International. From the opening to the last award of the evening, for Kacey Musgraves for Album of the Year, Shure wireless equipment was chosen by the professionals in charge of audio and by most of the artists who performed at the 61st edition of the Grammy Awards broadcast live on CBS, from the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
The Grammy production team suggested to all artists that they use the microphones they are most comfortable with, knowing that this freedom helps to achieve the best performances. Most of the show's 18 music productions used Axient Digital wireless systems, demonstrating remarkable industry acceptance of this innovative product, which was launched less than two years ago.
The broadcast of the 2019 Grammys was a very ambitious task and executed with great precision by the team of veteran engineers and technicians of Audio Coordinator Michael Abbott. Among the most important suppliers was ATK Audiotek, in charge of the design and implementation of the sound system. ATK again hired Soundtronics RF expert Steve Vaughn, who was in charge of the wireless system design and frequency coordination.
The production mixer for the broadcast was Tom Holmes, who worked with music mixes by Eric Schilling and John Harris on Music Mix Mobile's remote trucks. Inside Staples Center, THE FOH tables featured Mikael Stewart in charge of the production mix and Ron Reaves mixing music for the live audience.
Notable performances include the tribute to Dolly Parton, MusiCares' Person of the Year, who used an Axient Digital AD2 with SM58 microphone capsule in a medley of classic country songs. Parton was joined on stage by Shure's sponsor artists Kacey Musgraves (Beta 58A), Maren Morris (SM58) and Little Big Town (Beta 87, Beta 58A and SM58), all using custom white AD2 wireless microphones, plus Miley Cyrus and Katy Perry.
Another highlight of the evening was the segment dedicated to the iconic Motown label. Shure-sponsored artist Jennifer Lopez used her custom Axient AXT200 with KSM8 and was in charge of a tribute to motown classics, alongside Smokey Robinson and Ne-Yo, who used Axient Digital. Diana Ross used an AD2/KSM9 combination in her hectic medley, while the Chloe x Halle duo used the AD2/Beta 58A for their tribute to the great Donny Hathaway. Another moving performance was that of the trio of Andra Day, Fantasia and Yolanda Adams, who sang "You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman", all using wireless AD2 microphones.
Alicia Keys, who was first in charge of the presentation, was widely praised for her inclusive and welcoming tone during the event. She opted for her usual Shure UR2 wireless microphone, both for the on-stage announcements and for her unparalleled performance with double piano, a personal musical mix of various genres, which she summed up as "the songs I would have liked to write". Keys not only used Shure wireless microphones and a personal monitoring system with PSM 1000 in-ear headphones, but also used dual Beta 181 condenser microphones on his grand pianos.
Shure products also predominated in several other critical, though less visible, applications, such as multiple wireless guitars and many instrument microphones. Behind the scenes, monitoring mix engineers Mike Parker and Tom Pesa used the industry-standard PSM 1000 personal monitoring system for each of the wireless channels on stage. A total of 24 transmitting channels were used, which powered 106 P10R body receivers. They also had 12 P9HW and 24 P6HW systems for in-ear hearing aids. As if all this were not enough, the microphone on the podium was reinforced by two Shure UR1 body transmitters.
With so much use of wireless technology, the design of the antenna system and frequency coordination were instrumental in ensuring flawless operation. Burbank-based Soundtronics was in charge of those risky tasks, under the supervision of Steve Vaughn.
