West Hollywood landmark Larrabee Studios, the legendary studio founded by Carole King and Gerry Goffin, is seeing a different kind of recording artist as the new karaoke bar Mic Drop. For founders Leo and Oliver Kremer, a professional musician himself, the building’s history was a technical mandate. The Kremer brothers teamed with the engineers at Pineapple Audio to create the technical backbone, powered by the Sennheiser EW-DX digital wireless system.
“When we learned about the Larrabee connection, we knew we had to live up to that legacy of recording-studio sound,” Leo Kremer says. The former bass player for Third Eye Blind, Kremer wanted to kill off the thin, distorted sound that usually defines karaoke. He envisioned “Art Disco” — a vibe that’s equal parts 1920s glamour and 1970s glitz.
With thirty wireless channels running at the same time across thirteen private suites and a main stage, consultant Matt Edgar of Pineapple Audio noted that the main hurdle was delivering acoustic separation while keeping that high-end studio feel across a 6,000-square-foot floor plan.
“Each room acts as its own controlled environment,” Edgar explains. “We wanted guests to get the same performance they’d expect in a professional studio, no matter where they are in the venue.” The EW-DX was ideal for purpose. The system features an ultra-low 1.9 ms latency, which is the difference between a singer feeling “in the pocket” or feeling a distracting delay in their monitors.
Managing thirty channels in the middle of West Hollywood has the potential to become an RF nightmare. Edgar’s team utilized Sennheiser’s Wireless Systems Manager (WSM) software to perform floor-by-floor environmental scans and assigned frequencies with surgical precision from the centralized receiver.
“The EW-DX system uses an equidistant frequency grid,” says Edgar. “It makes coordination way simpler because it gives us consistent audio across every channel without intermodulation risks. We used Sennheiser Control Cockpit for the initial naming and network setup, but now we handle the ongoing management through remote monitoring.” On the operational side, Mic Drop uses CHG 70N network-enabled chargers. When a group leaves a suite, the handhelds go right back into the docks to top off the BA 70 rechargeable batteries. This allows the staff to monitor battery health from the front desk.
At Mic Drop, the gear is part of the art. The venue uses bespoke, goldplated Sennheiser microphones that stand out against the burgundy and midnight blue walls. These aren’t just for show; they’re the primary connection between the singer and the stage. Oliver Kremer says. “You feel the weight,” Oliver Kramer says. “You feel the power the second you grab it. It changes how you perform.”
That love for the hardware is even built into the ceiling. The room’s centerpiece is a functioning disco ball sculpted as a 30,000-tile replica of the Sennheiser e 835 mic dubbed the “Macrophone.”
