Hand Held Audio were once again asked by Derrick Zieba to handle all of the wireless requirements for the 2003 BRIT Awards which took place at Earls Court in February. The man on the ground looking after RF was Technical Earth's John "Freddo" Fredericks. The event included performances from some of the top names in music entertainment including Justin Timberlake, Avril Lavigne (who had no less than twenty drummers on stage) and Tom Jones who was honoured with a lifetime achievement award. It proved to be an opportunity to put some new radio mics from Sennheiser through their paces.

HHA provided a total of 12 channels of Sennheiser SKM 5000 N, a hand held transmitter which employs the Neumann KK 105 S capsule, six of which were on rotation for the presenters, while the other six were for artist performances. According to Derrick Zieba who has been in charge of all things audio at the BRITs for a decade now, this proved to be a very good choice. "We'd already tried these mics out on the Jubilee and then Fame Academy on presenters Cat Deeley and Patrick Kielty, and our experience suggested that they would be good for speech reinforcement. It then turned out that a number of artists such as Kylie and Avril Lavigne were using them anyway and a few more said they'd like to try, so we ended up with a more or less 50/50 split between Sennheiser and Shure."

Zieba continued, "There's no doubt that the SKM 5000 Ns were a great success for those who used them. They really sound very transparent, very dynamic, and the combination with the line array, especially the EV X-Line we're using here sounds fantastic. The X-Line is a very natural-sounding system, and with a natural-sounding mic like this, you could say it's almost the Holy Grail! After that it's up to the individual engineers. However, it's still a question of horses for courses, and they don't suit everyone. For example, rock and roll artists who use the mic close and go for power are, in my opinion, far more suited to a Shure solution. Tom Jones uses Shure, and for me, that's the right choice."

Other Shure users included Justin Timberlake who had a 12-way Shure PSM700 in-ear system with three in-ear combiners plus two Shure UHF hand held radio microphones, while Tom Jones had three Shure PSM600 in-ear systems with two receivers and an in-ear combiner plus two UHF hand held systems. Notable Sennheiser users included Avril Lavigne who opted for a Sennheiser Evolution 500 Series hand held system, while her twenty (yes twenty!) drummers were all on Evolution 300 in-ear monitors. SKM 5000 N users included Kylie Minogue, the Sugababes and Blue.

Polydor recording artist Daniel Bedingfield has just embarked on a UK tour with wireless systems from Hand Held Audio. Tour manager John Gibbon approached HHA to look after this new artist after being impressed with the service he'd received from the North London radio mic specialists on previous productions such as The Appleton sisters and Jon Bon Jovi. First thing on the agenda were some custom ear monitors. Although HHA had fitted Daniel with a set of Future Sonics in 2002, the singer felt he'd like to try a different "feel" and commisioned a set of Ultimate Ears UE5 Ambient dual driver monitors. These earpieces feature user changeable filters to control levels of ambience and bass response. It was this level of individual control that appealed to Daniel.

During rehearsals in London, John Gibbon was keen for the artist to assess different hand held radio mics and in-ear systems, to determine the best combination available for the tour. After working with a number of systems from various manufacturers the choice of radio mic was the Sennheiser SKM5000 with the Neumann K105 capsule - a choice more and more people seem to be making. Daniel liked the sound of the mic but wasn't so keen on the standard nickel and silver finish so Hand Held got hold of two in a black finish and in a hurry.

Bedingfield also tried the Sennheiser 3000 series in ear system but decided to continue with the Shure PSM600 that he has become used to working with. The Shure system is supplemented with a second belt pack receiver and a remote, directional transmitter antenna.

Hand Held Audio's Nick Bruce-Smith has spent so much time at Music Bank lately that he's thinking of suggesting that Nu Nu creates a small but luxurious hotel within his complex. This is a tribute to the attractions of the Waterloo Sunset rehearsal studios where virually every major production seems to spend some pre production time. Nick has been visiting to refine sales and hire packages to various major artists and also to offer consultation on in-ear monitoring and hearing protection issues.

Simply Red were there in February having equipped themselves with radio mics from Hand Held. On two of several visits Nick was able to spend some time with Massive Attack helping them with some advice on in-ear monitoring. Later on in the month Tom Jones was also in the studios rehearsing for the Brits and as part of HHA's umbrella portfolio for that event Nick was again in SE16! But the busiest visit was just the other day when Nick's prescence was required with the Westlife, Mark Knopfler and S Club. "That threw me a bit" said Nick, "not least because I thought there were only two studios." Time for the hotel?

Annie Lennox at The Forum

Following rehearsals in the Depot, Annie Lennox made a triumphant return to the stage in front of an invited "friends & family" audience at The Forum in North London. If the performance and production values of this preview are anything to go by, this is going to be a very successful tour. The star was in great vocal form, seamlessy changing gear from slower tracks where her emotionally charged delivery had the crowd mesmerised, to displays of controlled power in numbers such as Missionary Man and Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves.

Tim Paterson who is Monitor Engineer for the tour asked Hand Held Audio to make up custom Future Sonics ear monitors for Annie and himself. Judging from the performance at The Forum they are doing an excellent job. After the show Tim was busy with the load-out and unable to comment but the consensus amongst a number of engineers who were at the show was that the type of vocal performance they'd just witnessed was only possible with excellent monitoring.