With over 40 million streams, New Zealand-born country-pop artist Kaylee Bell now considers Sennheiser’s Evolution Wireless Digital microphone systems an on-tour essential. Fresh from supporting Ed Sheeran on the six-date New Zealand leg of his Mathematics World Tour, Sennheiser EW-D has become a constant companion — with the band having previously chosen Sennheiser equipment for its reliable sound and dependable quality.

The self-managed musician kicked off 2023 by winning an Australian Golden Guitar Award for ‘Vocal Collaboration of the Year’, and now embarks on her own tour — the 16-date ‘Boots ‘N All’ debut tour of New Zealand — where the same wireless convenience will take her full live band shows to the next level.

Since setting themselves up with Sennheiser’s wireless system, the band has changed how they approach live performance. “As a performer — especially on the Ed tour, with the stage being so big — we had the freedom to run everywhere, which was amazing. Having such a minimal stage setup allows us to have so much more fun as a band. It gives a sense of unity, and being able to move around freely really allows our personalities to come through,” shares Bell.

From the production perspective of the band’s audio technician, Nick Campbell, the initial engagements with Ed Sheeran’s team were revelatory. “When asked about our setup we realised that all we needed onstage was a drum kit because everything else was now wireless,” he said. “All of our vocal mics and guitars, and all the backline that we have sitting off-stage are wireless, which they were really happy about as it made things a whole lot easier.”

During the tour, the team were able to bond with Ed Sheeran’s stage management crew. Kaylee’s front-of-house engineer Josh Anderson shared some insights saying, “They just don’t have issues on their shows. They are very particular about what they take on the road, and because of this they are able to run a very reliable set-up. The fact they use Sennheiser speaks volumes.” 

When chatting with Dave White, Ed’s RF and looper tech, Campbell gained an understanding of how shows of that magnitude work, and how the scalability of a Sennheiser setup like that could tie into it. Campbell says, “We can rock up to a pub with this gear and play to 50 people, or at the other end of the scale we can show up and support Ed Sheeran with the exact same gear and have more or less the same set-up time.” While the introduction of wireless may have reduced set-up times, it’s not all about convenience. The Sennheiser gear has also helped to reduce touring costs as the entire rig can be taken on the road in a 23kg pelican case.

Kaylee’s band have been using Sennheiser’s EW-D, but will now extended UHF range and channel count as they transition to the EW-DX on their ‘Boots ‘N All’ tour. By simplifying their workflow with its scalable transmitter and receiver options and automatic multi-channel RF set-up, the EW-DX is setting the standard in the live audio industry. “We don’t lose tone going wireless, all of our guitars have the same great level of consistency. This is the first thing we consider when adding new gear into the rig, so there will be no loss of quality as we move forward with the EW-DX,” says Anderson.

Also helping Anderson and Campbell to deliver an all-round professional sounding production are the G4 in-ear monitors that have been paired with Evolution Wireless Digital microphones, as well as the Smart Assist app which allows remote adjustments to be made from around the venue.

The Evolution Wireless Digital family of products brings a level of consistency and range that helps Kaylee and her band to transcend genres, and float across country, rock and pop. Kaylee finishes by explaining how Sennheiser enables this amalgamation saying, “There is a strong reliance on guitars to create a ‘rock’ element to our shows, but it’s also important to be able to deliver something quiet and reflective by breaking down a song with some beautiful acoustic guitar.”

Kicking off on 4 May 2023, Kaylee heads on her national NZ Boots ‘N All tour, for event dates and ticketing information visit here.

Photo credit: Mike Braid

Audio-Technica announces the launch of its new 3000 Series Wireless In-Ear Monitor System, created to bring professional sound quality and features to all levels of performers and performance venues. The ATW-3255 3000 Series Wireless In-Ear Monitor System is a durable in-ear monitor system that is easy to use and delivers high-quality sound with dependable RF across more than three times the tuning bandwidth of competitive models in its price range. 

With design elements modelled after Audio-Technica’s acclaimed 3000 Series UHF Wireless Microphone Systems, the 3000 Series IEM system features a rack-mount transmitter with front-panel controls and a large OLED display, compact body-pack receiver and ATH-E40 professional in-ear monitor headphones. The body-pack receiver’s efficient headphone amp and ATH-E40 headphone’s proprietary dual-phase push-pull drivers combine to provide a clear, natural sound quality on any stage.

The 3000 Series Wireless IEM offers UHF coverage for maximum versatility in the increasingly congested RF environment, spanning 650 to 693 MHz in frequency band EG2. Additional features include pan/personal mix controls; a cue mode that allows an audio engineer to monitor several IEM channels from a single receiver; a 3000 Link mode that enables compatibility with 3000 Series wireless microphone components; and network monitoring and control via the Audio-Technica Wireless Manager software. Both the transmitter and receiver include OLED screens for optimal readout of key settings and alerts, especially in low lighting situations. 

The body-pack receiver operates continuously for up to seven hours when powered by NiMH batteries and charged in the optional ATW-CHG3 or ATWCHG3N charging stations. For compatibility and convenience, these are the same chargers used by 3000 Series microphone systems’ UHF body-pack transmitters. The transmitter is equipped with balanced XLR inputs and loop output, plus a network port. 

“The system and feature set were developed based on market surveys and customer feedback gathered over a number of years,” stated Gary Boss, Audio-Technica U.S. Marketing Director. “We can confidently say that the feature-rich 3000 Series Wireless In-Ear Monitor System continues to deliver Audio-Technica’s promise of making high-quality, dependable audio accessible to all.”

The new 3000 Series In-Ear Monitor System contains the ATW-R3250 Receiver, ATW-T3205 Transmitter, and ATH-E40 Professional In-Ear Headphones and is priced at AU$1499.

I’ve ‘ruined’ many a good live show experience by wearing foam bullet earplugs. Yet, like you, I care enough about my long term hearing to know high SPL situations warrant some form of protection. It’s one of the tradeoffs of having ears discerning enough to appreciate a good mix in a good room but also trying to protect them; those squishy expanding pellets are often a necessary evil. You might be bouncing in the mosh pit, cranking up your boutique amp or practising your rudiments, but it feels like you’re stuck in an isolation booth – no highs, no atmosphere, no fun. 

Thankfully, there are better earplug options to guard your eardrums in a more high-fidelity fashion. Minuendo is one of them.

The Norwegian start-up created the fanciest ear plugs to ever grace your ear canals – there’s a lot more to them than a typical set of stuff ’n’ forget earplugs. Marketed as ‘lossless hearing’, Minuendo earplugs are designed to maintain a relatively flat frequency balance while attenuating sound. In other words, you get to enjoy the live mix at a non-harmful level. The slick little devices look so sophisticated they’d easily fool you for a pair of wireless Bluetooth earphones, but no, a pair of Minuendos don’t contain digital capability of any sort. 

You may be wondering: earplugs with a more linear attenuation have existed for a long time. Custom moulded earplugs are designed for a similar goal too. Then how is Minuendo anything new? 

VARIABLE PASSIVE ATTENUATION

Besides the neutral frequency balance, the big deal with Minuendo is the continuously variable control which adjusts attenuation between 7-25dB SPL. Minuendo achieves this in a completely passive product: no electronics or power requirement here. A small lever atop each earplug moves an acoustic membrane in and out of position to determine how much sound is being blocked out. 

The benefits are obvious – I, for one, am grateful to be spared yet another device in my house that needs regular charging. Plus, there’s less to break in a product void of ICs and software. Not to mention, the passive attenuation control actually works incredibly well.

I was taken aback by how natural the world sounded after popping the earplugs in for the first time. Quieter, of course, but at the lowest 7dB setting, the result was mostly the disappearance of ambient sounds: the clock ticking, the fridge humming, the distant sound of traffic, all gone. But it’s easy to have a conversation with somebody at this attenuation level and people’s voices sound surprisingly natural. I actually took them out a couple of times to prove they were indeed impacting what I hear. 

Push the levers forward towards the maximum 25dB decrease in level and you have that sense of stepping into a quiet room. However it doesn’t completely destroy the high end. Minuendo’s frequency response plots illustrate the exaggerated treble rolloff at higher attenuation levels and, in use, it doesn’t feel like a big compromise on clarity. There’s a distinct lack of the muffled and muddy sound characteristic of the foam bullet alternatives. In fact, the high-end roll-off suits high SPL applications. Loud sources like a drum kit, guitar amp, saxophone or lawn mower all sound quite natural at full attenuation – a huge benefit for rehearsing musicians in particular. Impressive indeed.

I have a confession. I have a pair of primo Stealth Sonics nine-transducer moulded IEMs that I don’t use.

I should explain. The Stealth Sonics team, incredibly graciously, offered me a pair. I had the moulds made and a month or two later the set arrived. I was stoked. They fit perfectly and sounded natural and detailed.

A pair of pro IEM moulds from the likes of Stealth Sonics are a huge asset to any musician. They can sound awesome and, even more importantly, they help to guarantee your long-term health of your hearing (by only exposing them to the audio you need to perform and not high levels of extraneous noise). More subtly, IEM moulds make a clear statement to everyone in your performing orbit — I take my sound seriously… please bring your ‘A’ Game when you’re around me.

BREAKING THE MOULDS

IEM moulds have been the gold standard monitoring option for serious musicians for about 25 years now. A properly fitted and moulded IEM blocks as much of the outside world as possible and from there you can spend about as much as you like on the earpiece itself — depending on the number of drivers and the sophistication of the engineering. Moulded IEMs are, by necessity, bespoke and highly personal personal items — a $2000 set is literally useless to anyone other than the owner.

So why are my über-cool nine-driver, carbon fibre-sheathed Stealth Sonics IEMs cooling their heels?

I can’t keep them on the road, pure and simple. I don’t know if I produce more ear wax than anyone else but the balanced armature design of the Stealths with the multiple ports, coupled with the longer ports due to the Stealth Sonics design philosophy of forming the moulds closer to the ear drum (halve the distance to the tympanic membrane and you can halve the level, which is always a good thing), means they’re always clogged, always compromised.

I’ve done my best to maintain them. I’ve had them suctioned-cleaned by an audiologist. But I can’t keep them on the road.

The A10 Earphones are engineered to deliver studio-quality performance for live sound monitoring and critical listening with exceptional imaging and isolation. The A10 features a dynamic, low-mass moving coil assembly and titanium alloy diaphragm with a frequency response of ten octaves and accurate phase coherence due to its point-source design.

The A10X Earphones are designed for the ultimate immersive listening experience. At the heart of the earphone is a dynamic low-mass moving coil assembly and composite beryllium diaphragm. Beryllium, which is fifty percent more rigid than steel and thirty percent less dense than aluminum, is an ideal diaphragm material for delivering clean highs and extended bass.

Both models feature lightweight and durable injection-molded shells which are internally textured and ported for acoustic control and accuracy throughout the frequency range. The included small, medium, and large pairs of silicone ear tips attach securely for optimum comfort and sound isolation. Gold-plated MMCX connectors allow for 360 degrees of rotation for ease of placement. Silver-plated, oxygen-free copper cable is equipped with a reinforced wire wrap near the connector to further ensure that the earphones will stay securely in place.

“Great sound starts with a great driver and the proprietary drivers of the A10 and A10X earphones leverage our decades of dynamic transducer experience,” says Steve Johnson, VP of Sales and Marketing at Audix. “Whether you are on stage or on a plane, the new Audix earphones deliver high-fidelity listening for the most discerning ears.”