R&B superstar and Dreamgirls actress Beyoncé rides the wave of her tremendous popularity around the world during 2007 in "The Beyoncé Experience Tour", a concert tour of epic artistic and technological proportions. In addition to her hits, Beyoncé and her hand-picked, all-girl band perform a suite of Destiny's Child classics, and more than a few surprises, in an impressive stage show made possible by 38 Sennheiser wireless channels. They are supported from country to country by Sennheiser's Global Relations Division and Sennheiser's local subsidiaries and partners. The tour took Beyoncé and her entourage through Japan, Australia, and Europe in April and May before returning to North America for the remainder of the tour.

The engineering team for the tour has over fifty years of combined experience in charge of acts such as Mary J. Blige, Prince, Usher, LL Cool J, Puff Daddy, Keith Sweat, and a list of others that reads like a who's who of R&B and hip-hop artists. James Berry runs monitors for the band, Ramon Morales handles monitors for Beyoncé, and Horace Ward helms front-of-house. They chose the Sennheiser system based on the company's proven reliability and perfect wireless sound. Since Sennheiser has been designing wireless systems for half a century, longer than any other pro audio manufacturer, and are responsible for most of the technology's significant innovations, Sennheiser was arguably the only company with the ability to successfully deliver so many wireless channels in such an intricate and critical application.

Beyoncé, once again, is using the Neumann KK 105-S capsule coupled with the Sennheiser SKM 5200 transmitter in “The Beyoncé Experience Tour”. 38 primary and 38 backup channels of Sennheiser wireless systems coordinated through Sennheiser’s NET 1 System provide reliable wireless for the technology-challenged event.

Wireless
The tour will travel with 38 primary wireless channels and, in a different frequency range, 38 backup wireless channels. It falls on the shoulders of Berry to coordinate frequencies night after night but his task has been greatly simplified, and the results made more robust, by two Sennheiser NET 1 systems. He commented, "We're the biggest rig to use NET 1 so far, and it's working fabulously. I keep all of the wireless racks below stage, out of sight and out of mind. Then I hook up my laptop to NET 1 and instantly see everything: RF status, battery levels - everything! Finding frequencies is easy. I synch everything up in NET 1, hit a few buttons, and everything takes care of itself. No more digging through tiny menu pages for an hour!"

Sixteen of the wireless channels are devoted to personal monitor systems - eleven in stereo and five in mono. Beyoncé has a Sennheiser EK 300 IEM G2 monitoring receiver, as do the rest of the band members. Eleven of the channels provide wireless instrument support for guitar, bass, and horns, using Sennheiser SK 500 G2 bodypack transmitters. The remaining channels cover Beyoncé's vocal microphone and those of her backline singers and guest vocalists. An impressive bank of Sennheiser EM 3032-U and EM 550 G2 true diversity receivers with Sennheiser A 5000-CP antennas and AC 3000 combiners round out the system.

"Sennheiser's Relations team has been a real lifesaver," said Berry. "They make things happen, they get us the right gear, and they're always there to help." "The last several tours that I have been involved with have used Sennheiser wireless exclusively," added Morales. "I always use Sennheiser personal monitors because of their frequency flexibility. With other brands, I would only have a fixed number of RF channels within a frequency range to work with. In stark contrast, the Sennheiser G2s give me the ability to stay within the presets or move anywhere within the frequency range."

Microphones
Beyoncé is singing through a nickel Sennheiser SKM 5200 transmitter outfitted with a Neumann KK 105-S capsule. Based on Neumann's revolutionary KMS 105, 140, and 150 line of live condenser microphones, the KK 105-S is uniquely expressive, especially in the hands of a vocalist as talented as Beyoncé. "The KK 105-S is an absolutely stunning microphone," commented Ward. "Sennheiser's partnership with Neumann makes for a great product. The KK 105-S is beautifully smooth and captures every nuance of a talented vocalist's performance." Morales agreed, "There's nothing that compares with the Sennheiser/Neumann combo. The SKM 5200 is a great transmitter and the KK 105-S is a great mic! In addition, it's an easy mic to mix for personal monitors because it's so transparent and clean. It cuts through the mix effortlessly."

Ward specified Sennheiser SKM 935 G2 microphones for the backline and guest vocalists because they sound excellent even under less than ideal conditions. "The Sennheiser SKM 935 is a great choice for backline singers and ideal for guest rappers," he said. "Most rappers want to crush the mic, meaning they cup the capsule. The frequency response of most microphones gets pretty crazy under such conditions, but the SKM 935 holds together without a problem."

Virtual Soundcheck
Ward's FOH mixing technique relies heavily on his Digidesign Venue system and is perhaps a window on the future of live sound mixing. In a nutshell, he records every performance to Pro Tools, taking inputs from the preamps on stage. During the day after a performance, while he waits for his full system to be set up for that night's show, he does his "homework" using the playback as "inputs" and a pair of Klein + Hummel O 300 monitors, an O 900 subwoofer, a Klein + Hummel Pro A 2000 power amplifier, and a Pro M 68 bass manager for monitoring. This process, known as "virtual soundcheck", allows him to tweak out imperfections from the previous night's mix, taking him ever closer to the ideal mix.

Ward admitted that he was "stuck" on another high performance speaker setup for a long time before switching to the Klein + Hummel system. "The other system was cool - they were flat and all, but the high-end was noticeably false. I heard them back-to-back against the Klein + Hummels while doing the David Letterman Show and it was like an epiphany! I thought THIS is it! This is the true sound I've been looking for!"

"Using Klein + Hummel monitors is like taking a magnifying glass to my mix and hearing every nuance," he continued. "Things I would have missed before stand out. I can fix things and KNOW that they've truly been fixed. In fact, I have so much confidence in the Klein + Hummel monitors that if my mix sounds right in them and wrong on the house PA, I know we need to change the EQ settings on the PA!"

The Sennheiser Group is one of the world's leading manufacturers of microphones, headphones and wireless transmission systems. A family firm established in 1945 and based in Wedemark near Hanover, the company recorded sales of over 356 million euros in 2006, 82% of which was generated abroad. Sennheiser employs over 1,800 people worldwide, around 55% of whom are in Germany. The Group has manufacturing plants in Germany, Ireland and the USA and is represented worldwide by subsidiaries in France, the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark (Nordic), Russia, Hong Kong, India, Singapore, Canada, Mexico and the USA, as well as through trading partners in other countries. Also part of the Sennheiser Group are Georg Neumann GmbH, Berlin (studio microphones), K + H Vertriebs- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH (Klein + Hummel studio monitors, installed sound) and the joint venture Sennheiser Communications A/S (headsets for PCs, offices and call centers).

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Sennheiser electronic GmbH & Co. KG
Greg Beebe
Director Global Relations
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E-mail: gbeebe@sennheiserusa.com