Las Vegas, NV (February 28, 2024)—Neumann mic products were in the mix at Super Bowl LVIII in the hands of Post Malone, who delivered a country-inspired rendition of “America the Beautiful,” and Alicia Keys, who dueted with Usher during his halftime show.
“Post Malone’s electrifying performance of ‘America the Beautiful’ during the Super Bowl opening ceremony underscored his status as one of the industry’s most dynamic performers,” says Alex Guessard, house PA mixer with ATK Audiotek, the longtime audio production provider for the on-field pregame and halftime segments at the Super Bowl. “With the support of Sennheiser’s state-of-the-art 6000 series wireless audio technology, he delivered a performance that will be remembered for years to come.
Post Malone has been using Sennheiser microphones for many years, reports his monitor engineer, Travon Snipes, so his live production team saw no reason to change his handheld transmitter and cardioid dynamic capsule. “We wanted to stay consistent,” Snipes says, “so I requested the SKM 6000 with the MM 435 capsule, which has always been incredible for us.”
He continues, “The reliability has always been rock-solid and they sound incredible. The Super Bowl gameday frequency coordinators manage hundreds of channels of wireless equipment, video as well as audio, during the event. The fact that they had the Sennheiser 6000 series there speaks to the reliability.”
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During the Apple Music Super Bowl LVIII Halftime Show, Alicia Keys joined Usher onstage to sing “If I Ain’t Got You” and “My Boo” using a wireless handheld microphone topped with a Neumann KK 105 U super-cardioid condenser capsule. The new capsule, released in January 2024, makes Neumann’s award-winning KMS series wired stage vocal microphones available to users of several third-party wireless systems.
“The thing I love about the KK 105 U capsule is that the sound of the mic is flat,” comments Ann Mincieli, engineer for Alicia Keys. “It’s not hyped, and the frequency curve is very natural, giving us a great, balanced starting point! Another thing is that there is no bleed in the capsule, as the polar pattern is designed so well. There were 80,000 fans in the stadium, and additional fans all around the stage—we had minimal bleed. The KK 105 U is our capsule of choice!”
According to CBS, the Super Bowl LVIII broadcast from the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on February 11, 2024, had greater viewership than any other Super Bowl in history, with an average of 123.4 million viewers.
