Wireless First

"It was one of the smoothest VMAs I've done," says Sanford, who utilized a slew of Sennheiser equipment on the pre, main and post-shows, which were held once again at the American Airlines Arena in Miami. "I was running 24 channels of Sennheiser, which included all of the presenters. All of the channels were SKM5000 handhelds with the Neumann KK-105S capsule." For those wired with lavaliere microphones, unobtrusive Sennheiser SK50 and SK5012 miniature body-pack transmitters were also in use, he adds. Receivers were all Sennheiser EM3032-U dual true diversity units.

In addition to regular MTV presenters SuChin Pak, Sway Calloway, John Norris, Gideon Yago and Kurt Loder, a variety of celebrity presenters also made use of the Sennheiser wireless equipment, including the Miami Heat's Shaquille O'Neal and Dwayne Wade, and actors Jamie Foxx, Jessica Alba and Eric Roberts. Foxx made use of the Sennheiser/Neumann hybrid handheld while performing with Kanye West, who was similarly equipped, as did 50 Cent, with his signature chrome-plated model, as well as Ludacris and Bobby Valentino, and Shakira.

In addition, a dozen Sennheiser Evolution Wireless 300 Series G2 wireless monitor setups were available. Shakira brought along her personal Sennheiser Evolution 300 system.

When presented with the opportunity, Sanford always specifies Sennheiser RF equipment for its high power, especially the podium setups. "I demand that we use Sennheiser on any wireless podium, because of the power, because of the sound, and because of the fact that they're durable. On a podium, the transmitter is typically at your feet under a box with a lot of bodies between it and the receiver." Knowing that he can rely on Sennheiser is critical, because, as he notes, "It's the last thing I need to worry about on a show where I have a lot of worries."

Increasingly artists have very tight sponsorship agreements with manufacturers, says Sanford, which can preclude him from ensuring that everyone is using a high output microphone that will offer trouble free service. Host Sean 'Diddy' Combs, for example, brought his own handhelds, which gave Sanford some anxious moments, he admits. "The difference of 10mW to Sennheiser's 50mW is a lot. I gritted my teeth, instead of being confident."

The abundance of water - cascading off the stage set, being fired from water cannons, lying in pools and pouring from above - presented Sanford with an unusual challenge. "There were 1,100 gallons of water at any given time in the building. Water is a pretty big reflector," he observes, "so I had to deal with that aspect. An artist would appear on an elevator in the stage surrounded by water. I'd have no RF signal, then suddenly they'd appear."

The safety issue also posed an operational problem. "Everybody had to ground everything with GFIs, just in case," he explains, "but 99.99 percent of the time RFs and intercoms need to be lifted, not grounded. There can be serious hum issues because the RFs get split so many times in so many different places. It's a challenge for everybody."

Another indication of the extent to which such productions now push the envelope of what is possible, Sanford notes that he alone was coordinating 380 frequencies for the microphones, walkie-talkies and production intercoms. "It's one of the first times on a show where, if they'd wanted more they couldn't have had it, because there was no space left in the frequencies. We were running so close and so tight - closer than I've ever run it or like to. But it was all good. We came off without a hit."

Established in 1945 in Wedemark, Germany, Sennheiser is the acknowledged world leader in microphone technology, RF-wireless and infrared sound transmission, headphone transducer technology, and most recently, in the development of active noise-cancellation. Sennheiser Electronic Corporation is the U.S. wholly owned subsidiary, with headquarters in Old Lyme, Connecticut.