BB King’s Blues Club Installs AKG For True Connection With The Crowd At High-Energy Nashville Club
“A big part of our show is about making that connection with the people you’re playing to. We chose the AKG MicroMic C 519 miniature microphones because the horn players like to come out into the crowd and dance around the club,” said Catoe. “They’re heavy duty mics and they’re good and rugged for repetitive use.”
NORTHRIDGE, California, August 10, 2007 — Matching the celebrated performances of the club’s namesake, BB King’s Blues Club in Nashville, TN recently installed a collection of AKG MicroMic and WMS 40 PRO wireless microphones to compliment their Harman system of JBL speakers and monitors, Crown amplifiers, Soundcraft mixing boards, and dbx equalizers and compressors already in use at the legendary blues club. The club opened on September 11, 2003 with the Harman systems on the main and basement stages. AKG became an integral part of establishing an enthusiastic atmosphere and connection with the crowd at BB King’s in the end of 2005.
Lee Catoe, founder and head of TLC Engineering in Nashville, is production director at BB King’s and is frequently asked about what kind of microphones he uses. “I’m always happy to say, “I’m using AKG!’” said Catoe. “AKG has a really excellent product, as do the other Harman brands.”
Catoe worked with AKG’s Gary Gunn to install three WMS 40 Flexx wireless systems using the new MicroMic C 519 microphone for instruments; the new MicroMic C 518 for the drums and MicroMic C 516 for micing speaker cabinets. Also on stage are the new AKG D5s for vocals and a D112 for the kick drum.
“A big part of the show is about making that connection with the people you’re playing to,” explained Catoe. “If you can connect with them, they’ll stick around and probably come back again.”
The new AKG MicroMic C 519 miniature clip-on condenser microphones are used by the three horn players in the house band. “We got those because the horn players like to come out into the crowd and dance around the club,” said Catoe. “They put on a really good show.”
“The AKG 519s are excellent horn mics,” he continued. “They’re heavy duty and they’re good and rugged for repetitive use. It’s more of a true-tone mic. The AKG D5 also has a true tone and clarity.”
BB King’s is currently poised for tremendous growth -- and AKG along with it. In addition to the BB King’s Blues Clubs in Nashville, Memphis, and Los Angeles, another BB King’s is about to open in Orlando in late August, followed by one in Las Vegas in December and one in Chicago next summer. “The club is growing exponentially,” said Catoe. “As a result, it puts AKG out there in an excellent environment that draws a lot of music lovers.”
“I do appreciate AKG, Gary Gunn and Mike Torlone (also of AKG)” said Catoe. “They’ve been very helpful to me and they have nothing but my utmost respect and praise.”