Neumann microphones lend period authenticity to an NBC-TV special, "Tony Bennett: An American Classic," that celebrates the 60-year musical career of the legendary performer, who turned 80 years old in August. But the microphones are more than just props in the special, which airs in late November. They also capture the live vocals of Bennett and a host of singing stars, including Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Christina Aguilera, Diana Krall, Michael Bublé and Barbra Streisand, in a rare TV guest appearance.

Directed by Rob Marshall ("Chicago" "Memoirs of a Geisha"), "Tony Bennett: An American Classic" tells the chronological story of Bennett's long and storied career through a series of short movies, with narration by some of Hollywood's top actors. A series of filmed vignettes set in a 1940s jazz club, a Columbia Recording Studios session in the 1950s and a 1960s TV studio, plus live shows in Las Vegas, at Carnegie Hall and on "MTV Unplugged," featured one Neumann microphone after another. The Neumann U 47, KMS 85, KMS 105, and Bennett's preferred live performance mic, a Sennheiser SKM 5000 wireless handheld with a Neumann KK 105 capsule, all make appearances during the one-hour special.

Tom Young, Bennett's live sound engineer for many years, was in charge of production audio and also worked as an audio supervisor on the shoot, which took place in the L.A. Theatre in downtown Los Angeles. "From an audio standpoint we needed good quality working microphones that could be used to record the vocals live," says Young. "Marshall had a clear vision of certain microphones he wanted to see for various period shots. When the director and head prop master, Kirk Corwin, presented me pictures of the period microphones they preferred, Neumann was represented for most of the scenes.

"Young continues, "Originally, Neumann KM 53 and KM 66 mics were chosen for the 1960s period. However, once viewed on camera the director chose to stay with the look of the Neumann 105. I contacted Joe Ciaudelli at Sennheiser, who was a great asset in providing support to procure various microphones on short notice. Sennheiser was also instrumental in providing wireless lavaliers that were used as back-ups to all the handheld microphones. Certain segments," he adds, "included elaborate dance numbers with the featured performers, and Rob Marshall did not want to see any microphones in the shot.

"The special, which aired on NBC in November, coincides with the release of Bennett's latest album, "Duets: An American Classic" which features many of the same guest vocalists. The TV special was filmed in HD and mixed in 5.1 by Dae Bennett, who recorded the album tracks at Capitol Studios in Los Angeles, London's Abbey Road and Bennett Studios in Englewood, New Jersey earlier this year. Also assisting the recording and playback were Joe Sidoti and John Nave.

The "Duets" album provided the basis for the TV special, explains Young. "Tony prefers to record live with the band and since 1999 I have provided speakers in the studio for him to hear himself, as he prefers not to wear headphones while recording. The tracks were a challenge for Dae Bennett to clean up. Each track on every song needed to be isolated and certain microphones or tracks removed from the original mix. The songs were then remixed to provide clean tracks - with no vocal ghosting - that could be used for the singers as we taped the TV special.

"According to Young, the month-long shoot, which took place in July, was more of a moviemaking process than a television taping. "The attention to detail experienced on this project was a great lesson. It was a pleasure to sit in on our audio platform next to Dae Bennett for a month and watch some great TV being made. Working with a genius of the likes of Tony Bennett and Rob Marshall and all the performers involved was an experience I will never forget.

"Bennett, to whom Frank Sinatra referred as "the best singer in the business," has made over 100 albums, selling 50 million copies and garnering 13 Grammy Awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001.