Sennheiser Lights Up H.O.T. Zone with Wireless Headphones as Hardgroove Brings 'The Silent Jam' to NAMM Show 2015

Interviews and 'Silent Jams' to Include Steve Morse and Jeff 'Skunk' Baxter. End Quote

(1888PressRelease) January 06, 2015 - Anaheim, CA - Audio specialist Sennheiser (NAMM Show 2015: Hall A, Booth 6577) announced that its wireless headphone technology will support the H.O.T. (Hands On Training) Zone this year as Brian Hardgroove hosts 'Silent Jam' at the NAMM Show 2015. Hardgroove (Public Enemy) and host of the radio shows 'Hardgroove's Fuse Box" and "This is Hardgroove", will host the 'Silent Jam in the H.O.T. Zone stage on Friday, January 23, Saturday, January 24th and Sunday, January 25th. David Schwartz of the TEC Award Foundation will serve as producer for each event, which is limited to 140 attendees.

The sessions, which are an hour long and being co-produced by Sennheiser and Impulse Groove Foundation, will feature Steve Morse of Dixie Dregs fame (Friday, 1:00 p.m.) and Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, known for his work with Steely Dan and The Doobie Brothers (Saturday, 12:00 p.m.). Sunday's session at 12:00 p.m. will feature special guests to be announced.
Each session will be broadcast through Sennheiser wireless headphones to 140 attendees and consist of in-depth artist interviews, followed up by an impromptu jam session featuring Hardgroove on bass, Mike Boyko on drums and Robert Muller on keys.

"This event is an extension of the 'From A Whisper To A Dream' band competition we did last summer, during which we used wireless headphones at the suggestion of Sennheiser's Dave Missall," commented Brian Hardgroove, who was inducted into the 2013 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with his band Public Enemy. "It was a huge success there, so Dave asked me to bring it to NAMM and invite some extremely high profile musicians."

On bringing Steve Morse and Jeff 'Skunk' Baxter to the H.O.T. Zone stage, Hardgroove says: "My choices are based on what inspires me. As a kid, I remember Steve Morse and The Dixie Dregs coming to play where I lived - they were so progressive. Meanwhile, Skunk is a guy who can play anything. He can play heavy-hitting rock or the funk and soul like he created these genres."

Longtime IEM engineer Mark Frink will be mixing each of the lunch-time sessions, which will occur in the NAMM H.O.T.Zone's Tec Lab (Room 202 B). Sennheiser RS 120 headphones will be provided for the audience, with the band using Sennheiser EK 2000 IEM wireless monitors and Ultimate Ears custom molds. "I've used Sennheiser IEMs on all my tours and find them very musical," Frink said. "We used the RS 120 headphones for the recent inaugural AES Live Sound Expo in Los Angeles."

Interview content and post-session Q&A will be captured with Sennheiser e 835 wired and wireless dynamic microphones, while all instrumentation is fed into a Yamaha digital console via Radial JDIs. "Sennheiser, Yamaha and Radial and Ultimate Ears have been very supportive of all my recent trade show events," Frink added.

For more information on the H.O.T. Zone, please visit the NAMM Show site at https://www.namm.org/thenammshow/2015/hot-zone-grid; to learn more about Sennheiser, please stop by booth 6577 during the exhibition, or visit www.sennheiserusa.com.
 
The Sennheiser Group based in Wedemark near Hanover, Germany, was founded in 1945 and has gone on to become a leading manufacturer of microphones, headphones and wireless transmission systems. Sales in 2013 totaled 590.4 million euros. Sennheiser employs more than 2,500 staff worldwide and operates plants in Germany, Ireland and the USA. The company has a worldwide network of subsidiaries in France, Great Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Liechtenstein, Germany, Denmark (Nordic), Russia, Hongkong, India, Singapore, Japan, China, Australia and New Zealand, Canada, Mexico, and the USA. It also has long-established trading partners in other countries. Georg Neumann GmbH, Berlin, a maker of studio microphones and monitor speakers, and Sennheiser Communications A/S, a joint venture making headsets for PCs, offices and call centers, are also part of the Sennheiser Group.

More up-to-date information about Sennheiser is available on the internet at www.sennheiser.com.

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