Press

Breathtaking (vocal) acrobatics: Pink is currently touring with her “Funhouse” album
(Photo credit: Luke Green)
  

The A 5000-CP  circularly polarised antennas ensure perfect monitoring sound on stage
(Photo credit: Horst Hartmann)
   

Front-of-house engineer Chris Madden with the MKH 8040s and MKH 800 Twin he used for recording the ambience for the Funhouse live DVD
(Photo credit: Chris Madden)

On her Funhouse tour, Pink uses a Sennheiser SKM 2000 radio microphone with a customised e 935 capsule
(Photo credit: Baz Halpin)

When it comes to microphones and monitoring, Pink relies on the German manufacturer’s 2000 and evolution wireless series and also benefits from a few special variants. “Pink uses her SKM 2000 with a special e 935 capsule in silver,” explains monitoring engineer Horst Hartmann. Front of house engineer Chris Madden continues: “The handheld has been trouble-free, it sounds fantastic with hardly any EQ. The gain before feedback attributes have been outstanding considering she sings in front of the PA for most of the show!”
  

Not one to be denied the pleasure of singing whilst hanging from trapezes and ropes, a second, ‘hands-free’ microphone solution had to be found for the athletic pop star. Pierre Morant, Relations Manager EMEA at Sennheiser, comments: “A normal headset was out of the question, so Pink became a VIP ‘test pilot’ for our new ear set microphone combined with the SK 2000 bodypack transmitter. She is the first artist to use this single-sided ear set and, if the acrobatic interludes on this tour are anything to go by, it has definitely withstood its baptism of fire!”
 

Chris Madden uses the SKM 2000 with the standard 935 capsule for the background vocals and the sound engineers have also remained faithful to the 2000 Series for the instrument transmitters. “As far as sound quality is concerned, the low end is fantastic especially on guitars and bass guitars,” states Horst Hartmann. He uses the proven evolution wireless ew 300 IEM system for monitoring, together with A 5000-CP circularly polarised antennas. “RF is absolutely rock solid especially considering the distances involved on the show,” explains Chris Madden.
 

The microphone inventory for the Funhouse Tour also includes wired evolution models such as those used on the drumkit. The kick drum beats are picked up by two e 902s, while the snares and the rack toms are picked up by dynamic e 904s with a cardioid polar pattern. e 902s are used for the floor toms and two e 914s are utilised as overheads. A further model, the e 906, ensures the sound produced by Justin Derrico’s guitar amp is heard loud and clear.
 

Chris Madden’s box of tricks also contains RF condenser microphones for the live DVD of the Funhouse Tour: two MKH 8040s and an MKH 800 Twin double-capsule microphone. “I used them for recording ambience at FOH. The MKH 800 was recording Front/Back and the 8040s were doing L/R and were pointing slightly backwards, away from the stage. The handling of the pattern on the Twin works really well. Both microphones deliver excellent sound quality with no wind noise. Overall they performed brilliantly and I was hugely impressed with their overall quality, I will be trying them out for different applications once we've finished using them for the tour.” Both sound engineers were also impressed by the support they received from Sennheiser: “Getting the same kind of support wherever you land is like having a safety net.”
  

So far, around two million concert-goers have sampled the breathtaking performances and superb sound quality of Pink’s gigs for themselves. And Pierre Morant can confirm that the Sennheiser brand now has a very special friend indeed: “During rehearsals for the Funhouse Tour, Pink was so impressed with the test microphone that she simply didn’t want to give it back!”