As part of the upgrade to the conference hall at its headquarters at the Dubai World Trade Centre, the Government of Dubai Media Office (GDMO) has implemented Sennheiser’s versatile Digital 6000 solution. With hassle-free wireless connectivity and best-in-class audio quality, this professional microphone system offers the flexibility and quality needed to meet the diverse requirements of the high-profile events held at the Hall, which range from internal gatherings and workshops, to public talks and major press conferences.
A significant aspect of the upgrade was the GDMO’s decision to leverage networked audio. Salem Belyouha, Director – Media Services at GDMO said: “Doing so has enabled us to significantly reduce the amount of cabling, simplify interconnectivity, maintenance and troubleshooting, and streamline our technical operations.” This year, Yamaha and Sennheiser collaborated to enable seamless integration between the Yamaha CL and QL series consoles and the Sennheiser Digital 6000. By choosing to leverage these two solutions, GDMO’s Engineering team has gained the ability to control several parameters of the wireless microphone system’s operating menu, and also to monitor RF levels, gains and battery status of the wireless microphones all through the console itself.
Flexibility was one of the main selection criteria for the microphone system as the stage layout and seating arrangements in the conference hall change from event to event. This prompted the decision to utilize a wireless solution. However, as events held at the venue typically result in large numbers of mobile phones being utilized, it was imperative that the system address the GDMO’s concerns regarding RF interference and noise.
Building on its eight-year relationship with Sennheiser, the GDMO decided to install the Digital 6000. Commenting on this decision, Mr. Belyouha said: “Our experience with the Sennheiser team has been fantastic. We have worked with them on numerous projects over the years and they have proven time and time again that we can rely on them to assist with the implementation of our projects with a high level of expertise and professionalism. They supported us long before we issued any formal RFQ, and long after the project was completed.”
Ryan Burr, Head of Technical Sales & Application Engineering, System Solutions at Sennheiser added: “Sennheiser has a long-standing and highly-valued relationship with the Government of Dubai Media Office. It has been very rewarding to see their team develop their understanding and use of Sennheiser solutions and we worked very closely with them to specify the right solution for this application.”
Four EM 6000 DANTE receivers form the backbone of a system that includes three SKM 6000 handheld microphones. Sennheiser customised these handhelds in the GDMO’s corporate colours and provided both a dynamic capsule in the form of the MD 9235 and also the pre-polarised condenser microphone capsule ME 9004, which features the audio specialist’s unique patent-pending shock mount inside the microphone head. The GDMO also selected Sennheiser’s ME 104 cardioid microphone capsule from the modular series of lapel microphones with five SK 6000 bodypack transmitters to provide the best feedback rejection and attenuation of room noise.
The GDMO also opted for Sennheiser’s latest charging solution, the 19” 1RU L 6000 intelligent charging station, that optimally charges the batteries for extended storage periods and has a simple three-colour LED display that provides a quick overview of the charging status. “Extensive details regarding temperature, remaining charging time, run times, charging cycles and battery quality can all be retrieved via the Wireless Systems Manager (WSM), our free of charge professional software solution that also allows the GDMO to remotely set-up and coordinate the frequencies of their wireless microphones,” explained Burr.
The Digital 6000 brings the benefits of the Long Range mode of Sennheiser’s top-of-the-range Digital 9000 system to a two-channel receiver. By eliminating intermodulation, the system enables more channels to operate in less spectrum space, thereby addressing the GDMO’s concerns regarding RF interference. Data security, another critical requirement of the media office is also addressed as the Digital 6000 features switchable AES 256 encryption.
Sharing the positive experience his team has had since the systems upgrade, Belyouha said: “With sound it’s a tricky thing: if something goes wrong and there’s bad sound, people notice and it’s a major disruption to the event. But when everything goes well, and the sound is great, people don’t notice. Since the installation, we found no complaints and that’s a success for us.”
