For the fifth consecutive year, Audio-Technica microphones were usedat the annual Grammy Awards ceremony, held this past Sunday, February23, at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The 45th Annual Grammyswas the first major awards show to be broadcast in HDTV and 5.1surround sound. Audio-Technica supplied over 230 microphones, whichincluded a broad selection of hard-wired mics, as well as several ofthe new Artist Elite 5000 UHF Wireless Systems.
ATK/Audiotek provided the sound system with FOH Ron Reeves, whilethe broadcast audio was supervised by the Recording Academy’sProducers & Engineers Wing chairman Phil Ramone, advisory councilmember Hank Neuberger and Murray Allen for Cossette Productions. NewYork-based 5.1 sound designer Randy Ezratty and his Effanel Musicmobile remote trucks, with music mixers John Harris and Jay Vicari,provided the 5.1 and stereo feeds. Additionally, All Mobile’s”Resolution” high-definition production truck with production mixer EdGreene provided the fiber-optic cable feed for the broadcast.
A wide range of Audio-Technica microphones was employed at the show,including AE3000 (rack and floor toms), AT4033 (hi-hat), AE2500 (kick),AT4050 (overheads and guitar amps), AE5100 and ATM35 (orchestra),AE5400 (back-up vocals), and AT4053 (acoustic guitars, cellos andbass). The new A-T Artist Elite 5000 Series UHF Wireless System wasused for front-line vocals on Coldplay, Sheryl Crow, Kid Rock, NoDoubt, John Mayer, James Taylor, Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters), BruceSpringsteen, Patti Scialfa and Steven Van Zandt.
Jay Vicari, co-music mixer for the Grammys, said, “I choseAudio-Technica because I think their microphones have superior soundquality, as well as being more versatile than other mics I’veused in the past. Of course, there are a lot of other microphones thatsound great, but they don’t work in almost everyapplication—Audio-Technica does. I’ve been using the newAE2500 dual-element kick drum mic religiously on all the showsI’ve recently mixed. I know I can depend oon Audio-Technica[mics] and they will sound great.”
John Harris, co-music mixer for the Grammys, recalled, “Thisyear’s show is largely wireless by design. Five years ago, Istarted using A-T hard-wired microphones for vocals instead of the oldstandbys. I had remarkable success with those mics and since then,I’ve used them in every application I could. This year, many ofthe acts are using the new Artist Elite 5000 Series UHF WirelessSystem, which has the same capsule as the AE5400 hard-wired mic, so nowI’m able to have the capsule that I like on a truly stable RFsystem. I complement the wireless with the AE5400 hard-wired mics forbackup vocals. That’s one way I can achieve consistency in theaudio and make my life easier.
Harris continued, “Since you can split the signal from the AE2500, Ihad it come into the Neve Capricorn Digital console as two separateinputs, which allowed me to copy and link equalizers. I brought theAE2500 in as two separate inputs, balanced them so that the volume andlevel were about the same and then I linked everything to them. Usingthis technique, the result is great coherence. The AE2500 is rapidlybecoming my new favorite kick drum mic.”
Check out the mics in action at www.audio-technica.com.
