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| Brad Paisleys FOH engineer Kevin Freeman switches to Sennheisers e 865 |
| 01.08.2001 OLD LYME, CONNECTICUT |
Brad Paisley, the "front runner among the up-and-comers" in Nashville's country music scene, has been leaving an indelible impression on his fans with the clearly articulated and beautifully musical sound of the Sennheiser e 865 live vocal microphone. With a respectable cache of awards already under his belt that includes ACM's Best New Male Artist and TNN's Song of the Year, Paisley's debut "Who Needs Pictures" went platinum, and his latest release, "Part II", immediately leapt to number three on the charts.
The sonic perfection of Paisley's charismatic live performances rests comfortably in the capable hands of Kevin Freeman. The veteran engineer has logged more than 26 years at FOH in the country music scene with such greats as Billy Dean, Bryan White, and the Bellamy Brothers. Freeman explained why intelligibility is so crucial in the context of country music: "Like most country music, Brad's songs center on the lyrics with tales both funny and sad. Audience members must be able to hear every little word in conjunction with Brad's inflections and timbre. If they miss words or phrases due to a lousy mic, the point just doesn't come across."
Freeman tried one live vocal microphone after another, rejecting each as artificially hyped. He found himself performing "processing gymnastics" as a quick fix for the inadequacies of each microphone and resorted to finger crossing when the gymnastics wouldn't work.
The cloud lifted (in more ways than one) when the Sennheiser e 865 first found its way on stage. "We plugged it in, turned up the gain, and there it was. Brad's vocals were clear, intelligible, and right up front where they ought to be," recalled Freeman. "We didn't even process it."
The top of the line condenser microphone in Sennheiser's acclaimed evolution series, the e 865's claim to fame is a natural, un-hyped frequency and transient response that cuts through mixes by virtue of clarity, not through "brute force" equalization. Freeman has outfitted the entire band with e 865s, four wireless versions and one wired. The microphones mix effortlessly and effectively reject on-stage noise and the screams of adoring Paisley devotees.
Consistent with Sennheiser's reputation for creating bulletproof RF devices, Freeman reports that the wireless version, the ew 565, sounds every bit as solid as the wired and has never suffered dropouts, interference or any of the other nasties that plague lesser systems. The RF controls are similarly straightforward, allowing Freeman to concentrate on perfecting his mix, not on troubleshooting mixed frequencies or dropouts.
Brad Paisley is, in Freeman's words, "the last best hope of traditional country music" and may parallel the Sennheiser e 865s status as "the last best hope of un-hyped on-stage sound."
SENNHEISER
1 Enterprise Drive, Old Lyme, CT 06371
(860) 434-9190, Fax (860) 434-1759
http://www.sennheiserusa.com/
CONTACTS
Karl Winkler, Director, Marketing Communications
kwinkler@sennheiserusa.com, (860) 434-9190
Antoinette Flosi, Publicity
tflosi@aadvert.com, (847) 998-0600
(PHOTO CAPTION)
NO LOOKING BACK: Country Star Brad Paisley takes the Sennheiser e 865 and its wireless counterpart on the road.
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