Since Dima Bilan and his rendition of Believe won last year's competition, Moscow has been preparing for the world's biggest live music show. The Olympic Arena can hold a crowd of 80,000 but as the stage of the 54th Song Contest is so vast - 1,000sq.m - there will only be space for an audience of around 20,000.
When the artists' first rehearsals start on 3 May, Sennheiser's RF expert Klaus Willemsen will have already been on site for a week - the wireless microphone and monitor equipment was installed during late April in conjunction with Channel One and Sennheiser Audio (Moscow). Frequency planning will also have been completed in the weeks running up to the event.
"The incredible amount of lighting technology in the arena means there's also an increase in RF disturbance," explains Willemsen. LED walls in particular disturb radio transmission as they consist of hundreds of thousands of pulsed LEDs, creating broadband interference which reaches far into the UHF range used by wireless microphones. "That's why precise frequency planning and the right choice of antennas and antenna locations are vital," continues Willemsen.
Natalya Berezovskaya, general manager of Sennheiser Audio, adds: "Successful implementation of this large project was made possible thanks to the great international teamwork demonstrated by Sennheiser's specialists from Russia, Germany and other countries."
56 microphone channels and 16 links for wireless monitoring will be in action in Moscow. The artists can choose between Sennheiser's SKM 5200 handheld transmitter and KK 105 S Neumann capsule or the SK 5212 bodypack transmitter and HSP 4 headset mic.
The Green Room, where the artists wait to hear the audience and jury decisions will be kitted out for the hosts to broadcast using their own microphone and monitor systems. Willemsen has also coordinated the frequencies of the production radio, security and reporting teams. During the show the frequency spectrum will be scanned to avoid any nasty surprises cropping up in the form of unregistered radio mics.
(Jim Evans)
