Press

06.12.2007 - Wedemark, Germany

Rihanna Circles the Globe with Sennheiser

It’s been quite a year for Rihanna! The Barbados-born R&B singer climbed to the top of charts around the globe with her smash hit single, “Umbrella,” and picked up two prestigious MTV Video Music Awards, and an MTV Europe Music Award, for the song and its scintillating video. She kicked off the epic 24-hour Live Earth concert event with a high-profile, high-energy performance from Japan’s Makuhari Messe Convention Center in July. Her success inspired a totally new live show, both artistically and technically, with the addition of her own backing band and the adoption of Sennheiser evolution wireless G2 personal monitoring systems and a Sennheiser SKM 5200 wireless handheld mic outfitted with an MD 5235 capsule.

“That microphone she sings on is fantastic,” enthuses Rihanna’s monitor engineer, Ricky “Bongos” Galecki. “It’s one of the best mics I’ve ever heard in my life.” The combination of Sennheiser handheld transmitter and capsule is suited to Rihanna’s current show, which features the singer fronting a full-on rock band and dancers. “It works really well,” comments front-of-house engineer Davie Kirkwood, who has over thirty years of experience with such top names as Joss Stone, Jewel, Mötley Crüe, Stevie Wonder and the Rolling Stones. “Rihanna is dancing a lot, but then at one point sits down and sings a couple of ballads positioned four feet from the drums. The MD 5235 capsule handles everything.” Until this year the singer was a ‘track act,’ Galecki says, so it was important to quickly establish continuity in terms of her monitor mix. “She’s used to just having a DJ. The idea was to try and make the transition as easy as possible and make it sound as much like a CD in her ears as we can. The Sennheiser evolution wireless G2 personal monitors did the trick and she loves them and the mix!”

Sold-out performances, backed by  chart-topping music, 2007’s hottest newcomer, Rihanna, uses a Sennheiser SKM 5200 wireless microphone with an MD 5235 capsule for her colorful and spicy “Good Girl Gone Bad” worldwide tour (Photo Credit: Getty Images)

Rihanna has been all over the world this year in support of her third album, “Good Girl Gone Bad,” with performances in Europe, Africa, Asia and North America. Galecki reports that the Sennheiser wireless products have been rock-solid and exceptionally easy to operate. “Sennheiser is way ahead of the game with their wireless technology. Changing the frequencies on the body-packs and the microphones is very, very easy, and really quick — it’s just one button.”

The evolution 900 Series mics on the band are quite robust, he reveals. “Those e 904 dynamic drum mics are incredibly durable. The drummer is one of the hardest hitters around. He goes through a snare drum head and breaks about six sticks every show. He’s whacked those mics a couple times and they’re still going strong.”

Plus, notes Galecki, the e 914 condenser microphones on the hi-hat and overheads present a distinct advantage over some competing products, offering three-position switching of sensitivity and bass roll-off. “They’re awesome, because they have the switches on them and you can dial them in,” he comments.

Galecki has discovered another advantage to using Sennheiser equipment with Rihanna, who performs with a troupe of four dancers, as well as two background singers, who both use evolution wireless handheld mics with MMD 945 super-cardioid dynamic capsules. “The singers also dance, and they’re all over the stage. The personal monitor packs are really small — nobody else has a small pack like that — and they clip on really tight. These Sennheiser packs stay on, and we can hide them easily.”

Following a string of shows in Canada and a series of U.S. fly dates, the “Good Girl Gone Bad Tour” will capitalize on the huge success of the “Umbrella” single as the tour leaves for France in November, winding through Western then Eastern Europe and Turkey before ending with large stadium shows in the U.K.

The Sennheiser Group is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of microphones, headphones and wireless transmission systems. A family firm established in 1945 and based in Wedemark near Hanover, Germany, the company recorded sales of over 356 million euros in 2006, 82% of which was generated abroad. Sennheiser employs over 1,800 people worldwide, around 55% of whom are in Germany. The Group has manufacturing plants in Germany, Ireland and the USA and is represented worldwide by subsidiaries in France, the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark (Nordic), Russia, Hong Kong, India, Singapore, Canada, Mexico and the USA, as well as through trading partners in other countries. Also part of the Sennheiser Group are Georg Neumann GmbH, Berlin (studio microphones), K + H Vertriebs- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH (Klein + Hummel studio monitors, installed sound) and the joint venture Sennheiser Communications A/S (headsets for PCs, offices and call centers).

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