
Sennheiser equipment once again enables sensational performances at the Brit Awards posted: 27/02/2020
Rainfall: Stormzy, Tiana Major9 and Teni Tinks perform with their SKM 6000 / MD 9235 wireless microphones under a wall of rain
Keeping tradition alive, Sennheiser has once again raised the bar at the 2020 Brit Awards, with its microphones and IEM systems delivering sensational performances. Hosted by comedian Jack Whitehall and held at a sold out The O2 Arena in London, this year's BRIT Awards celebrated its 40th anniversary with an explosion of great acts and performances, solidifying its status as the biggest music awards show in the UK calendar.
Britannia Row Productions, long-time audio provider for the show, yet again supported one of the most anticipated events of the year by providing the requirements for the show's audio system. The BRITs always presents unique challenges for the audio team lead by Live Sound Supervisor Colin Pink. This year was no exception, with three stages and two separate flown PA systems designed by Brit Row's Joshua Lloyd. Brit Row deployed 16 channels of Sennheiser Digital 6000 and 40 channels of 2000 series IEMs for all Sennheiser performers and presenters on the night.
Back in 2018, Stormzy amazed the crowds by giving an epic performance beneath an indoor waterfall effect which soaked both him and his SKM 6000. This year, as if that wasn't enough, the audience saw the winner of British Male Solo Artist making a triumphant return to the BRITs, performing an epic medley of his hits, including Dont Forget to Breathe and Rainfall. With the latter, Stormzy was joined by Tiana Major9 and Teni Tinks as well as choir members and dancers, all standing on the stage under a solid wall of rain.
Hearing how Tour Music Live team was speaking about the decision to use the water element on a much bigger scale at this year's BRIT Awards, Raphael A. Williams, Stormzy's sound engineer, says that there was never a question about the reliability of such a set up.
Sennheiser Digital 6000 receivers in the backstage area
It wasn't a question this time as we knew what we were doing, so we just wanted to make it happen, and TAWBOX wanted it to be bigger and better, says Williams. The first time that we did the waterfall effect in 2018 it was just Stormzy in the rain and then the rest of the production cast and BVs were outside of it. And now this time, the TAWBOX creative team just thought let's put more people there!', so we had Stormzy, Tiana and Teni with Sennheiser microphones on stage together with the 60 choir members and 60 dancers.
There was a lot of checking and making sure that everything was working, reminisces Williams. I remember looking at the microphone after the rehearsals and thinking to myself that it wasn't really wet, just a little drippy. In rehearsals it was amazing, it would survive all the way through to the end. And during the show, we all jumped up again as it performed flawlessly.
Williams jokes: When we looked at the microphone, the mic said Yeah, I am a bit wet, but I am ok. I survived Heavy Is The Head.
Performing with Stormzy on the night were Burna Boy, Tiana Major9, and Teni Tinks all using SKM 6000 with MD 9235 capsules and 2000 series IEMs. An additional 19 channels of 2000 series IEMs were used for bands and performers with a further three channels for technicians.
The MD 9235 capsule is unbelievable, enthuses Williams. It's just got that extra sparkle to it. As a dynamic capsule, 9235 is great; you don't need a condenser capsule to get that sparkle. This dynamic capsule is great for the strong vocal that Stormzy and Burna Boy have, it's a game changer.
It was also technically the first time Burna Boy was on in-ears - normally he does not use in-ears at all, only wedges - but we asked him to try them, as every engineer is different, and we didn't have any problems. He had got a pack, he has got a good microphone, and he liked it, which is a real plus!
Other artists using Sennheiser microphones included Mabel, the winner of British Female Solo Artist, who was using a Digital 6000 wireless system for her performance of Don't Call Me Up. Mabel sang into a Sennheiser HSP 4 headset, transmitted via a Sennheiser SK 6212 mini-bodypack transmitter and received by an EM 6000. One channel of 2000 IEM was used for monitoring.
Harry Styles performed Falling standing on a waterlogged stage and with more water pouring out of a grand piano, as he crooned the ballad into his SKM 6000 with MD 9235 capsule. Monitoring for his three backing vocalists and piano player was done via four channels of 2000 IEMs.
Performing a medley of Juice, Lizzo's performance on an SKM 6000 and MD 9235 was an injection of pure energy. IEMs were Sennheiser 2000 series for Lizzo and all her dancers.
Closing the show was Rod Stewart performing I Don't Want to Talk About It, with Ronnie Wood joining Stewart for the next classic Stay With Me, which they delivered together for The Faces with orchestral backup. Wood wore Sennheiser IE 500 PRO IEMs and later commented how much he liked the sound of them.
Sennheiser Digital 6000 transmitters in the backstage area
What can I say other than a big thank you to Sennheiser for their continued support on the BRITs, says Britannia Row Director, Lez Dwight. The two Andys bring a level of comfort to our RF team that is unparalleled.
Joshua Lloyd, Britannia Row's Technical Projects Manager, adds, Sennheiser provides a great service with their tech support at The BRITs. Just knowing that they're on site adds an extra layer of comfort, which goes a long way on a busy, live show such as this. Andy Lillywhite and the team are more than happy to assist with any and all queries and that really strengthens the wider audio crew.
I
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...