It’s a natural sounding mic, and the top-end isn’t accentuated.“
Handling the sound for Avril Lavigne’s “Best Damn Thing” Tour are longtime FOH engineer, Jim Yakabuski (left) and monitor engineer, Matthew Peskie.
The FOH engineer deploys wired e 935 dynamic microphones for the five members of Lavigne’s backing band - comprised of two guitarists, a keyboard player, bass player and drummer - as well as two dancers, who all supply background vocals. He uses e 906 mics on the guitar and bass amps. “That has worked out really nice. The 906 is a nice, warm guitar mic,” says Yakabuski. An e 901 is positioned inside and an e 602 outside the kick drum, with e 908s on the toms and e 905s on the snare drums. The hi-hat and ride cymbals are close-miked with Neumann KM 184 condensers and a pair of large-diaphragm Neumann TLM 103s are suspended overhead.
“I think having the large-capsule TLM 103 condenser mic really makes a difference to give our drummer the overall picture,” says monitor mixer Matt Peskie, who generates feeds to Sennheiser ew 300 G2 IEMs for the band - the drummer and keyboard player are on hardwired systems - and singers, as well as three backline technicians and the monitor tech. “The drummer really doesn’t like a direct sound, so he predominantly takes overheads and we fill in a few things with the direct mics.” Peskie also creates side fill mixes for an additional four dancers. Lavigne displays her multi-instrumental talents during the live show, performing at an acoustic piano and behind the drums. “The drum kit has an e 905 on the snare, an e 901 on the kick and a pair of KM 184s on overheads,” shares Peskie.
Supported by Sennheiser’s Global Relations department, the tour will play throughout the U.S. and Canada, then visit twenty countries in Europe during June and July, and return to the States and Canada before moving on to Japan in September.
Avril Lavigne is one girl who knows what she wants, goes after it, and gets it. Right from the start, her choice of microphone has always been Sennheiser. For “The Best Damn Thing” tour, she’s opted for a rhinestone-encrusted SKM 935 G2 with an EM 550 G2 receiver.
Wedemark, Germany - May 2008: Sennheiser microphones have become a familiar sight on the numerous concert and television performances by Canadian punk-pop princess Avril Lavigne. Over the last couple of years, she has seldom been seen without her custom-painted, day-glo pink evolution wireless vocal mic. Lavigne has kicked things up a notch on her current tour, taking four rhinestone-encrusted Senn-heiser handheld RF microphones, along with a stage full of Sennheiser and Neumann backline microphones, on a jaunt that will take her around the world for much of the rest of the year.
Avril Lavigne has been using a Sennheiser SKM 935 G2 vocal mic paired with an EM 550 G2 receiver since the start of her previous tour, according to Jim Yakabuski, who has been mixing front-of-house since her very first tour, and got her started using Sennheiser microphones. “Everything is sounding great and the RF quality is fantastic. We haven’t had any problems with RF. Her vocal mic really does sound great,” he says.
On this tour, in support of 2007’s “The Best Damn Thing” album, in place of a day-glo pink version of the mic, says Yakabuski, “She’s gone a step further and has bejeweled four of them.” The same designer who recently created the individualized mics for the Spice Girls customized the mics, which are black, silver, pink and a combination pink and silver. “She switches out the four different color combinations throughout the night,” he says.
According to Yakabuski, “The dynamic 935 handheld offers a performance that is better suited to Lavigne’s vocals than the model she was previously using. The 935 is much easier to handle in terms of ambient levels on stage. It rejects a lot more of the band and has a smoother response across the board. It’s a natural sounding mic, and the top-end isn’t accentuated.“
Handling the sound for Avril Lavigne’s “Best Damn Thing” Tour are longtime FOH engineer, Jim Yakabuski (left) and monitor engineer, Matthew Peskie.
The FOH engineer deploys wired e 935 dynamic microphones for the five members of Lavigne’s backing band - comprised of two guitarists, a keyboard player, bass player and drummer - as well as two dancers, who all supply background vocals. He uses e 906 mics on the guitar and bass amps. “That has worked out really nice. The 906 is a nice, warm guitar mic,” says Yakabuski. An e 901 is positioned inside and an e 602 outside the kick drum, with e 908s on the toms and e 905s on the snare drums. The hi-hat and ride cymbals are close-miked with Neumann KM 184 condensers and a pair of large-diaphragm Neumann TLM 103s are suspended overhead.
“I think having the large-capsule TLM 103 condenser mic really makes a difference to give our drummer the overall picture,” says monitor mixer Matt Peskie, who generates feeds to Sennheiser ew 300 G2 IEMs for the band - the drummer and keyboard player are on hardwired systems - and singers, as well as three backline technicians and the monitor tech. “The drummer really doesn’t like a direct sound, so he predominantly takes overheads and we fill in a few things with the direct mics.” Peskie also creates side fill mixes for an additional four dancers. Lavigne displays her multi-instrumental talents during the live show, performing at an acoustic piano and behind the drums. “The drum kit has an e 905 on the snare, an e 901 on the kick and a pair of KM 184s on overheads,” shares Peskie.
Supported by Sennheiser’s Global Relations department, the tour will play throughout the U.S. and Canada, then visit twenty countries in Europe during June and July, and return to the States and Canada before moving on to Japan in September.