Céline Dion is on a yearlong world tour following her residency of nearly four years at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. This current ‘Taking Chances’ Tour began on Valentine’s Day 2008 in South Africa and by the tour’s completion it will have encompassed 120 shows in over eighty cities on five continents, before winding up in Florida in January 2009. Dion and her crew have long relied on Sennheiser wireless microphones and personal monitoring systems, as well as Neumann microphones. The Taking Chances Tour is no exception, with dozens of channels of Sennheiser RF equipment, courtesy of the singer’s exclusive sound, video and lighting provider, Solotech, accompanying her on the global jaunt.

The Tour features a seven-piece band, three backing singers and eight dancers, and is presented in a variety of formats, including in the round, according to each venue configuration

“The fact that we are travelling almost everywhere on the planet with the wireless microphones means that the system has to be really flexible in the choices of the carriers’ frequencies,” explains Dion’s front-of-house engineer, François ‘Frankie’ Desjardins. “Sennheiser has been a pioneer in that domain and that’s one of the main reasons we are using them. We use Sennheiser wireless microphones and belt packs, along with other wireless equipment, because of the flexibility of the system and the great variety of mic capsules. We can always find a microphone that will do the right job in the extensive list of products from Sennheiser or Neumann.”

The audio crew, which on this tour includes monitor engineer Charles Ethier, RF engineer Marc Thériault and audio system engineer Mario St-Onge, in addition to Desjardins, makes its recommendation regarding the main vocal mic, but overall say goes with Dion herself.

“She has the last word on the choice of capsule,” confirms Desjardins. “On this tour, she is using a Neumann KK 105 S mounted on a Sennheiser SKM 5200 handheld transmitter. The background vocal microphones are Sennheiser MD 5235 capsules mounted on SKM 5200 handhelds.”

The Taking Chances Tour is carrying an extensive catalogue of Sennheiser RF equipment that can operate reliably anywhere in the world. The tour’s microphones include ten SKM 5200 handheld transmitters with a choice of cardioid and super-cardioid capsules. There are 20 EM 3732 true-diversity twin receivers; 36 EK 300 IEM G2 bodypack receivers; 24 ultra-compact SK 5212 bodypack transmitters; and 12 rack-mount SR 350 IEM G2 twin transmitters, plus a variety of antennas, splitters and combiners. The wireless equipment is monitored and coordinated remotely via four NET 1 systems.

Sennheiser is the first choice for the Taking Chances Tour because of the breadth of the product range and quality of the Company’s equipment. But equally important to the crew is the knowledge that as soon as a question arises, Sennheiser will be there with the answer.

“We get super technical support from Sennheiser,” explains Marc Thériault, the tour’s audio RF/electrical engineer. “Sennheiser is always prepared to go the extra mile to accommodate the specific needs of Céline Dion’s elaborate stage presentation, which places extra demands on the equipment. I can talk with a Sennheiser engineer and do some customization for the way that we use it. That’s very important for this tour.”

Other microphones include Neumann KM 184 and KM 150 condensers, evolution series e 902, e 906, e 835 and e 835 S dynamics, e 914 condensers, plus four each of the MKH 40 and MKH 60 shotguns to pick up audience reactions. Even the production crew uses a number of Sennheiser HMD 25 boom headsets.

“The HMD 25s are used primarily by the backline people to communicate on the ‘party line’,” continues Desjardins. “Those are modified by Sennheiser Canada. They have a magnetic switch in the boom so when the boom is up the mic is off. The speakers are the ones found in the HD 25. The people have an SK 5212 transmitter to talk and an EK 300 to listen to their respective mix during the show so they can be fast to troubleshoot a problem. Some other HMD 25s are used as a standard intercom system by the stage manager and lighting director.”

Céline Dion’s world tour continues across North America this September.

 For more information about Sennheiser please visit www.sennheiser.co.uk or call:

Robert Collins, Sennheiser Pro PR
T: 07966 294 877