FRISCO, TX – The 60th Academy of Country Music (ACM) Awards took place May 8 at the Ford Center at the Star in Frisco, TX. ATK/Clair Global supported the event with 28 channels of Axient Digital Receivers and 32 channels of PSM1000 along with 120 beltpacks.
Reba McEntire, who returned as host and also performed during the ceremony, was among the more than 20 artists who chose Axient Digital handheld transmitters for their live performances within the venue, a 12,000-capacity practice facility for the Dallas Cowboys. She spoke and sang into a custom blinged AD2/N8/S Nexadyne capsule.
Others performing with Shure Axient Digital handhelds included Ella Langley, who headed into the ceremony with the most nominations (7) and left with the most wins (5); and Lainey Wilson, whose four wins included Entertainer of the Year, Album of the Year (Whirlwind), Female Artist of the Year and Artist-Songwriter of the Year.
Rascall Flatts’ band members also relied on Shure’s Axient Digital handhelds, with lead singer Gary LeVox using a nickel-plated AD2/SM58 combo and bandmates Jay DeMarcus and Joe Don Rooney opted for SM39 headsets. “We’ve had great success with the SM39 headsets on the road,” noted Stuart Delk, monitor engineer for Rascal Flatts. “They sound like an SM58, and it’s the first headset I’ve been able to dial up a great mix in a wedge with.”
Along with their Axient Digital handheld transmitters, Zach Top and Wynonna Judd both performed with Shure KSM9 capsules. Megan Moroney used her own blinged AD2/SM58, while Chris Stapleton opted for a tried-and-true 40-year-old SM58 wired microphone.
Alan Jackson also took the traditional route with a wired Beta 58A. And Little Big Town band members also performed with Shure, with Karen Fairchild and Phillip Sweet singing into Nexadyne 8/S capsules as Jimi Westbrook relied on an SM58 and Kimberly Schlapman performed with a KSM11.
Rounding out the roster of artists using Axient Digital handhelds were Miranda Lambert, Eric Church, Keith Urban, Brooks & Dunn, Clint Black, Dan+Shay, LeAnn Rimes and Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland.
Along with this plethora of Shure vocal mics, music mixer Eric Schilling also credited Shure’s instrument mics. “I’ve been using the NXN6’s in the studio and on other live projects,” Schilling said. “The low-end response and separation I get on toms and congas is wonderful,” he added, of the NXN6, one of Shure’s new mics with Revonic dual-engine transducer technology.
Schilling was joined backstage music mixer Biff Dawes and other audio crew members including audio coordinator Michael Abbott, production mixer J. Mark King, house FOH mixer Jeff Peterson, house production mixer Barry Warrick, monitor engineers Tom Pesa and Arango Andres and RF coordinator Steven Vaughn (from Soundtronics).
For more info from Shure, go to www.shure.com
