The festivals included events in Belgium, Corsica, France, Hungary, Portugal, Romania, Spain and Switzerland. Mika and his band had an array of Sennheiser equipment on stage and Front of House engineer Craig Pryde took the opportunity to put the new MK4 through its paces.
"I've used Sennheiser for a long time and I use their equipment with other artists, including Alexandra Burke and The Last Shadow Puppets," says Pryde. "I was looking for a large diaphragm condenser mic and so I approached Sennheiser UK's Mark Saunders, who suggested that I try the MK4."
Pryde used two MK4s on guitars. "They have a very smooth high pattern, but still have a great fat sound for guitars," he says. "I did some A/B tests with the MK4 against another type of large format condenser mic and the Sennheiser came out very favourably. At the time I didn't know the cost of the MK4, it was only later that I discovered that it was half the price of the one I was testing it against. It is exceptionally good value."
As well as the MK4s, Sennheiser equipment on the shows included Mika's SKM 5200 with KK 105 head for lead vocals, SKM 935-500 G3s for backing vocals, ew 300 in ear monitors and an array of evolution 900 series wired mics, including the e901,e 902, e904, e906, e914 and Neumann 184s on drums / backline.
(Jim Evans)
