…That’s what you hear as the 55th Annual GRAMMY Awards go live to air in the packed to capacity Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles. However, before all of the applause and packed seats of onlookers, the GRAMMYs go through a rigorous schedule of rehearsal and timed perfection. What you at home see on TV is the result of A LOT of hard work. The madness that is GRAMMY week is bigger than any single concert you’ve been to, and it is where we spent most of last week as things began to take shape for music’s biggest night.

Prior to entering the bowels of the Staples Center, Shure once again sponsored the Producers & Engineers Wing GRAMMY Week Celebration honoring Quincy Jones & Al Schmitt. Hang on… prior to that, we made a stop to In-N-Out Burger in honor of Mr. Mike Lohman, who could not be with us on this trip. It was worth the wait. It was delicious. Why don’t we have this in Chicago? Back to the GRAMMY stuff…

Making our temporary home in Studio B of The Village Recording Complex, Shure served up some fresh seafood and the latest in wired mics and headphones. It was amazing to hear so many stories about Shure mics being used on classic recordings from the engineers and producers in attendance. The Super 55 tree, as we have dubbed it, was a bit of a challenge to construct, but I’m happy to say that it made through the entire evening without incident! Aside from being in such esteemed company, the highlight of the night for me was watching a few very critical ears try on the Shure SRH940 and SRH1840 headphones and be completely blown away! That and the countless offers that were made to purchase the SM7B on site or the questions about it being included in some sort of raffle. Most visitors to Studio B had something positive to say about the sleeper hit that is the SM7B.

Okay, so breakfast at the hotel was not that good and VERY expensive, not doing that again. Never mind that, we were making our way to the tunnel into the madness I referenced (there it is on the left) to join in the fun of rehearsals, day one. By the way, the “we” in question is Ryan Smith, Artist Relations Nashville and Jenn Liang-Chaboud, Market Development Senior Specialist. There is so much that goes into this show and everything is in the same place every year… good thing, as I’m just starting to get this whole thing down. As we arrived to the backstage area, we were called into a meeting with production who were concerned about how much “fun” the band fun. was going to be having on GRAMMY night. The “fun” in question was the rain curtain you all undoubtedly witnessed, where the band, all of their instruments and microphones were all drenched in a rain storm. Of course there was concern that the mics may fail if exposed to that level of water, but we were never all that concerned… that’s how we test this stuff! Aware of production’s concern, we immediately put a few phone calls in to the home office in Chicago to have back up transmitters and capsules sent out the next day (thanks to all of the Shure people who came through in the clutch)! Needless to say, we never needed back ups. Those mics you saw on Sunday night were the same mics from rehearsal and dress rehearsal… that’s multiple rain storms!

Making our way around the arena, we found some familiar faces in Mike Parker and Tom Pisa working stage left and stage right respectively. We were also happy to see some familiar product in place as the exclusive in ear monitor system for all artists performing at the GRAMMYs. Twenty-four channels of Shure’s PSM 1000 was once again the preferred choice by production and most of the artists that performed this year. Rehearsals did not begin until about 1:30 pm on day one, so it gave us some time to catch up with everyone and provide them a little Shure swag in the meantime. It actually got cold there in California… nothing like what Chicago was going through, but even a hooded sweatshirt (this year’s swag item) struggled to keep me warm. I did refuse to opt for the winter coat stashed back at the hotel… I’m from the midwest and way too many people would be a little upset and quite possibly revoke my man card if I was discovered wearing a winter coat in California.

So anyway, as the rehearsals moved into full swing, lots of Shure mics were in some pretty important positions on stage. It was nice to see the KSM313 on the guitar amps of the Lumineers and Jack White, that’s quickly becoming everyone’s favorite mic for guitar amp… it looks pretty sweet, too! On vocals you saw Taylor Swift on an Axient Wireless System with a Beta 58, fun. on UHF-R Wireless with Beta 58s, Mumford & Sons on Beta 58As, Justin Timberlake & Jay-Z on UHF-R Wireless with SM58s… a last minute vocal mic change put Justin on a Shure mic for the evening and I thought he sounded pretty damn good on it too! Adam Levine from Maroon 5 was on a UHF-R with a Beta 58 when he joined Alicia Keys onstage, The Black Keys rocked on their SM58s. Kelly Clarkson brought the house down on an SM58! The Lumineers had everyone singing along on SM58s. Jack White tore up the stage while on an SM58. The Levon Helm tribute featured amongst others, Mavis Staples on a UHF-R SM58, Brittany Howard on a UHF-R SM58 and Mumford & Sons on UHF-R SM58s. Juanes sounded amazing on a UHF-R KSM9 and Frank Ocean debuted a new track on a UHF-R SM58. The night ended with two hip-hop icons blazing up the stage as LL Cool J and Chuck D performed on UHF-R SM58s.

All in all, a pretty good selection of Shure mics helped to provide the audio on music’s biggest night!  I would also like to mention the big win by Shure endorsers Mumford & Sons for Album of the Year, fun. for Best New Artist and Song of the Year, and The Black Keys for Best Rock Song, Best Rock Album and Best Rock Performance.

So, things are kind of normal around here now, but I would be lying to you if I said I haven’t started thinking about next year!

Rock Out!
Cory

In May 2011, our SRH 940 Professional Reference Headphones went out into the world, and some pretty nice reviews have been making their way back to us ever since.

SRH940s are over-the-ear, closed-back headphones designed for audio engineers and in-studio talent from vocalists to voice-over pros, but savvy audiophiles know this means good sound in personal listening applications as well.

Or, as Gizmodo puts it, “amaaaaaaaaaaazing” sound. (Count ‘em: 10 extra as.)

Additional reviewer comments include, “Damn!” (MusicPlayers.com).

Reviewers have called the sound quality extremely clear, accurate, and detailed. They also appreciated the creature comforts, like the padded headband and swivel cups with soft velour pads—both of which make all the difference if you’re wearing them for multiple hours. And, since everybody likes a good deal, they consistently noted the exceptional quality for the money.

Check out the specs, the 360° demo, and all six reviews on the SRH940 page on shure.com.

This would be a historic event in itself as the group would be the first headliner to perform on a brand new floor that replaced the original floor that was installed when the “Mother Church” first opened.

Fresh off of an exciting performance with Glen Campbell at the Grammy Awards, they showed up for soundcheck and Kimberely said to me “We see you everywhere!”  They will again at the upcoming Academy of Country Music Awards in Vegas on April 1.

Before laying down this new floor, they reinforced it to be able to hold a lot more weight.  It was strange to walk across the floor and not hear any creaking.

The group is in the process of finishing up a new record and what a great place to try out some new songs.  They performed their hits and threw in 6 new songs.  They also performed a great version of “Fat Bottomed Girls” by Queen!   Kimberly commanded the stage on her UR2/KSM9 wireless while brothers Reid and Neil flanked her with a pair of Beta 58A wired mics.

At one point, the curtain closed in front of the backing band, leaving the Perry’s out in front for some acoustic songs, one of which was a beautiful version of “Amazing Graze” which earned them a standing ovation.

Their 90 minute set concluded with their hit “You Lie.”  This group is full of energy and connects very well with the audience.  Their whole family and crew are a great group of people.

Make  sure to look up their tour schedule and catch them out on some Brad Paisley dates.

Ryan

There are so many elements that contribute to putting on an awards show like the GRAMMYs.  To list every aspect would take too long so we’re going to focus on our side of this trip.

As everything usually comes together at the last minute for this show, we sent out a nice compliment of Shure mics to supplement what sound company ATK Audiotek already had in stock. Appearing for the first time on this show was the Beta 181/C condenser mic. We sent 20 of those and saw several get used on tympani (The Beach Boys) and occasionally on drum overheads. We also sent a few of the KSM313 ribbon mics, one of which prominently appeared on John Paul White’s guitar amp during The Civil Wars short but very effective performance in the show.

We were also very pleased to learn early on that the PSM1000 ear monitor systems would be the exclusive system for the show this year. There were plenty of bodypacks on hand for the performers and many of the crew people made a point to let us know how well the system was working for them.

Watching the rehearsal and then the performances over the course of 4 days, there were many highlights for us that sounded amazing in the house, thanks to both Jeff Peterson who finely tuned the PA and Ron Reeves who mixes the acts so well.  The Beach Boys segment featuring Maroon 5 and Foster The People was quite a thrill to hear live in the house. Each group nailed the original harmonies, it was one of the highlights of the evening. The other was seeing The Civil Wars perform on this broadcast. They have quickly become a respected group that continues to impress well-established artists like Adele, Taylor Swift and now Coldplay, who Tweeted that they are now fans of the group.

The Glen Campbell tribute featured newly signed artists The Band Perry who sang “Gentle On My Mind.” It was great to see Glen having so much fun on stage in light of his ongoing battle with Alzheimer’s.

It was especially gratifying to have the industry standard SM58 open this years’ show in front of Bruce Springsteen and then have Sir Paul McCartney close the show on a wired Beta 58A. You can’t get more Rock and Roll than that!

Seeing the same crew that has been doing this successfully for so many years is always a wonderful part of this trip. Maintaining those relationships and letting them know we are there for support is a vital part of attending this show as well as talking with them about our products. There were a lot of people who have not had the opportunity to try the PSM1000’s out. Thanks to ATK Audiotek and the monitor engineers for this show, Mike Parker and Tom Pesa, over 20 acts were exposed to the new standard in monitoring.

Special thanks go out to Michael Abbott who is the audio coordinator for the show, John  Harris and Joel Singer with Music Mix Moblie, who take care of the music mix that goes out to television and Eric Schilling who shares music mix duties with John Harris. This years’ show was monumental in size and every year, it just keeps getting better and better!

- Ryan, Cory and Jenn

Las Vegas – MGM Grand Garden Arena

This was the second ACA show for Fox Network.  Production Mix Engineer Klaus Landsberg invited me to come out on behalf of Shure for this years’ show as they were going to be using primarily Shure wireless.  Sound Company ATK Audiotek would be providing the 26 channels of UHF-R Wireless systems and the 8 channels of PSM1000 ear monitor systems with multiple beltpacks as well as a compliment of wired mics.

Before flying out for this show, I received a text Friday evening from Earl Neal, FOH engineer with recently signed Shure Artists The Band Perry that the group wanted to use stock Super 55 ‘s on this show.  Prior to this show, they used darker gold painted Super 55’s on both the CMA’s in October and the Grammy Nominations Concert just last week.   Earl said they wanted to use the stock model and did I know of any place in either LA or Vegas that would have those.  I suggested a dealer in LA but that was the only dealer I could think of that would have 3-4 of those.  On my way to the airport the next day, I called Earl to see if he had any luck. We talked about some other options but he then mentioned he might send his wife over to Soundcheck to grab the 4 that were stored in Patty Loveless’ locker (an artist he’s worked for).  He got Patty’s permission.  I told him I could swing by and pick them up on my way to the airport and carry them out with me.  The Band Perry has now requested this mic on 3 major TV broadcasts!  They love the Super 55!

I arrived after 10 pm in Vegas on Saturday. The next morning, I received credentials and headed towards the backstage area at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.  Stopping at monitor world, Mike Parker was deep into learning a new DigiCo console.  About the PSM1000’s, Mike commented “I never leave home without them.”

Right next to him, I saw a table lined with over 20 P10R’s waiting for fresh batteries… a thing of beauty!  Had to grab a shot of that! Behind me, I spotted another photo op. Two racks of UR, 26 channels and a rack of 8 PSM1000’s.    Of the 11 performances on the show, 8 of the used Shure on lead and backing vocals. They also used 2 UR2/KSM9 transmitters for hosts Trace Adkins and Kristin Chenoweth.  From Trace’s incredibly deep voice to Kristin’s whose voice is high pitched, the KSM9 worked very well. ATK also utilizes 2 UR1’s for their podium mic setup.

I then went out to Front of House where Mikel Stewart of ATK was at the house production mix spot, the same role he takes at the Grammy’s and probably many more shows.  At the House music mix position was Ron Reeves, the spot he also enjoys at the Grammy’s (and many other shows).  One of Ron’s first comments was to pay compliments to the KSM 137’s they have been using on overheads at this show.  He likes to get most of his drum sound off of the overheads and loves these.

Klaus Landsberg was a wonderful host and said I could come into the production mix truck anytime I wanted to.  It was also great to see a lot of familiar crew people in site.  The rehearsals went very well, mostly ahead of schedule.

The Shure artists that performed on the show included Trace Adkins, The Band Perry, and Toby Keith.  Other artists that used Shure vocal mics included Thompson Square, Scotty McCreery, Chris Young, Eli Young Band, and Alabama!  Everyone used and enjoyed the use of the PSM1000 for their ear mixes.

Another show full of great Shure products with great artists!

Ryan