After being assessed by Ballard the decision was made to go with the Neumann Sennheiser pairing. He said: "For me it's really important that the Artist is comfortable with any new equipment. Natalie immediately preferred the incredibly light-weight of the Sennheiser handheld, and was comforted by the Neumann name on the capsule as she uses a U87 in the studio. Within seconds of putting on her in-ears she commented on how amazing the mic sounded and I knew we were onto a winner."
The tour which has taken in Europe, Russia and the UK over the last few weeks, including two sold out dates at London's Shepherds Bush Empire, has provided a valuable appraisal for the KK 104 condenser cardioid capsule.
Combining the new Neumann capsule with the Sennheiser Wireless System has thrust the legendary Neumann sound to the top of the wireless domain, and opened up new dimensions in sound for sophisticated live-performance engineering. Say the company.
Mark Ballard said: "For me the Neumann KK 104 head was warm, smooth and clean. I used a fairly high high pass filter but virtually no other EQ. Despite a loud backline it was always possible to put Natalie's voice exactly where I wanted to in the mix."
Sennheiser also provided a rack of their evolution ew 300 G2 in ear monitoring for Natalie to use alongside the wireless handheld system.
(Chris Henry)
