LOS ANGELES – The American Music Awards included performances by Sennheiser artists Shakira, Alicia Keys, the Black Eyed Peas, Rihanna, Jennifer Lopez, Eminem, 50 Cent and Nelly Furtado. ATK Audiotek provided audio for the show, broadcast on ABC from the Nokia Theater at L.A. Live.
The Black Eyed Peas also picked up a pair of awards during the night, for Favorite Band, Duo or Group in both the Pop/Rock and Soul/R&B categories. American Music Awards nominees are determined by radio airplay and retail sales, and the winners are decided by the online votes of members of the public.
According to monitor engineer Mike Parker of ATK Audiotek, 16 channels of Sennheiser wireless personal monitors were available, eight G2 channels on the A stage and eight channels of EK 3256 on the B stage, with 16 Sennheiser IEM receiver packs also at each location. "J-Lo, Alicia Keys, Lady Gaga, Carrie Underwood, Black Eyed Peas, Janet Jackson, Shakira, Adam Lambert, Mary J. Blige, Keith Urban – everyone used Sennheiser," he noted. "There were no other wireless ears there. And the only artist who didn't use any ears that I know of was Whitney Houston."
Shakira used a Sennheiser SKM 3072 wireless handheld transmitter combined with an ME 3005e super-cardioid condenser capsule for "Give It Up To Me." Alicia Keys used the SKM 5200 with a Neumann KK 105 capsule for "Try Sleeping With a Broken Heart" and, at the piano alongside Jay-Z, for their "Empire State Of Mind" duet. Rihanna previewed two songs – "Wait Your Turn" and "Hard" – from her new album, Rated R, using an SKM 5200 topped with the MD 5235 capsule.
The Black Eyed Peas used Sennheiser SKM 935 G2 wireless vocal mics for "Meet Me Halfway" and "Boom Boom Pow." The SKM 935 G2 made another appearance near the end of the show when Nelly Furtado used the RF mic for her guest vocal on a performance of Timbaland's "Morning After Dark," which also featured SoShy.
Custom Sennheiser microphones were also seen and heard. Jennifer Lopez fronted a crew of dancers dressed as boxers for a rendition of her ode to expensive footwear, "Louboutins," with her custom gold-finish SKM 2000 wireless handheld outfitted with the MMD 935 capsule. Eminem took to the stage with guest 50 Cent for "Crack A Bottle" from Eminem's latest album, Relapse, with both rappers using custom chrome SKM 5200 handhelds outfitted with MD 5235 capsules, which offer frequency-dependent directivity.
SKM 5200 handhelds with Neumann KK 105 capsules were also on hand for the numerous presenters on the show, who included film actors Samuel L. Jackson, Nicole Kidman and Christian Slater, plus artists from a variety of musical genres, including Reba McEntire, Snoop Dogg and Melissa Etheridge.
ABC officials reported that an audience of 14.2 million watched the awards show, two million more than last year and the largest audience since 2002.
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PHOTO CREDIT: © 2009 Getty Images
