At the 49th Annual Country Music Association (CMA) Awards, held at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on November 4, Sennheiser’s wireless systems and microphones were well represented among performers and presenters with 83 microphones in play during the evening. Miranda Lambert, who sang through her go-to Sennheiser SKM 2000/MMD 935-1 wireless transmitter and capsule combination, scooped up her sixth consecutive ‘Female Vocalist of the Year’ award.
Sennheiser Well Represented at CMAs
ATK Audiotek meanwhile, had Sennheiser evolution series microphones all over the drums: “We have been using the evolution 600 and 900 series with great success for a few years now,” says Petersen, who used a combination of e 602s, e 604s, e 614s, e 901s, e 902s, e 904s, e 906s, and e 914s across the drums. Additionally, a pair of Sennheiser MK 4 large-diaphragm condenser microphones were used on guitar cabinets.
For the CMA performances, ATK specified five Sennheiser e 935 wired mics onstage, and another that was used as a talkback mic from the monitor station. Newsom says that he has had very positive experiences working alongside ATK Audiotek. “ATK does just about every major award show out there, and we rely heavily on their people and coordination for these shows,” he says. “Their team varies from show to show, but working with them is always a kind of family reunion.”
Crisp Audio in the House and in Broadcast
From a front-of-house perspective, Miranda’s FOH engineer Jason Macalik says that having her on the Sennheiser SKM 2000/MMD 935-1 capsule makes the experience more seamless: “At these awards shows, my goal is to make sure that she sounds great not only in the house, but also to the broadcast audience via the truck,” he says. “The Sennheiser SKM 2000/MMD 935-1 combination sounded great and made my job a lot easier.” Macalik also appreciates the natural sound of the capsule. “You don’t have to EQ it a lot – you can just kind of turn it up and let it do what it does best,” he explains.