Sennhesier: The Evolution of Evolution

EVENT FOCUS

SENNHEISER: THE EVOLUTION OF EVOLUTION

The microphone giant invites key players to discuss why the evolution has such staying power.

2018 marked the 20th anniversary of Sennheiser’s evolution microphone series, which has become a global industry standard for live microphones and Sennheiser’s most successful microphone series to date.

The family business of Sennheiser is one of the world’s leading developers and manufacturers of microphones and headphones for the music and entertainment industries. Wherever people are passionately recording, transmitting or playing back sounds, Sennheiser is there.

Along the way, Sennheiser has been responsible for many technological milestones: the first shotgun microphone in the 1950s, open headphones in the 1960s, infrared transmission technology in the 1970s and multichannel wireless transmission in the 1980s. The 1990s saw the development of head-orientated surround systems, intelligent audio information systems appeared for the new millennium and today, the company continues to drive digitalisation of the audio world forwards.

And now, 2018 is characterised by the letter ’e’, evolution, Sennheiser’s most successful microphone range ever, celebrates its 20th anniversary. To celebrate and say ‘thank you’ to all the musicians, sound engineers, rental partners and content creators who have made evolution such a success, Sennheiser hosted an exclusive event of audio storytelling at the London EDITION Hotel in Fitzrovia, where stories about the evolution series were told by the people who were there.

EVOLUTION: A HISTORY

• 1998: Sennheiser launches its evolution microphone series to the music market, covering artists’ every conceivable microphone need. The series includes the e825, e835 and e845 vocal microphones and the

e602, e604, e608 and e609 instrument mics and proves a resounding success.

• In 1999 evolution wireless follows, which remains Sennheiser’s most popular radio microphone series to date, fulfilling the needs of artists, musicians, speakers, videographers, corporate users.

• 2000: The e 865 is launched as the first condenser microphone of the series. Sting and his sound engineer Vish Wadi helped in the fine-tuning of its sound.

• In 2003, Sennheiser launches the evolution 900 series with the e 935 and e 945 vocal microphones. Their great-sounding capsules contribute immensely to the success of the 900 series and, later, the MD 5235 and MD 9235 microphone heads.

• 2003 also sees the launch of the second generation of evolution wireless: G2 offers improved audio and RF properties, new user interfaces and a scan function, along with smaller bodypacks.

• 2004: The range of evolution 900 series microphones is expanded with the e901, e902, e904, e 905, e906, e 908 and e 914 instrument microphones.

• With the new e965, Sennheiser introduces the flagship microphone of the evolution series and its first true condenser, large-diaphragm microphone in 2008. The e965 has a dual-diaphragm transducer and

10

20 YEARS OF SENNHEISER’S EVOLUTION SERIES

Talking shop: Monitor Engineer Joe Campbell and Guitar Tech, Pete Malandrone.

can be switched between cardioid and super-cardioid pick-up patterns.

• In 2009, Sennheiser launches evolution wireless G3. The third generation brings a new level of convenience to the wireless series, with features such as IR synchronisation, Soundcheck mode, frequency coordination via the Wireless Systems Manager, wider audio range and interchangeable microphone heads for the hand-held transmitters – including the sound of evolution 900 capsules.

• 2011: Sennheiser is the first manufacturer to launch wireless microphone systems that transmit in the 1800MHz range. In response to the decision to close UHF frequencies from 790 to 862MHz for wireless microphones in Europe, the evolution wireless ew100G3-1G8 systems move to a higher frequency band that is reserved exclusively for wireless audio transmission in many European countries.

• 2013: Sennheiser launches the evolution e835fx, which supports TC- Helicon vocal effects units.

• In 2015, Sennheiser launches evolution wireless D1, a series of radio microphones that lets bands go wireless the easy way with digital transmission in the 2.4 GHz range that is license-free worldwide.

• In the same year, the SL DI 4 XLR Dante interface makes all evolution wireless systems ready for integration into Dante audio-over-IP networks.

• 2018: With the launch of G4, Sennheiser further improves and expands its most successful wireless microphone series.

During an evening of discussion, debate, storytelling and educational anecdotes, Jamie Gosney (Host) invited Sennheiser specialists and end users to talk in front of a live audience. Gosney himself has worked in the pro audio industry for over four decades. He has toured with such artists as The Jackson Five, Dolly Parton and Donna Summer, owned and run recording studios and designed audio systems for prestigious venues including Glyndebourne, the Royal Opera House and Bristol Hippodrome. But his real claim to fame is that he was the last person to mix Freddie Mercury live.

Joining the host was Michael Polten, former Director, Customer Relationship Management at Sennheiser, currently in retirement but still in expertise! He has a long history of experience in the music business as an active musician, producer and sound engineer, and in the sales and marketing sector. Polten was substantially involved in developing the microphones which contributed to Sennheiser’s brilliant entry into the music business.

Also on the panel was Martin Fische, a Senior Product Manager for Sennheiser’s professional division. He has been with the company for nearly 32 years and is one of the most knowledgeable experts when it comes to wireless microphone systems. His knowledge and experience was imperative in developing evolution wireless series. Fische has a technical background and his favourite hobby is playing music in a band.

Andrew Lily-white is currently part of the European Customer Development and Application Engineers team at Sennheiser, Andrew was previously Chief Engineer for Sennheiser UK for twelve years, heading up the technical team across all professional audio applications (including the broadcast, audio for video, touring, theatre and corporate installation market segments). Life before Sennheiser included roles at the BBC and The National theatre.

MTFX.com/ADS

SENNHEISER EVOLUTION

Host of the event, Sound Designer Jamie Gosney; The speakers included some of the biggest names in live event engineering; Guests enjoyed microphone making and the all imprtnat birthday cake!

After a (birthday cake eating) break, a second panel made up of live music professionals began. Pete Malandrone is a guitar technician to Dr Brian May CBE, and since 1994 has been a Sennieiser advocate for many years.

Joe Campbell is a Monitor Engineer who has worked with IEMs since the mid ‘90s. Studio life was not for him, and he has been a touring engineer now for many years. He has worked on countless tours with artists such as Chris Rea, Placebo and currently Adele.

Chris Denman has been at Global Radio (formerly Capital Radio Group and GCap) for 18 years. He produces the live sessions across allof their radio brands, from Radio X (Xfm past) to Classic FM, via Capital, Heart and Capital Xtra (Choice past).

PANEL HIGHLIGHTS Fische stated: “The success was down to the distribution network. For the dealer, it’s all about the margin point. Our competition was in a very comfortable position. For instance, they were already established in the market and could sell their mics at a very low dealer margin. To get to the dealers, Sennheiser knew it had to give them a better margin than the competition. This was the first step. The other was achieving market penetration. To achieve this, the sales team presented the microphones, and did countless comparisons and demos.”

Host Jamie Goswell asked: “Was there a particular time or event that took place that meant the market really sat up and took notice of these microphones and knew that they were serious competition to the brands that were already there?”

Fische replied: “Yes, when Elton John started using them. He was the first serious artist using evolution and this was one of the key turning points as he is a well-respected musician for musicians, so people always look to see what he’s using.”

So what does the future hold for Sennheiser according to Fische? “There has been a change in the last few years. What was demanded by customers

over the years was transmission reliability – it just has to work – ease of use and flexibility are very important, and rental companies demand compatibility, so they don’t have to change everything when they move from one generation to the next.

“Over the last couple of years, there have been additional requirements. One is spectrum efficiency. The available spectrum is shrinking because it is being sold to other mobile services, so the microphone industry has to look for alternatives. The pro market sees this as they move from country to country; each country has its own regulations and take frequencies away from microphones and give them to the mobile industry, so this is a very important aspect that we have to take care of.

“What is also important is ease of use: smart workflow. We see there are more and more situations where less people are involved in setting up systems and it has to be done faster. The workflow is very important, taking into account that there are more and more complicated devices used in live shows, such as digital mixing consoles, and the IT infrastructure is being used more in these type of applications. There is more complexity, less time, less manpower and shrinking budgets, so the equipment that is used in these big shows has to be a reasonable price and it becomes more and more difficult to replace expensive equipment in the field.”

Monitor Engineer Joe Campbell added: “Over the past 20 years Sennheiser has been brilliant with its support and has set the standard for RF. Without Sennheiser’s support it would never have happened. I’ve used every evolution series up to 9000 Digital on the Adele tour.

“Dave Hawker was heroic and absolutely fearless. I think he liked finding the solution, even though sometimes the solution wasn’t obvious. He knew the law and the rules and it was very difficult for anyone to argue him. He got me going on many occasions when I didn’t think it was possible.” As far as live sound goes, that’s what we call an evolution… TPi Photos: Sennheiser www.en-uk.sennheiser.com

12