At the VMAs, which were broadcast from New York City's Barclays Center and reached more than 10.1m viewers, fans were treated to a thrilling rendition of Mars' new single, The VMAs were the icing on the cake for Bruno Mars' production team, who has endeavored to continually raise the audio quality and production standards of the touring operation for the past several years. Sennheiser's global relations team has played a direct role in helping them achieve this goal by providing superb wireless and microphone technology. "When I took on the Bruno Mars gig over 2-1/2 years ago, he and the background singers were using a competitor's model. I just knew there was a better microphone and capsule combination for him," recalls James Berry, monitor engineer for Bruno Mars. "I began transitioning the background singers first, then worked with the front-of-house guy to get Bruno to try a Sennheiser microphone. Now you couldn't pry that microphone out of his hands if you tried." For wireless audio at the VMAs, as well as with the rest of the tour, the Bruno Mars production team has relied on Sennheiser. At the VMAs, one particular challenge was the massive LED walls at the rear of the stage. "We had to shoot the wireless signal right through the LED walls," Berry recalls. "We did a lot of pre-planning on antenna placement when we got there. It was all rock solid and performed flawlessly." The monitor crew used Sennheiser's WSM software to save set-up time: "We used WSM to preload all the frequencies we were sent, so when we arrived, we just booted up the system and were ready to go in about ten minutes. In the past, we would have had to go to every individual unit and program all this information in." Berry also used the software to monitor each wireless element in real time: "I rely on WSM to see my battery and RF levels, as well as all the inputs and outputs," he says. (Jim Evans)
Sennheiser delivers for Mars Moonshine
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