Capital Radio’s Jingle Bell Ball backed by Sennheiser

Adlib Audio once again provided sound equipment, including Sennheiser radio mics and IEMs, for the Capital Radio Jingle Bell Ball at The O2 in London.

Artists performing over the two days included Take That – sporting Sennheiser SKM 5200 handheld microphones with EM 5235 capsules – Ed Sheeran and Sam Smith both utilising 2000 Series handhelds with MD 9235 and e 965 capsules respectively, and Taylor Swift was spotted with a 9000 Series with MD 9235 capsule.

Ella Henderson, Union J and Jessie J had SKM 5200 handhelds with MD 5235 capsule, while Ella Eyre (performing with Sigma) and The Script employed a 500 Series/e 965 capsule combination.

Sennheiser 2000 series IEMs were used universally, with the event’s presenters relying on Sennheiser’s flagship 9000 Series microphones, following Adlib’s successful first outing with them during last year’s show. Sennheiser UK’s Mark Saunders (pictured, right) and Tim Sherratt were on site throughout, providing additional equipment and support as required.

“We’ve worked on the Jingle Bell Ball for a few years now,” said Adlib’s Dave Kay (pictured, left). “Each year it’s demanding, both in terms of the level of the acts performing and the quick turnaround times we have to work to, and this year was no exception. We took the great formula we used over the past few years and replicated that, with Sennheiser’s wonderful support. This year we tried out one of Sennheiser’s new Service Receivers. We always do a manual scan of the environment, which I did in advance of the Sennheiser guys arriving.

"Before we started deploying the radio equipment, we did a secondary scan with the Sennheiser Service Receiver and this verified my scan results. The results were available to view very easily on one screen using Sennheiser UK’s Wireless Systems Manager [WSM], which showed the entire frequency spectrum that we were operating in. As we connected the network to all of the RF kit, the pre-planned frequencies from the attached equipment were overlaid on the scan results.

“I believe that nothing replaces thinking about a system and planning it carefully, but every year, at events like this, there’s a new and innovative Sennheiser product that helps us with system management.

“This was a great test for WSM and although we weren’t relying on it for the show, now we’ve used it we’ll definitely be investing in it for tours where there is a large RF requirement.”