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Reunited Limp Bizkit Turns to Sennheiser Mics

Limp Bizkit’s frontman, Fred Durst, sings and raps into a Sennheiser SKM 2000 with MMD 935-1 capsule

For some fifteen years, Limp Bizkit has been forging rock, rap, and metal into a unique sound that attacks yet mesmerizes your senses. Early in their career, the group embodied the perfect balance of creative forces that produced their multi-platinum Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water. Now that the original line-up is reunited, the band played a range of festivals, in anticipation of their yet-to-be-released studio album, Gold Cobra, and will hit the road again to play shows in North America, Europe and South America following its release. The band relies on Sennheiser microphones to cut through tremendous stage volume and still deliver the staccato punches they are known for with clarity, impact, and, yes, beauty.

These guys are all on wedges and side-fills. It’s old school with everything set to ‘stun’,” said George Squiers, monitor engineer. “It is no-joke loud up there.” Controversial frontman Fred Durst sings and raps into a Sennheiser SKM 2000 wireless transmitter with an MMD 935-1 cardioid capsule. True to its legend, the 935 successfully cuts through Limp Bizkit’s often thick sound to put Durst out in front. “As a monitor engineer, I have three requirements of a vocal mic,” said Squiers. “I have to be able to make it loud, clean and stable. It was apparent the very first time I pulled the 935 up that it would perform flawlessly on all three counts with only minimal EQ. There were no problems then and there haven’t been problems since.” He reports the same qualities in the two wired Sennheiser e 945 super-cardioids used for backing vocals.

Drummer John Otto’s kit is perhaps best described as sprawling, with double bass drums, two snares, two hi-hats, and enough toms to balance the whole thing out. Squiers and FOH engineer Bryan Worthen agreed on an equally-sprawling Sennheiser evolution series microphone collection to capture them: paired e 901 and 902s deliver each bass drum; separate e 905s cover the snare tops with e 614s on snare bottoms; a bounty of clip-on e 904s capture the toms; and additional e 614s find the sweet sizzle in the hi-hats, ride, and crash cymbals.

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“I don’t struggle with these mics at all,” enthused Squiers. “They have all the right attack and punch. Like the other mics on stage, they are perfectly stable in the face of tremendous SPLs. It’s really nice to have dynamic e 904s on the toms, as I’ve struggled with condensers from other manufacturers that always seem to crackle, pop and hiss. The e 904s deliver that classic tom sound without any of the technical problems that plague other mics. Plus, these mics are so durable. Fred and Wes are both very animated during performance. It doesn’t seem to matter how hard the mics hit the ground – either accidentally or on purpose – they just keep on working.”

Worthen settled on a unique distorted guitar mic combo while working with the Foo Fighters. He pairs a Sennheiser MD 421 II (no surprise yet) with a Sennheiser e 935, a mic that is most frequently used for vocals. “Of course the MD 421 is great and grabs the body of the guitar,” commented Squiers. “The MD 421 is famous for that. The e 935 extends the upper range and sweetens it out. Even at Limp Bizkit’s incredible amp volume, the e 935 holds steady.” For the clean riffs, the team uses only an e 935.

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“Sennheiser’s Global Relations team has been very accommodating,” Squiers said. “They’ve given us the ability to try all kinds of microphones and have been very proactive in making sure we have everything that we need. And I have no doubt that they will respond quickly if things need to be repaired or replaced, but fortunately I have yet to experience that because all of our Sennheiser gear has been working flawlessly since we received it.”

About Sennheiser

The Sennheiser Group, with its headquarters in Wedemark near Hanover, Germany, is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of microphones, headphones and wireless transmission systems. The family-owned company, which was established in 1945, recorded sales of around €390 million in 2009. Sennheiser employs more than 2,100 people worldwide, and has manufacturing plants in Germany, Ireland and the USA. The company is represented worldwide by subsidiaries in France, Great Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark (Nordic), Russia, Hong Kong, India, Singapore, Japan, China, Canada, Mexico and the USA, as well as by long-term trading partners in many other countries. Also part of the Sennheiser Group are Georg Neumann GmbH, Berlin (studio microphones and monitor loudspeakers), and the joint venture Sennheiser Communications A/S (headsets for PCs, offices and call centers). You can find all the latest information on Sennheiser by visiting

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