The tour is travelling with a full complement of Sennheiser wired and wireless microphones, including a Sennheiser SKM 5200 with a Neumann KK 105 capsule for lead vocalist Morten Harket, as well as Sennheiser wireless personal monitors. Ready support from the Sennheiser Global Relations Team has mitigated many of the travails of the road for tour manager Kleo Tuemmler, FOH engineer Sherif El Barbari, and monitor engineer Kursten Smith.
"Morten is incredibly sensitive to the performance of his microphone and wireless personal monitor system," said El Barbari. "In fact, I've been an engineer for close to 30 years now, and I have never met someone who is so spot-on regarding what he hears, what he feels, and what he expresses. He is a perfectionist who is capable of delivering, and that has really raised the bar for Smith and myself." The talented and demanding singer is very much attached to the sound of the Neumann KK 105 capsule. On occasions where he uses something else, Harket returns to the KK 105 as if it were a homecoming. "That Neumann condenser sound is so clear and clean. It rings clear and true when he hits the incredible high notes for which he is known."
Harket only recently went wireless. "He has always been a very focused vocalist," said Tuemmler. "He's never been one to work out any kind of choreography. Having a reliable, excellent-sounding wireless mic has opened up his performance, allowing him to move without fear of tangled wires. He performs in a different way."
His long-time band mates, Paul Waaktaar-Savoy and Magne Furuholmen, use Sennheiser e 935 wired dynamics for backing vocals. El Barbari likes the e 935 both for its excellent off-axis rejection and for its tailored response, which he claims does a better job - even with no processing - than the other industry-standard "vocal mics" - even with liberal EQ.
The tour uses eight wireless personal monitoring systems with 12 packs and a Sennheiser A 5000 CP antenna. Depending on where they are in the world and the availability from suppliers, the systems are either ew 300 IEM G2 or G3.
(Jim Evans)
