Sennheiser pulls out all the stops for BRIT Awards 2018

Sennheiser pulls out all the stops for BRIT Awards 2018 posted: 26/03/2018

At the BRIT Awards, Stormzy performed with a Sennheiser SKM 6000 wireless microphone underneath an indoor waterfall

Hosted by comedian Jack Whitehall and once again held at London's The 02 Arena, this year's BRIT Awards saw two of Britain's most exciting breakthrough pop acts, Stormzy and Dua Lipa, take home the top prizes, and Sennheiser's Digital 6000 series get taken to extremes.

Britannia Row Productions provided all requirements for the show's audio system, which was designed by BRITs' head of sound Colin Pink, with a combination of Sennheiser Digital 6000 and 9000 series microphones proving the majority choice for both artists and presenters. Now in its 16th year of supporting the event, this year saw Sennheiser make the almost impossible a reality.

As well as winning both British Album Of The Year and British Male Solo Artist, Stormzy gave an epic performance beneath an indoor waterfall effect which soaked both him and his SKM 6000 as he sang his hit singles Blinded by Your Grace, Pt.2 and Big for Your Boots.

When I was told about Stormzy's production idea for the BRIT Awards, I thought, wow! How are we going to do this and which Sennheiser mic would be the best choice? says Raphael A. Williams, Stormzy's sound engineer. We decided to use D 6000 along with a 9235 dynamic capsule.

Rita Ora singing through her white SKM 6000 at the 2018 BRIT Awards

To ensure the microphone was fully waterproof, Raphael completely covered the mic head with cling film during rehearsals. But that took the clarity away, he recalls. So we tried putting cling film under the foam closer to the capsule and that worked really well. Our original plan was to swap the mic out straight after the waterfall section of the show, but we didn't need to as it worked so perfectly. After the rehearsal, we opened up the capsule and, even though the cling film wrap and the capsule were soaking wet, the microphone still worked. We dried it off in rice overnight and it worked great the next day, too.

Raphael says the overall result was amazing. I could hear the water hitting the mic in my in-ears and I thought, this is incredible! he says. D 6000 is so clean and transparent; What you put in really is what you get out. Stormzy was excited about the event and the fact that we were able to execute his creative idea without any glitches was great.

Providing support in the run-up to the show was Sennheiser artist relations manager Jack Drury, with customer development & application engineer Andrew Lillywhite on hand throughout the show, both working hard behind the scenes to make sure every request was met. One major task was providing Rita Ora with a fully customised white SKM 6000.

Sam Savile, Rita's monitor engineer, had been looking to move her to Digital 6000 after testing it with another artist last year and instantly becoming a fan.

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AfrikaansAlbanianArabicArmenianAzerbaijaniBasqueBelarusianBengaliBosnianBulgarianCatalanCebuanoChichewaChinese (Simplified)Chinese (Traditional)CroatianCzechDanishDutchEnglishEsperantoEstonianFilipinoFinnishFrenchGalicianGeorgianGermanGreekGujaratiHaitian CreoleHausaHebrewHindiHmongHungarianIcelandicIgboIndonesianIrishItalianJapaneseJavaneseKannadaKazakhKhmerKoreanLaoLatinLatvianLithuanianMacedonianMalagasyMalayMalayalamMalteseMaoriMarathiMongolianMyanmar (Burmese)NepaliNorwegianPersianPolishPortuguesePunjabiRomanianRussianSerbianSesothoSinhalaSlovakSlovenianSomaliSpanishSundaneseSwahiliSwedishTajikTamilTeluguThaiTurkishUkrainianUrduUzbekVietnameseWelshYiddishYorubaZulu

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When Colin Pink got in touch to say that Brit Row had a large amount of D 6000 available on site and offered it for our use, it was the perfect opportunity, says Sam. I first got the request from Rita for a white mic for the performance on the Friday evening before the show, when the crew were just about to take off for another show in Kosovo.

Sam immediately texted Jack Drury, who put him in touch with Rebel Trading Company (RTC), specialists in the design and manufacture of custom microphone stands, to start the customisation process rolling.

The 9235's consistency with the 5235 made it an easy step across, says Sam. But the big challenge was getting the mic to site in time for the BRITs' dress rehearsal, as we understandably weren't prepared to make a switch after that.

We got an email from Jack late Friday night asking if we could do a super-fast customisation on a D 6000 for Rita's performance at The BRIT Awards, explains RTC's Maria Perna. Initially, it looked very unlikely as we were not going to get our hands on the mic until Monday lunchtime, and it needed to be back at Sennheiser for Tuesday morning ready for rehearsals. It just didn't give us enough time to prep, paint and top coat to the standard we work to. But we have supplied quite a few Rebel Custom Mic Stands to Rita over the years and we love working with her and her team; they are va

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