Sennheiser Partners with Opry Entertainment Group, Owners of Blake Shelton’s Ole Red Venue Chain

Nashville, TN, October 29, 2024 – Sennheiser is proud to announce its partnership with Opry Entertainment Group (OEG), owners of Blake Shelton’s Ole Red restaurant and music venue. With its first location open in 2017 in Tishomingo, OK and its latest location opening in Las Vegas earlier this year, the venue has been serving up the best in emerging country music talent ever since. In addition to live musical performances with spectacular sound from Sennheiser, venue goers also frequent the space for its full bar and classic southern cuisine.

Through a partnership that began last year, OEG and Sennheiser have worked to impart a premier audio experience for both artists and fans. Ole Red’s locations in Nashville, Gatlinburg, Orlando, and Las Vegas feature a full complement of Sennheiser equipment, enabling each venue to deliver dependable, top-notch quality night after night. The venues are outfitted with wireless systems, in-ear monitors, receivers and transmitters, plus several microphones like the SKM 6000, E904, E914, E945, E835, MKE 600, MD 421 II, and much more.

“The Sennheiser partnership has literally established Ole Red as the leader in every market we operate in,” says Andy Roy, Assistant Director, Production & Technical Services at OEG.

The best in talent and sound quality

Matthew Cox, Production Manager and Audio-Visual Engineer at Ole Red Nashville, says that the integration of the Sennheiser gear has been seamless and has resulted in a measurable difference in quality and sonic performance: "I’m a longtime user of Sennheiser, particularly on the wireless stuff," he says. "It was important for us to set a higher standard on what is mainly an acoustic stage. We have four channels of the Sennheiser XSW IEM systems and EW-D mics for our rooftop stage. They are very user friendly and easy to operate. Meanwhile, the Sennheiser e935 are our go-to capsules and give us a consistent sound across both our wired and wireless mics.

Cox and his team routinely depend on Sennheiser's Wireless System Manager software to manage frequency coordination: "Getting this part right is very important," he says. "We are located on Broadway, where there are a lot of competing frequencies from neighbouring venues. The WSM app really helps us manage RF congestion, since pretty much up and down for five blocks you have honky-tonks, and then the Bridgestone Arena and Nissan Stadium also nearby."

Its Broadway location and Airport location, both in Nashville, TN, is particularly a hotbed of up-and-coming talent, with musician Aliyah Good being one of the many gifted artists to regularly appear at both venues. She's been performing there since 2019 as an acoustic-based duo with her father, Rodney Good.

"I wanted to perform at Ole Red because it is one of the best venues on Broadway," she says. "When I got the call to do my first show and began performing there, it was really exciting for me. I started just by playing at the rooftop, and then began playing at the downstairs stage." Now, her performances alternate between the Broadway venue's rooftop which is outfitted with Sennheiser’s EW-D wireless microphone systems and the main stage, which is powered by Sennheiser’s Digital 6000 and 2000 Series in-ear monitors. Good also performs at Nashville’s Airport location, which exclusively uses Sennheiser E935 wired microphones.

According to Cox, the new sound system in Nashville has been a success among both audience members and artists: "We get a lot of compliments on the professional quality of our gear that is available for people to use on a regular basis," he says. "Offering the artists such high quality gear really sets us apart from the other venues in town."

Good finds it inspiring to have her performances captured with superior grade audio: "Ole Red has one of the best sound systems, and they have the very best audio engineers," she says. "The live sound team is amazing - they are all smart, super accommodating and very knowledgeable about all of the equipment they are working with."

A fundamental element of Ole Red's sound is the Sennheiser e935 wireless system. Good says that this makes a huge difference - particularly during acoustic performances: "A big concern, especially if you are an acoustic duo, is that the voice can get lost when combined with the guitar. Sennheiser microphones are different because they really make my voice have its own space in the mix - both for the audience, and also for me when I am monitoring." She says a key sound characteristic of the e935 system is that it is very detailed: "You can hear the enunciation of all the words, and this is really very important."

Artists who perform at the iconic Ole Red venues are excited to use Sennheiser gear that is known to be consistent and reliable. Good attests to this, as an appreciation for the brand runs in her artistic family: "My dad has always been a Sennheiser person, and as long as I can remember, we’ve been using Sennheiser — they just work perfectly." Whether performing at Ole Red's Broadway location or at the airport, the mics continue to perform reliably, night after night: "I’ve never had any issues or dropouts, and technically, the system it has been really solid," Aliyah says. ​

Learn more about Ole Red's venues across the U.S. here: olered.com.

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