Alicia Keys and Usher at the AMAs, singing on the
Sennheiser Evolution SKM935G2 wireless microphone
Photo: Getty Images
At the 32nd annual American Music Awards, Usher and Alicia Keys sang their duet, “My Boo,” through a pair of Sennheiser Evolution Wireless SKM935G2 microphones.
The Evolution SKM935G2 features a 935 capsule with the 500 Series transmitter. For this show, the transmitter was powered with the dual-channel EM550G2 receiver.
Sennheiser mics also captured performances by Jessica Simpson and Josh Groban. Both chose to use the hybrid Sennheiser SKM5000-N handheld RF transmitter with Neumann KK105-S capsule microphone.
Broadcast mixer Paul Sandweiss requested that show presenter, talk show host Jimmy Kimmel, be wired with Sennheiser’s MKE-2 lavalier. Sandweiss adds that a variety of Sennheiser and Neumann mics were also used as instrument mics.
Sandweiss, whose Hollywood-based Sound Design Corp. provided the show’s prerecorded segments, equipped show announcer Shawn Par with a Neumann microphone. “The guy has to read 60 names, in perfect sync with the video without screwing one up. We prerecord those packages so they are perfect, because you can’t miss a name or the video doesn’t line up with the audio,” he explains. “So we prerecord all that audio portion. For this we used our Neumann TLM103 microphone that we have at our studio.
“Then, we have the announcer there live,” he continues. “We want that to somewhat match what we did in the studio, although it’s a totally different environment. In this case, we used a Neumann TLM127.”
Held yearly at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, the Dick Clark–produced American Music Awards are based on record sales and a listener survey of
20,000 people.
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