Randy Faustino is a seasoned music industry veteran. As an engineer he toured North America for seventeen years with acts like Frank Sinatra, Anita Baker, and Jeffrey Osborne before settling down to work stints at Osborne’s studio, Wings West, and later at Echo Recording. With the help of J. Mark King, Faustino then turned his decades of experience to the demanding world of television sound. He has worked on a huge number of shows, including the Academy of Country Music Awards, the Golden Globe Awards, Whose Line Is It Anyway, and many, many others.

In 2007, he formed Creative Sound Solutions with King and Gerald ‘Butch’ McKarge to provide high-calibre music mixing services for the television industry. The company has since mixed American Idol, one of the most consistently high-rated programs in US television history, and a host of Idol-inspired shows, including The Next Great American Band, Rock Star, and, most recently, MTV’s new show, Rock The Cradle.

Ever since Sennheiser introduced the MK 5235 dynamic capsule for their top-of-the-range SKM 5200 handheld wireless microphone system, Faustino has used it wherever possible because of its transparency, reliability, and ease of mixing. At Faustino’s request, all American Idol contestants use the Sennheiser MK 5235/SKM 5200 combo. When a wired vocal microphone fits the bill, Faustino prefers the Sennheiser evolution series e 935 dynamic to other wired brands for the same reasons.

"What I really like about the Sennheiser MD 5235 dynamic capsule in combination with the SKM 5200 transmitter is its immediate presence and warmth, even without any EQ," Faustino explains. "It ends up being a lot less work than comparable models from other manufacturers. When we have to use other mics, because of artists’ contractual obligations, we always end up using more EQ than we normally do with the MD 5235.

"The same is true of the wired Sennheiser e 935 that I’m using on backup singers and as my own talkback," he continues. "Without doing anything, the e 935 has better high-end and tighter low-end."

When doing overdubs or group pre-records, Faustino uses a pair of Neumann TLM 49 large diaphragm studio condensers.

Of course, vocals can only sound as good as the band that supports them. For this reason, Faustino prefers to capture musicians with Sennheiser’s evolution series of instrument mics. In addition to a Sennheiser e 906 dynamic cardioids on guitar cabinets, Faustino uses a range of Sennheiser evolution series mics for the drums. A collection of e 604s captures the toms, an e 602 II captures the kick, and e 914s capture both the hi-hats and the overheads.

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

Robert Collins, Sennheiser PR