Since last fall, they’ve had the opportunity to experiment with different Shure mics in an effort to record the best track they can using only Shure gear. In this final installment of the competition video series, the teams recap what they learned in the process, and tell us what they thought of the mics they used.

Stay tuned: at the end of April, we’ll announce the winning schools as determined by our panel of recording industry luminaries.

Good luck to all, and thanks so much for sharing your creativity and ingenuity with us at Shure. It keeps us inspired (and maybe even young).

View videos from the planning and tracking phases of the competition:

Planning phase videos

Tracking phase videos

Learn more about the Fantastic Scholastic Recording Competition on our website.

Check out the teams’ miking techniques and processes as they navigate the tracking phase of the competition in this second installment of this year’s video series. Stay tuned: next time, the teams will share their post-production videos and reflect on their overall competition experiences with 20/20 hindsight and a whole lot more experience under their belts.

View the planning phase videos from earlier in this year’s competition.

Learn more about the Fantastic Scholastic Recording Competition on our website.

Chris Lyons introduces GLX-D Digital Wireless, which features LINKFREQ, next-gen battery technology, and the first guitar pedal receiver from Shure.

Chris Lyons introduces BLX Wireless, which offers legendary sound right out of the box.

Last fall, ten colleges were randomly selected from the pool of applicants to compete in our annual Fantastic Scholastic Recording Competition, in which audio education students seek the top nod from music industry giants by recording the best track they can using only Shure gear.

Throughout the school year, the competing teams will keep video diaries that give us a sneak peek into their process, beginning with the planning and pre-production phase of the competition. Check out the first installment! And best of luck to all competing schools!

Learn more about the Fantastic Scholastic Recording Competition on our website.

What’s so great about hypercardioid and subcardioid polar patterns, you ask? The hypercardioid works well on loud stages, isolating the voice from monitor bleed even better than a supercardioid. On the flip side, the subcardioid, with its wider pickup angle, is suited to quieter stages.

Chris Lyons explains the particulars here:

So far, the KSM9HS has joined Kenny Chesney, Drive-By Truckers, and Cage the Elephant onstage.

Check out the KSM9 product page on shure.com for more information.

NEWSFLASH: KSM9HS is a ProSoundNetwork AES Best Of Show Award Winner! We’re thrilled!

Eat to the Beat is an outdoor lunchtime concert series put on by Shure associates for Shure associates. Sometimes there is ice cream involved. Always, there is ROCK. But there’s jazz too, and blues, and world music, and…well, see / hear for yourselves in this sampling. Enjoy!

As people continue to demand more and more wireless spectrum for their myriad devices, audio pros must find ways to maximize the number of wireless microphones that can operate reliably in the remaining spectrum. Debuting at InfoComm 2012, Shure adds two new additions to the ULX-D Digital Wireless System:  the ULXD4D Dual Channel Receiver and the ULXD4Q Quad Channel Receiver. They pack either two or four channels of wireless into one rack unit, saving  space and reducing installation time.

In Standard mode, up to 17 ULX-D systems can operate in just 6 MHz of spectrum, which is equal to one U.S. TV channel. Need even more systems? No problem. Just activate High Density mode, which allows up to 47 systems to operate in just 6 MHz of spectrum, with a working range of 100 feet.

Skeptical?

This video demonstrates High Density mode with time-lapse footage shot at Shure Corporate Headquarters, where 100 transmitters were placed side by side, and then turned on one by one. If you’re wondering how it works…well, according to Chris:

“High Density mode optimizes the output power and digital transmission scheme to allow ULX-D systems to be set to frequencies that are just 125 kHz apart, instead of the standard 350 kHz spacing.  This allows you to pack more systems into less spectrum with no loss of sound quality.”

Go on: see for yourself.

Learn more about ULX-D Digital Wireless on shure.com.

Post-show update: ULX-D won a ProSoundNetwork Best of Show Award at InfoComm 2012! We’re thrilled and honored.

What’s that, you say? It’s when 10 teams of college students in audio engineering and sound recording programs lay down the best track they can using only Shure microphones. A panel of recording industry icons picks the winners.

Listening to the student recordings reminds me why we do what we do at Shure: so people can make and share music. It’s especially gratifying to hear the next generation of artists and engineers discover the qualities that make Shure mics great.

Stay tuned: next month, we’ll announce the winners of this year’s competition. You’ll be able to hear their tracks then.

For now, check out these short videos of the teams’ experiences in the pre-production, tracking, and post-production phases of the competition.