Sennheiser and House of Blues Renew Agreement

	Pierre Rochman, production manager of House of Blues - Anaheim, with his Sennheiser wireless microphones. Photo: House of Blues Entertainment

Audio specialist Sennheiser and the House of Blues, the iconic chain of high-quality performance venues, announced that they have renewed their alliance. Sennheiser will continue to support the House of Blues with premium microphones and wireless solutions at each of its 13 locations across the United States.

Since the two companies began collaborating over five years ago, the House of Blues has experienced increased level of audio quality, flexibility, and durability within its audio equipment arsenal at each of its locations. Currently, the House of Blues is using a full line of wired evolution microphones, evolution wireless G3 microphone systems, and evolution wireless G3 monitoring systems at each of its venues.

Kristy Jo Winkler, relations manager, Americas, global sales of Sennheiser, commented: "We are pleased to continue our longstanding relationship with the House of Blues. By supporting each of its venues in so many different ways, Sennheiser is helping contribute to the unique brand the House of Blues has established. Each of their locations has a reputation as a great performance environment to hear the hottest acts in live music with the best engineering talent and the best microphones and wireless equipment available."

"The relationship between House of Blues and Sennheiser is truly harmonious," says Dan Schartoff, VP production, House of Blues. "There is shared passion for providing the best quality of sound and overall audio experience. Indeed, Sennheiser's microphones have been part of many amazing and historic shows at our venues."

Pierre Rochman, production manager of House of Blues - Anaheim, says that the Sennheiser evolution microphone series continues to deliver -- especially when it comes to reliability. "We are doing 200 shows and events in a year at each location easily," he says. "Yesterday we ran seven bands on the bill, today we're going to run five and tomorrow we're going to run six -- it's relentless and punishing. The evolution hard-wired microphones really stand up to the abuse. And in the rare case where we need a repair, Sennheiser has been very fast and responsive."

The House of Blues, which has served as a host to A-list touring acts as well emerging artists, also appreciates the sonic flexibility and predictability of the evolution microphones. "Even though we host artists at a national level who already own Sennheiser equipment, we also host a ton of emerging artists who do not have a mic package of any kind," states Rochman. "With our Sennheiser microphone package, we are able to introduce these artists and their engineers to high-quality audio. Whereas they might go on a stage and see a competitor's product elsewhere, they come in here, get in front of an e 835 or e 935 wired microphone and experience great sound and great rejection. They remember these experiences and carry them throughout their career."

Each of the 13 House of Blues locations has an equipment package consisting of Sennheiser's evolution series wired microphones, its evolution wireless systems as well as an array of professional headphones and classic legacy mics such as the MD 421-II. This equipment provides its performance spaces large and small with the ultimate in sonic flexibility. "With so many artists coming in and out on each of our different stages, we need to be able to quickly recognize what each artist is trying to accomplish and reproduce that sonically," Rochman notes. "I usually have about 15 minutes to get up at front of house and make that happen, and the Sennheiser evolution microphones give us plenty of latitude to do that -- no matter what the genre the performance is in."

Rochman is particularly fond of the e 906, which he says is now the "go-to" microphone for amplifiers. "The e 906 gives us a much broader frequency response, and the filter switching makes it more flexible than other mics if I have to cut or boost, depending on the signal I'm getting out of the amplifier."

As a premiere national live performance venue, the House of Blues takes a great deal of pride in the sound quality it offers at each of its locations, something they work hard at maintaining each day. "Many of our engineers would never work here unless we were able to offer quality equipment, like Sennheiser," Rochman concludes. "We've got engineers that are touring with A-list acts, but this is their 'home' because we have great microphones, a great sounding PA and of course because we book great artists into the rooms. We appreciate the Sennheiser relationship so we can continue to service the artists to create the best possible show."