Los Angeles, CA (February 15, 2023)—This year’s Grammy Awards returned to Los Angeles’s Crypto.com Arena for the first time in years, serving up another round of performances by music legends and up-and-comers alike, many of which made use of Shure wireless audio technology in the process.
Shure Axient Digital wireless microphones in many performances, and by host Trevor Noah. Likewise, nearly every performance implemented Shure PSM 1000 in-ear monitoring systems, totaling 28 channels, with 160 Shure P10R bodypacks. Overall, this year’s Grammy Awards made use of 59 channels of Shure wireless.
The entire broadcast was helmed by a team of veteran audio engineers and sound technicians, including audio producer, Michael Abbott, production mixer, Tom Holmes, and music mixers, John Harris and Eric Schilling. Front of house was overseen by production mixer, Jeff Peterson and FOH music engineers, Ron Reaves and Mike Parker. Monitor engineers included Tom Pesa and Andres Arango. “Shure’s PSM 1000 was a staple of this year’s Grammy Awards; we relied on more channels of PSM than any other year before,” said Arango.
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Among the performances using the company’s wireless gear, there was a showstopping performance of “Higher Ground” by legend Stevie Wonder. Joined by Chris Stapleton, Wonder’s vocal performance was captured by a Shure KSM11 cardioid condenser vocal microphone paired with a Shure Axient Digital wireless transmitter. The KSM11 was also used by Smokey Robinson, who joined Wonder for a rendition of his own song, “Tears Of A Clown.”
Before receiving her award for Record of the Year, Lizzo took to the stage with a gospel choir and a Shure KSM11 to perform “Special.” Also on-hand was Mary J. Blige, who belted “Good Morning Gorgeous” through a custom gold KSM11 capsule and Axient Digital transmitter; later, country artist Luke Combs sang his recent hit, “Going, Going, Gone” on a SM58 capsule / AD transmitter combination.
Honoring the 50th anniversary of Hip-Hop, numerous artists contributed renditions of classic tracks. As part of the performance, LL Cool J performed a segment of “I Can’t Live Without My Radio” on a custom gold Shure transmitter. Later, Busta Rhymes traded verses of “Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See” and “Look At Me Now” on an SM58 wireless microphone.
ATK Audiotek provided the sound system design and implementation for the entire awards show. Steve Vaughn, Soundtronic’s RF Coordinator, handled the wireless duties with the support of Axient Digital and, for monitoring, Wireless Workbench.
