A number of Sennheiser wireless products were recently deployed by Britannia Row Productions for use at this year’s MTV EMA Awards, held at Bilbao’s Bizkaia Arena and hosted by American actress and singer Hailee Steinfeld.

The extensive range of equipment supplied included eight Digital 9000 Series systems, eight 6000 Series systems and six 5200 Series systems, with Hailee Steinfeld and Nicki Minaj using SKM 5200-II transmitters with MD 5235 capsules and EM 3732-II receivers along with 2000 series IEMs, Janet Jackson also using SK 5212-II, EM 3732-II and 2000 Series IEMs.

Bebe Rexha opted for the SKM 9000 with an MD 9235 capsule and 2000 Series IEMs whilst Ann-Marie and David Guetta both benefited from SKM 6000 transmitter with MD 9235 capsules with Ann-Marie again using 2000 Series IEMs.

“I have been a huge fan of Sennheiser wireless since I was first introduced to the SKM 5200 about five years ago,” said Brandon R. Blackwell, Front of House engineer for Nicki Minaj. “Since then, it has become my preferred mic choice for any artist I have mixed FoH or monitors for. I loved the sound so much that when the Digital 6000 series came out, I had to have it. I paired the new transmitter with the 9235 capsule and just fell in love again. I find that with this capsule, I get super clean and clear high end that just cuts through my mix.

“Also, the off-axis rejection is simply amazing. Dealing with feedback from either the PA, sidefills or wedges has been super easy to deal with, even with those artists that don’t have much output level. I have to say that I have been happy to be a Sennheiser user and will continue to push any artist I mix to use them."

Jimmy Nicholson, audio crew chief for Britannia Row, added: “We used the 9000 series on all the presenters and award winners, and the 6000 series on several artist mics. The capacity of the systems to successfully operate densely packed coordinated channels in a small area of the RF spectrum freed up space for us to operate the large number of IEM and conventional analogue receiver channels that were also in use on the show.

“We used a Sennheiser ACA-2 combiner to provide a distributed receive antenna system, with three zones – two covering the entire width of the arena and a third that covered the entire backstage area where engineers and artists were performing backstage line checks outside of where a traditional antenna setup would have provided coverage.”