B.B. King’s Blues Club in Nashville (nashville.bbkingclubs.com) recently installed a collection of AKG MicroMic and WMS 40 PRO wireless microphones to complement its Harman system of JBL speakers and monitors, Crown amplifiers, Soundcraft mixing boards, and dbx equalizers and compressors.
Lee Catoe, founder and head of TLC Engineering in Nashville, is production director at B.B. King’s. “I’m always happy to say, ‘I’m using AKG!’” he says. “AKG has a really excellent product, as do the other Harman brands.” Catoe worked with AKG’s Gary Gunn to install three WMS 40 Flexx wireless systems using the new MicroMic C 519 microphone for instruments, the new MicroMic C 518 for the drums and MicroMic C 516 for miking speaker cabinets. Also onstage are the new AKG D5s for vocals and a D112 for the kick drum.
“A big part of the show is about making that connection with the people you’re playing to,” Catoe says. “If you can connect with them, they’ll stick around and probably come back again.”
The new AKG MicroMic C 519 miniature clip-on condenser microphones are used by the three horn players in the house band. “We got those because the horn players like to come out into the crowd and dance around the club,” he adds. “They put on a really good show.
“The AKG 519s are excellent horn mics,” he continues. “They’re heavy-duty, and they’re good and rugged for repetitive use. It’s more of a true-tone mic. The AKG D5 also has a true tone and clarity.”
Another B.B. King’s is about to open in Orlando, Fla., in late August, followed by one in Las Vegas in December and one in Chicago next summer.
For additional information on the mics, visit www.akg.com.
