LOS ANGELES — With the longest roster yet in the number of live performers taking the stage at Staples Center, the 51st annual Grammy Awards gave microphone manufacturers at least a 25 percent increase in bragging rights as the 3.5-hour production mixed musical genres and wound its way through an array of duets, collaborations and solo performances — including the last-minute pairing of Justin Timberlake and Al Green to fill a void left in the lineup by the absence of both Rihanna and Chris Brown.
ATK AudioTek provided the sound system for this year’s event with FOH engineers Ron Reaves and Mikael Stewart. Phil Ramone and Hank Neuberger supervised the broadcast audio. John Harris and Eric Schilling mixed the music in the XM Productions/Effanel Music remote truck and Tom Holmes handling the television production mix in the NEP Denali Summit HD remote truck for the 19 million viewers at home — a 10 percent ratings gain over 2008. CBS once again used 1,080-line resolution HDTV 5.1-channel surround sound for the telecast.
Audio-Technica supplied over 250 of its microphones at the event, including an array of hard-wired mics and Artist Elite 5000 Series UHF Wireless Systems. Timberlake, pictured here, performed with Audio-Technica's AEW-T4100 cardioid dynamic microphone/transmitter.
Other artists who performed using Audio-Technica’s Artist Elite 5000 Series UHF Wireless System, with the AEW-T5400 handheld microphone/transmitter and AEW-R5200 receiver, included Jay-Z, Taylor Swift, Estelle, T.I., Lil Wayne, Stevie Wonder, Boyz II Men, Al Green, Jamie Foxx, Duke Fakir and Ne-Yo.
Audio-Technica endorser Kenny Chesney used a wired A-T AE3300 Cardioid Condenser Handheld Microphone, and Thom Yorke of Radiohead used the AE5400 Cardioid Condenser Microphone.
The backline mic complement of A-T wired microphones included AE5400 cardioid condenser handheld microphone for backing vocals; AT4050 multi-pattern condenser microphone for guitar cabinet and overheads; AT4040 cardioid condenser microphone for overheads; AE5100 cardioid condenser instrument microphone for ride cymbal, hi-hat, and percussion; ATM250 Hypercardioid dynamic instrument microphone for Leslie cabinet and guitar cabinet; BP4025 X/Y stereo field recording microphone for percussion; AE2500 dual-element cardioid instrument microphone for kick drum; AT4047/SV cardioid condenser microphone for guitar cabinet; ATM450 cardioid condenser instrument microphone for ride cymbal; and ATM350 cardioid condenser clip-on microphone for horns, congas and strings.
“We are honored to have two great ambassadors of their respective genres displaying AKG products at an event such as the Grammys,” said Nick Owen, AKG vice president of sales, referring to Kanye West and Neil Diamond, who used AKG wireless audio for the awards ceremony and for related events.
Neil Diamond kicked off the weekend of Grammy events with a gala tribute with 2,200 guests at the Los Angeles Convention Center, where two WMS4500 wireless systems supported by D5 microphones provided audio. Diamond was honored as the 2009 MusiCares Person of the Year at the 19th annual gala and was on stage with Grammy winners including Adele, Eric Benet, Terrence Blanchard, Coldplay, the Foo Fighters, Josh Groban, Jennifer Hudson, Tim McGraw and others.
In addition to the WMS4500 wireless microphone systems, AKG, a unit of Harman International Industries, Inc., had its wired microphones at the Grammys, including eight C414, two D112, five D40 microphone systems, six D5 handheld vocal mics, five C430 condenser, six 518M micro series and seven PCC170 Crown Boundary microphones.
Artists using Sennheiser gear also showed up in force, including four of the five nominees for Best New Artist. With those kinds of odds, it wasn’t a shock when the eventual winner for that category — U.K.-based singer/songwriter Adele, who also won a Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance — was a Sennheiser-endorsed artist. During the show, she used a Neumann KMS 105 nickel-plated wired vocal microphone for her brand of “heartbroken soul.”
Sennheiser gear — SKM 5200 RF handheld vocal mics outfitted with MD 5235 capsules and wired evolution e 935s for background vocals, to be precise — also provided an assist for the Jonas Brothers’ performance of “Burning Up” and Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition.”
Other Sennheiser-endorsed artists winning awards at the Grammys included Tom Petty, Kings of Leon and Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder, and an array of Sennheiser and Neumann wired microphones were featured onstage for the 30 songs featured in 22 setups during the course of “Music’s Biggest Night.”
There were over 40 evolution series e 602 II and two dozen e 604 wired mics for drums and percussion, plus eight each of MKH 8040 and MKH 416 model shotgun mics. In addition, the show was equipped with Neumann TLM 103, TLM 49 and KM 184 instrument mics. Sennheiser e 906 and MD 421 II and Neumann KM 184 microphones were also featured.
“Every kick drum and floor tom at the Grammys was miked with a Sennheiser evolution 602,” said John Harris, music mixer, who called it the “punchiest drum microphone out there.” For drum ambience and the horn section, Harris added, “I used the Sennheiser MKH 8040s. I was also glad to have the Sennheiser MD 421s on U2s rack toms,” Harris said.
Shure was also present and accounted for at the 51st Grammys, kicking things off when Bono stepped into the spotlight using a Shure UHF-R wireless microphone equipped with an SM58 capsule for “Get on Your Boots,” a track from U2’s forthcoming album.
UHF-R continued to cut a wide swath across the wireless frequency spectrum throughout the evening, with a combination of SM58 and KSM9 handheld transmitters chosen by a performers including Jennifer Hudson, Coldplay, Kid Rock, Carrie Underwood, John Mayer, B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Keith Urban, M.I.A., T.I., Kanye West, and Jay-Z.
With frequency coordination provided by Dave Bellamy of Burbank-based Soundtronics Wireless, the Grammy telecast operated 50 RF channels within the cavernous Staples Center. Out of 28 wireless channels dedicated to the 23 musical acts that performed live, 12 were occupied by Shure.
"There are few shows I know of that have a capacity for this amount of RF usage going on at one time," noted Grammys audio coordinator Michael Abbott, who spoke favorably of products from both Audio-Technica, which he called “consistent and dependable,” and Shure, which he called “my ace-in-the-hole.”
Shure’s hardwired mics were also used for the show, including its SM58, used by Alison Krauss, Robert Plant and Stevie Wonder. In addition, Sir Paul McCartney used a Beta 58 for his performance. Perhaps as a result of their continued reliability, the hardwired option doesn’t appear to be ready to vanish anytime soon.
"We probably averaged 30 to 40 inputs per act," FOH music mixer Ron Reaves noted. "In each case, a majority of the mics were hardwired. Vocals were still dominated by RF microphones, but in my opinion, we're starting to see a trend emerge on these shows where there's a little more wire than in the past. Maybe we're trying to condition ourselves to changing conditions within the spectrum, but clearly anything at this event that didn't have to be mobile was stuck on a wire."
Reaves also noted, however, that “there were absolutely no RF failures that I was aware of. If there were any issues, from out front we didn't notice them. The performances went on without a problem. This job is just a joy. In spite of all the enormous logistics and grueling schedule, I had the pleasure of mixing for 23 of the hottest acts on the planet. This was a big moment for them, too. Nobody phones it in for the Grammys."
For more information, please visit www.audio-technica.com, www.harman.com, www.sennheiserusa.com and www.shure.com.
