140 Sennheiser wireless microphones made the Eurovision Song Contest possible

The world's largest live music event consisted of 140 Sennheiser Digital 6000 and 9000 wireless microphones, plus 42 channels of the 2000 Series IEMs with a total of 196 bodypack receivers.

As has become tradition, the Eurovision Song Contest It was a spectacular technical display. In this edition held at the Expo Tel Aviv convention center and broadcast to nearly 180 million viewers, the organization was a partner of the Alquiler company Agorà and RF system experts at Sennheiser who traveled there to help with the deployment of the wireless monitor and microphone system, as well as frequency management and RF monitoring.

The system installed by Agorà and Sennheiser was made up of 140 microphones wireless Digital 6000 y 9000 from Sennheiser, in addition to 42 channels of 2000 series IEM with a total of 196 pocket receivers.

Volker Schmitt, director of Customer Development and Application Engineering, highlights that "the main technical challenge at the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest is that it took place in two pavilions, with a third pavilion from Expo Tel Aviv for the Press Center. The main pavilion, with the stage and its impressive wall of LED screens, had capacity for 7,500 spectators. From here, the performances on stage were transmitted to a second pavilion that housed the Green Room, where another 2,000 spectators could see the contest live on a huge video wall.”

The most delicate phase of frequency planning for Schmitt and his team began in early March with another round of in-situ frequency measurements.

"We checked the occupied frequencies inside and outside the Tel Aviv Expo and compared this data with previous measurements to have a broad basis for our frequency plan. There was quite a bit of activity due to DVB-T transmission, but thanks to the frequency efficiency of Digital 6000 we managed to find space for all the in-ear microphones and headphones. The frequency plan also covered the Press Center, as we wanted to avoid any interference if a journalist with wireless equipment moved to the stage pavilion or to the Green Room,” explains Schmitt.

System configuration

When installing the RF infrastructure in the facility, as always, special attention was paid to the position of the receiver and transmitting antennas. When asked what the biggest challenge has been in this area, Schmitt mentioned the company's video wall. Green Room: "Unlike the spectacular wall of LED panels on the stage, this small video wall emitted a lot of RF noise, so special care had to be taken when placing the antennas to avoid interference. For the interviews in the Green Room with the artists and presenters, we used two A 2003 receiving antennas along with two A 5000-CP to transmit the monitoring signals."

“Another challenge that arose just before one of the live galas was with the dress one of the presenters was wearing,” says Schmitt. "The dress was made with metallic threads, so the transmitter housed under this garment was practically shielded! After a brief talk with the production and wardrobe team, we convinced them that the transmitter should be worn over the dress. Together we quickly came up with the idea of ​​adding a kind of belt to the dress, to which we could fix the presenter's two transmitters."

"When something like this happens just before a gala, things get interesting. In general, a production is usually boring for the team in charge of the venue, because a great effort has been made in preparing the event and everything has been checked to work smoothly before installing the technical infrastructure."

Spectrum monitoring

Any frequency plan must be closely monitored and protected in situ. Despite countless warning signs clearly stating that unauthorized wireless equipment should not be used in any of the Eurovision Song Contest pavilions, 39 users were “intercepted” before their unauthorized wireless equipment could disrupt the dress rehearsals, the semi-finals, the jury gala or the grand final.

In addition to Agorà supplying the Sennheiser wireless system for the stage and Green Room and Kilim providing the system for the Press Center, the Sennheiser Eurovision team brought in some last-minute extras to accommodate special requests.

"We brought headphones specifically for the presenters, to whom we also provided IE 500 PRO in-ear headphones instead of the standard IE 40 PRO. Another extra option was a pair of SKM 9000 for the Russian participants who needed silver microphones. For the same reason, we changed the presenters' microphones to SKM 9000."

As rehearsals began almost four weeks before the final, Sennheiser brought in a team of eight radio frequency experts. “This way we were able to rotate team members,” says Schmitt. "In reality, our team was almost as international as the contest itself, since it was made up of a Dutchman, who was very happy with the victory of his compatriot, two Danes, a Brazilian, a Korean and three Germans. We are very satisfied with the excellent collaboration of the entire production team and, particularly, with the Agorà team."

Sennheiser at Eurovision 2019

• 44 EM 6000 dual-channel microphone receivers
• 48 SK 6000 bodypack transmitters
• 115 Sennheiser headset microphones tailored for performers' and presenters' bodypack transmitters
• 68 SKM 6000 handheld transmitters with MD 9235 capsules for artists
• 16 SKM 9000 COM handheld transmitters with MD 9235 capsules for intercom between production and presenters
• 2 SKM 9000 for Russian participants
• 6 Command KA 9000 COM adapters for packs
• 21 rack-mount L 6000 charging stations with charging modules for SK 6000 and SKM 6000/9000 transmitters
  Wireless in-ear monitoring systems
• 21 SR 2050 IEM dual-channel transmitters
• 4 antenna combiners
• 196 EK 2000 IEM bodypack receivers (including 36 for Madonna)
  Of these equipment, the Green Room and the Press Center used 12 Digital 6000 channels each, with 6 handheld microphones and 6 bodypacks each. 8 channels of the 2000 IEM system were used in the Green Room and 2 channels of the 2000 IEM system in the Press Center.
  Antennas in total
• 15 A 5000-CP
• 14 A 2003
• 12 A 1031
• 1100 meters of low loss RF cable