LOS ANGELES, CA – For the 97th Academy Awards ceremony, which took place March 2 at Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre, the audio team relied on Shure gear including TwinPlex lavalier microphones and Axient Digital wireless systems as Oscars were presented in 23 categories to honor films released in 2024.
Raj Kapoor and Katy Mullan returned as executive producers of the event, which was hosted by Conan O’Brien for the first time. Audio crew members included A1 broadcast Paul Sandweiss, music mixer Biff Dawes, orchestra mixer Tommy Vicari, monitor mixer Michael Parker, orchestra monitor mixer Tom Pesa, FOH mixer Patrick Batzell and RF frequency coordinator Steve Vaughn.
Along with host O’Brien singing “I Won’t Waste Time” and the orchestra, musical performers included Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande and Queen Latifah performing elements from The Wizard of Oz, The Wiz and Wicked and Blackpink’s Lisa, Doja Cat and Raye performing songs associated with James Bond movies. Erivo performed with Shure’s ADX2/KSM9; Doja Cat sang into a custom chrome ADX2FD/N8S; and Lisa and Queen Latifah both used Shure’s ADX2 wireless mic transmitters.
Jeremy Peters, monitor engineer for Doja Cat, credited Shure’s Nexadyne microphone for its ability to capture “the full spectrum of Doja Cat’s vocal abilities, from her softer rapping to her powerful, belted notes. It’s great that the mic can handle such a wide range of dynamics, which is essential for a versatile performer like her,” he added.
Along with the musical numbers, audio success at the Oscars ceremony hinges largely on intelligibility of the spoken word. “Live dialogue is a huge component on the annual Oscars show,” noted Paul Sandweiss, audio engineer and broadcast mixer for the event. “Much of the dialogue comes from movie soundtrack playbacks, and when we cut back and forth to our live talent on stage, we needed to have as present and clean dialogue as possible for our in-house audience and viewers worldwide.”
Sandweiss noted that Shure gear played a key role in achieving those goals. “We used Shure’s TwinPlex lavalier microphones on all the talent as needed for dialogue that seamlessly integrates into the broadcast. For the in-house audience we used Q5X PlayerMic Radio transmitters and Axient Digital receivers.”
Another critical factor was guarding against wireless dropouts. “Having the wireless reliability of the whole Shure system ensures us of flawless performance throughout the almost four-hour live event,” Sandweiss said. “Also having onsite support from the amazing Shure engineering team is excellent for our engineering staff and well appreciated.”
Steve Vaughn, RF frequency coordinator for the ceremony, agreed. “For an event as significant and challenging as the Oscars, everything has to work seamlessly. Shure’s wireless systems, especially the Q5X Axient Digital-enabled PlayerMic, proved to be the perfect choice. The PlayerMic is not only flexible and nearly indestructible but also discreet and comfortable for performers, making it easy to integrate seamlessly into multiple performances. Combined with Axient Digital’s dependable and secure audio transmission, it ensured exceptional sound quality throughout the night.”
Along with Harris Elff Audio Resources (HEAR), which mixed the artists performing before nearly 20 million viewers and streamers on ABC and Hulu, Soundtronics provided the mic and RF antenna infrastructure for the event. Shure reported that the audio setup included 10 channels of PSM 1000 for IEMs used for all the musical numbers. The podiums were miked with six ADX3 Axient Digital plug-on transmitters with ShowLink. There were also 18 Q5X Axient Digital-enabled PlayerMics with TwinPlex TL47 lavaliers in use along with eight AD4Q Axient Digital four-channel digital wireless receivers and one AD4D Axient Digital two-channel digital wireless receiver in use.
