Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Sennheiser Teams with Blake Shelton for 300 Drive-In Concerts

23/07/2020

--

Award-winning country music artist and television personality Blake Shelton has announced an exclusive one-day-only drive-in performance screening, which will take place simultaneously at 300 participating drive-in locations throughout the country. The recently taped performance includes a full set of Blake's best-known music performed with his six-piece touring band and also features special guest appearances by Gwen Stefani and Trace Adkins.

Monitor engineer Brad Baisley and Shelton's full touring band, including drummer Tracy Broussard, were on hand to ensure a seamless experience that captured the energy of Shelton's live show. For the performance, they turned to their most trusted gear for audio fidelity: Sennheiser vocal and instrument microphones and Digital 6000 wireless technology.

Blake Shelton announced an exclusive one-day-only drive-in performance screening, which will take place simultaneously at 300 participating drive-in locations throughout the country. The performance was captured with Sennheiser Digital 6000 wireless technology. (Photo courtesy of Blake Shelton)

The Real Deal

The planned hour-and-a-half-plus show is to feature many of Shelton's biggest hits, as well as some of Stefani's and Adkins's. Baisley turned to their trusted touring complement of Sennheiser microphones to stay true to their live sound. We all knew from the beginning that we wanted this drive-in concept to feel like a real Blake Shelton concert, so it was great to have our Sennheiser mics that we use on tour, says Baisley, who has worked with Shelton as a monitor engineer for eight years. We recorded it at the joint PRG (Production Resource Group) and VER (Video Equipment Rental) warehouse space outside of Nashville without an audience. They set up a real pipe and drape area to create the ambience of a big venue show. It was a seven-camera shoot, and we ran the whole show down in one take.

Big Country Sound

To translate the compelling vocal performances of Shelton and his guests, Baisley turned to the combination of the Sennheiser MMD 935 capsule and SKM 6000 handheld transmitter. Whenever we do a show, everybody uses Sennheiser, Baisley says. We had Blake, Gwen Stefani, and Trace Adkins all featured prominently in the show, and we used MMD 935 capsules on everybody. Having each performer on the same mic ensures that we're starting from a level playing field tonally.

For Baisley, the MMD 935 capsule has long distinguished itself with both its sound quality and external noise rejection. We love these capsules because they have a high-fidelity sound, but they're not as feedback prone as some other mics with that characteristic. They sit really well in a mix. Those qualities have only been heightened since Shelton's team adopted Sennheiser digital wireless. We transitioned to the Digital 6000 three years ago, Baisley says. That really took the sound of the MMD 935 capsule to another level.

For Blake Shelton's monitor engineer Brad Baisley, the MMD 935 capsule has long distinguished itself with both its sound quality and external noise rejection. (Photo courtesy of Blake Shelton)

In addition to superior sound quality, RF flexibility and stability has been another highlight of the Digital 6000 for Baisley. We don't need gear to get in the way of what we're doing from an entertainment point of view, we need gear that works all the time, every time, and the Digital 6000 does just that, he says. And with today's spectrum situation, having a digital system that can navigate even the most challenging RF environments has really been a life saver.

The Heartbeat of Country

Crafting a contemporary country drum sound is key for Baisley and drummer Tracy Broussard. They've honed in on a selection of Sennheiser and Neumann microphones to give them what they need in any environment.

For kick drum, the combination of a Sennheiser e901 inside the drum and an e602 outside the drum provides the depth and flexibility Baisley desires. I gate and compress it such that I'm only getting the click from the e901, and then I use the 602 for subs, he says. This gives me the option to easily dial in different sounds for everyone's monitors based on their needs. For Broussard, he loves how the mics handle any bass drum he chooses. No matter what kit I put up there, the e901 and e602 sound amazing, he says.

Broussard likes to use a medium-toned snare, with ample baffling to drop its tone further for a fatter sound when necessary. With a vintage Sennheiser e905 on snare top and an e604 on snare bottom, Baisley has access to all the tone and sensitivity he needs for Broussard's monitor mix. The e904 on bottom captures the attack and sizzle, while the e905 on top gives me the body of the drum. The result is a contemporary sound that fits Shelton's music and feels great for Broussard. The snare drum needs to be fat for modern pop country, and those mics give you that while also making sure all the ghost notes that I do are well represented.

Another e904 captures Broussard's rack tom, while an e902 helps translate the deep lows of Broussard's floor tom. The e902 on the floor tom is pretty amazing, Broussard says. Of course, it's great on a kick drum, but having a mic like that on the floor tom is something that I've really enjoyed. Baisley agrees. It gives you that real big bottom out of the floor tom, and clear attack, too, he says.

A pair of Neumann KM 185 condenser microphones capture the sound of Broussard's cymbals. Cymbal definition is very important for our instrumentalists to hear in their monitor mixes, Baisley says. We use a pair of KM 185 mics under the cymbals because their super-cardioid polar pattern is very effective at rejecting the rest of the drums. For Broussard, th
LINK: https://news.creativecow.net/story/901452...
See more stories from creativecow

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

06/09/2026

Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Germany with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos

June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

04/07/2026

Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in Dolby Cinemas Across Japan, Presented in Dolby Atmos and Dolby ...

April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...

15/06/2026

Detach from Direct-Attached: How Remote Editing with EVO Keeps Creative Teams Moving

Detach from Direct-Attached: How Remote Editing with EVO Keeps Creative Teams Mo...

14/06/2026

Detroit Drums from Iconic Instruments

Library captures 1960s R&B/pop drum sound Following on from their recent wave of plug-in effects, Iconic Instruments have just launched an all-new virtual d...

14/06/2026

HBO Comedy Rooster Shot with URSA Cine 17K 65

HBO Comedy Rooster Shot with URSA Cine 17K 65 Brie Clayton June 14, 2026 0 Comments Large format brings viewers intimately close to characters. Black...

13/06/2026

Rhythmic Filters for Devious Machines' Infiltrator

Latest expansion pack includes 252 presets Devious Machines have recently introduced another expansion for their powerful multi-effects plug-in, Infiltrator...

13/06/2026

MetaGrid Pro gains AI Builder

Create custom DAW/plug-in controllers using prompts MetaGrid have recently introduced an all-new AI Builder function to their touchscreen-based control surf...

13/06/2026

Spectrum Reach Taps Anoki AI for Contextual Intelligence

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

13/06/2026

Google TV Launches Soccer Hub, New Voice Command Features

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/06/2026

YES Network and Gotham Sports App to Air Seven Athletes Unlimited Softball League Games

YES Network and The Gotham Sports App will air seven Athletes Unlimited Softball...

12/06/2026

UFL to Feature FAST Innovation Suite at 2026 United Bowl

The United Football League will host its FAST Innovation Suite at the 2026 United Bowl presented by Credit One Bank on Saturday, June 13 at 3:00 p.m. ET at Audi...

12/06/2026

InfoComm 2026: PTZOptics and LayerJot to Demo AI-Driven Camera Control

PTZOptics and LayerJot will present live demonstrations at InfoComm 2026 showing how natural-language AI prompting, robotic camera control, and on-device comput...

12/06/2026

InfoComm 2026: MultiDyne to Debut VF-9100 Fiber Transport Platform and Crescendo Audio Monitor

MultiDyne Video and Fiber Optic Systems will exhibit at InfoComm 2026, featuring...

12/06/2026

Eurovision Services Deploys Ateme Software-Based Frame-Rate Conversion

Ateme has announced that Eurovision Services is using Ateme's software-based frame-rate conversion technology for international live event workflows. The de...

12/06/2026

Bitmovin, Simplestream, and Xperi Partner to Support OTT Services on TiVo OS

Bitmovin and Simplestream have announced a partnership with Xperi to simplify the launch of OTT streaming services on TiVo OS smart TVs and devices. The collabo...

12/06/2026

Net Insight Deploys Nimbra 520 and Nimbra Edge for Multinational Corporate Live Production Workflow

Net Insight has announced that a multinational technology company is deploying a...

12/06/2026

MLB Players Inc., Athletes First Announce Content Partnership

MLB Players Inc., the business arm of the MLB Players Association, has announced a partnership with Athletes First to develop and sell brand partnerships across...

12/06/2026

G&D and VuWall Announce CommandKeyboard-Advanced for Network-Independent Control Room Operations

Guntermann and Drunck (G&D) and VuWall have announced the CommandKeyboard-Advanc...

12/06/2026

Philadelphia Union and Comcast Deploy Smart Technology at Subaru Park and WSFS Bank Sportsplex

Comcast Smart Solutions announces a new smart technology deployment with Major L...

12/06/2026

Elevation Worship Completes First Leg of 2026 Tour Using SSL Live Consoles and New UMD192 Interface

Elevation Worship completed the initial leg of its Elevation Nights 2026 tour ...

12/06/2026

AJA Announces KONA IP25 Integration with Colorfront Transkoder and On-Set Dailies

AJA Video Systems has announced KONA IP25 support for Colorfront Transkoder and ...

12/06/2026

InfoComm 2026: Audinate To Exhibit With New AVIO Install Adapters and Iris Camera Control Platform

Audinate Group Limited (ASX: AD8) will exhibit at InfoComm 2026 (Booth C7321, Ce...

12/06/2026

Pac-12 Appoints Scott Adametz as Chief Technology Officer

Pac-12 Commissioner Teresa Gould has announced the appointment of Scott Adametz as Chief Technology Officer. The Pac-12 describes the hire as the first CTO appo...

12/06/2026

InfoComm 2026: Grass Valley Introduces AMPP Edge Live for Enterprise Production

Grass Valley has announced AMPP Edge Live, a production system combining Grass Valley hardware, NVIDIA Blackwell GPU acceleration, and AMPP OS in a single platf...

12/06/2026

University of Texas's Brandon Rudy on a New Era of Live Sports Production in Austin

At one time a trailblazer with the launch of the Longhorn Network, the Universit...

12/06/2026

Ratings Roundup: NBA Finals Game 3 Hits 28-Year High; Stanley Cup Final Is Best Since 2015 Through Four Games

Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...

12/06/2026

Chyron Releases PAINT 10.4 with Pro Football Data Integration and AI Player Cutout

Chyron has announced PAINT 10.4, an update to its illustrated replay and sports ...

12/06/2026

ESPN's MLB Productions Heat Up in June as Core Summer Schedule Gets Rolling

SVP, Production, Mark Gross: With the new schedule, with not having every Sunday night, it has given us an opportunity to take a step back and reimagine what o...

12/06/2026

Televisas IBC Team Delivers for Opening Mexico Match

For Televisa Technical Engineering Manager Roberto N nez Ibarra and the small team of 12 technicians and two production personnel at the IBC things are already ...

12/06/2026

GearExpo UK: Home Studio Acoustics Talk

Simple Steps to Better Acoustics - Taming The Small Room Most of us mix in spare rooms and small spaces, where the acoustics fight us at every turn. At Gear...

12/06/2026

Meris introduce the Ottobit X

Latest addition expands vintage-inspired effects palette Meris' Ottobit pedal range draws its inspiration from vintage gaming consoles, and the latest a...

12/06/2026

Sonora Cinematic release Movimento Strings Inflections

Soundbox-based chamber strings series expanded Sonora Cinematic have just announced the launch of the second instalment in their Soundbox-based chamber stri...

12/06/2026

Research: Mixed Picture for FIFA World Cup Broadcast Revenues

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/06/2026

Viant Launches Enhanced Publisher Solutions for CTV, Programmatic

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/06/2026

AJA Announces KONA IP25 Integration with Colorfront Software

AJA Announces KONA IP25 Integration with Colorfront Software Brie Clayton June 12, 2026 0 Comments Collaboration enables uncompressed SMPTE ST 2110 I/O ...

12/06/2026

URSA Cine 12K LF Used to Create Visuals for STUTS' K-Arena Concert

URSA Cine 12K LF Used to Create Visuals for STUTS' K-Arena Concert Brie Clayton June 12, 2026 0 Comments Organic visuals projected on a giant scre...

12/06/2026

MTI FILM Acquires Mango New Edit, Expanding its Global Post-Production Services From Set to Screen

MTI FILM Acquires Mango New Edit, Expanding its Global Post-Production Services ...

12/06/2026

AI Point Tracking Speeds Up Complex VFX Tracks in Mocha Pro

AI Point Tracking Speeds Up Complex VFX Tracks in Mocha Pro Jessie Electa Petrov June 12, 2026 0 Comments The 2026.5 release adds automatic point trac...

12/06/2026

Bitmovin Partners with Simplestream and Xperi to Support...

Bitmovin, a provider of video streaming solutions, has partnered with Simplestream, a provider of OTT and broadcast solutions, and technology provider Xperi, to...

12/06/2026

Jigsaw24 Signs Deal to Resell Leostream Remote Desktop Ac...

Leostream Corporation, creator of the world-leading Leostream Remote Desktop Access Platform, today announced Jigsaw24, a leading B2B IT solutions provider wit...

12/06/2026

Study: 2026 Election Cycle to Hit Record $11.6 Billion Ad Spend

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/06/2026

NAB Elects Leadership at June Board of Directors Meeting

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/06/2026

FCC Believes World Cup Communication Will Score Highly

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/06/2026

Broadcasters Back NO FAKES Act

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/06/2026

Scripps Unveils Coverage Plans For America's 250th Anniversary

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/06/2026

How Aussie indie games and screen are levelling up with IP

How Aussie indie games and screen are levelling up with IP 11 June 2026 Ari Harrison, Pro Jank Footy Head of Games Joey Egger and Ari Harrison of Umbrella sha...

12/06/2026

NVIDIA Blackwell Leads on First Agentic AI Infrastructure Benchmark

AgentPerf from Artificial Analysis, the industry's first agentic AI benchmark, gives developers, enterprises and infrastructure providers a clear way to com...