Not only this, our PSM1000 system was exclusively relied upon for all wireless ear monitor mixes. 16 mixes and over 50 belt packs were used for all of the acts.

Shure artists Brad Paisley, Luke Bryan, The Band Perry, Dierks Bentley, Vince Gill, and Little Big Town all used the UR system with various capsules.

Speaking of Little Big Town, a HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to them for winning Single of the Year for “Pontoon” and finally getting the award they have been working towards for 13 years, Vocal Group of the Year!

Other artists that used Shure UR handheld transmitters included Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Willie Nelson, Eli Young Band, Taylor Swift, Hunter Hayes (who won Best New Artist), Brantley Gilbert, Keith Urban, Kenny Chesney, Kelly Clarkson, and Carrie Underwood.

As usual, I was able to attend both rehearsal and the show to hang with the crews and the greet the artists.  I was also pleased to have fellow Shure Associate Bill Ostry visiting from our Market Development team. It’s always a pleasure to have Associates come down to visit and get a taste of all of the action in Nashville.

There are plenty of YouTube videos of the performances from the show online.  Check out them all out, including a very special duet with Kelly Clarkson and Vince Gill.

Ryan

Vince’s Front of House engineer Hugh Johnson used tons of Shure on stage in addition to what the Ryman already had.  I’ve included a shot of his input list below.  I can’t remember the last time I saw 7 KSM9′s used up front for vocals!

Some of Vince’s guests included Emmylou Harris, Rodney Crowell, John Anderson, Beka Bramlett, and an incredible swing drummer named Duffy Jackson (look him up when you get a moment).  The Time Jumpers served as the back up band for the evening.

This was Vince’s 3rd benefit this week and he had 3 more to do before the end of the week.  He always loves giving back. More than that,  he just loves playing. It shows!

I’ve been very fortunate to have attended some wonderful concert events over the years.   There have been memorable moments at cool venues and so many great artists.  When I heard about Bluegrass Underground here in Tennessee, I was certainly intrigued.  It was time to go see this for myself.

I set out from my house in La Vergne on February 25 and drove about an hour to the same exit that Bonaroo is held each year.  From there, it was winding roads most of the way till I ended up at Cumberland Caverns.  I parked and walked through the gift shop to the entrance of the cave where a TV production truck was camped out.  They were in the middle of capturing 13 bands over 3 days, each band playing under an hour. The Civil Wars performed their set the night before and tonight, Vince Gill was headlining.

I worked my way down into the cave and in about 3 minutes was in the Volcano Room.  The room is big enough to hold an audience of about 500.  I had arrived just in time to catch a group that Vince has been a part of for a while called The Time Jumpers.  Great traditional Western Swing but new songs.

After a quick changeover, Vince Gill and band were up.  Vince has been singing on a KSM9 since its introduction many years ago.  FOH Engineer Hugh Johnson has mentioned many times that it’s the first mic he has found where he can leave Vince’s vocal channel as close to flat as possible, not having to add much or take away much in frequencies.    Vince performed a string of favorites for the crowd and told a few humorous stories.  He is such a genuine artist and a pleasure to know.

I am not sure when the next tapings will take place for this series (which the first season is now on PBS) but if you visit the Bluegrass Underground Website, they may post the next time they will.  It’s a cool experience in a great setting.

Ryan

Bridgestone Arena – Nashville, TN

Having been down in Nashville for 10 years now, it is always great to be able to attend this awards show.  It’s a reunion for both a lot of our Nashville contacts but also some of our East and West Coast based contacts as well.  I get to hang with Michael Abbott, one of the Audio Producers for this and many other TV shows and  J. Mark King, who does the production mix for the Academy of Country Music Awards also comes out to do this show.  There’s Steve Anderson, who swaps out the input boxes between each act as well as the engineers from Music Mix Mobile (John Harris, Jay Vicari and Joel Singer) who mix the music for the show.  The Nashville crews and the crews from each coast all dig in together to get over 20 performances on the air.  Once the show is on, it’s amazing to watch it all happen.  Even though most of this crew has been doing shows like this for years, they are always looking for ways to improve and present the best show for millions of viewers.

The same goes for Shure!

This year, Shure would play an even bigger role as we have a new series of personal monitor systems to present to artists.  The PSM1000 was about to make its appearance on this show for the first time.  Was I nervous? Not at all.  The system has been out there for a while now and been tested in some high profile settings.  Monitor engineer Jason Spence had just used it 3 weeks ago with Alabama and it passed with flying colors.  The system was ready and so were we!   Jason had been speaking with Shure about wanting to use this system on this show for months.  He told Mike Parker, also a monitor engineer for this and many other shows, that he planned to have units there.  Mike, also a beta tester, would not settle for anything less on his side as well.  When all was said and done, ATK Audiotek out of California shipped 14 channels for this show as well as sending a rack of systems out for the Latin Grammies that same week!

Are you as excited as we are??  Seeing our packs labeled up for use with names like Taylor Swift, Lionel Richie, and Ms. Piggy is pretty exciting.

Jason commented on how beneficial it was for them to be able to adjust the output power of the transmitters so they could reach an artist clear across the arena, providing them with dropout free signal.  That is very important to an artist who is performing in front of a live audience and in turn to millions watching at home.  If their signal cuts out, it can be a real mood killer for an artist in the heat of the moment.  Having those 2 antenna’s on the beltpack makes an amazing difference!

As far as artists on this show, we are always delighted when the list of performers comes in and we see a great representation of Shure Artists.  Like Martina McBride who performed her new single “I’m Gonna Love You Through It” on a wired SM58 and Luke Bryan, who worked the stage with his custom chromed UR2/SM58 wireless on “Country Girl (Shake It For Me).”    We also saw a great Glen Campbell Tribute perfomed by endorsers Vince Gill and Brad Paisley, joined by Keith Urban – all on Shure wireless. Both Lionel Richie and Kenny Loggins requested Shure to use on their performances!

New to the Shure family is The Band Perry, who performed on custom painted Super 55′s and went on to pick up 3 CMA Awards that night!   Sara Evans sang her most recent big hit “Stronger” on a UR2/Sm58. Taking home the coveted Entertainer of the Year award that night was Taylor Swift who sang on a UR2/Beta 58A.

Endorser Luke Bryan also co-hosted the red carpet with Ellen before the show.  His FOH engineer, Pete Healey, came by earlier that day to see if we could find him a Shure wired mic that Luke could use for that broacast.  We found an Sm58 and thanks to Pete, another TV spot!

During the show, I ran into many artists, engineers, and managers backstage.  It’s always a great time to catch up with them as they are usually out on the road or busy releasing a new record.  I was waiting  around backstage each time The Band Perry picked up an award to congratulate them.  I also talked with Rascal Flatts drummer and endorser Jim Riley, who was getting set to travel up to Indianapolis for the Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC) to do a drum clinic later in the week.  I would be traveling in the same direction right after this show.

After the awards show concluded, I went up to Jason Spense’s monitor “world” and talked with him and his techs about how the show went.  Thumbs UP all around.  One tech even commented that they received no complaints about dropouts or bad mixes, which he mentioned was very unusual for this show.   That brought a big smile to my face!

A BIG THANK YOU to Mike Abbott, Jason Spence, Mike Parker, J. Mark King, John Harris, Jay Vicari, Joel Singer, Steve Anderson, and so many more for an amazing job.  Thank you to the artists who continue to rely on Shure every night they step on stage.  Most of all, thank YOU for spending your time on our blog site and reading this blog.  Send it along to a friend !

Take care and keep coming back for more!  (If you want more RIGHT NOW, here’s our press release on the show and the amazing PSM1000 system.)

Ryan

Nashville, TN – The Ryman Auditorium

OK, so what do I mean by reunion?

About 14 years ago, a good friend and contact at A & M records – Al Marks – called me up and told me I  had to come out and meet the new artist he was working with.  I was still working up in Chicago then and this new artist was only 15 years old.  Jonny Lang had just started touring in support of his first major release, Lie To Me, and Al was hoping Shure would start working with him.

Sometimes, choosing to work with an artist can be really easy, especially when they have as much talent as Jonny has.  After seeing him, it was clear that we had to. A few years later though , after a few management changes, Al was not working with Jonny.

So we fast forward to this wonderful Saturday, when for the first time in 11 years, it’s Al, Jonny, and Shure all in the same room – together again.  It was a great thing to see.

I spoke with Jonny right before his soundcheck at the historic Ryman Auditorium and he started to mention how much he liked his champagne KSM9 wired vocal mic,  stating that it was like “not knowing I needed glasses and then getting them.”   He loves the clarity and openness of the mic, whether it’s singing out strongly on the heavier tunes or holding back on the ballads, or a combination of both.

FOH engineer, Mike Ronkainen, also commented on how well the KSM313 is working on one of Jonny’s guitar amp. Mike also uses the KSM32 on his second amp. I was able to grab a quick shot of Mike at FOH trying out the new SRH840 headphones and he gave them a thumbs up!  He also said he likes to monitor using Shure earphones.

I hung around and ate dinner with Mike and Al to get caught up on things.  As I was watching the show, a lady came up to me and asked if I worked on the crew.  I informed her that I worked for the microphone company that provided Jonny’s mics.  She said “That must be a cool job.” I agreed with her. She went on to say that Jonny was such a great performer and she had never seen that much emotion coming off the stage.  I agreed with her a second time.

If you have not seen Jonny Lang live yet, please check his tour schedule and make it a point to.  He is truly a talented singer/songwriter/guitarist.  I have always enjoyed his shows and apparently, so does Vince Gill who was in attendance that evening.

On several songs, Jonny would break it down and vamp for a while while some of the other band members would solo.  During the encore, he gave them all a chance to shine.

The Ryman was 99% sold out.  What more can I say to convince you?

Ryan

The Ryman Auditorium – Nashville, TN

This evening’s event has been an annual concert for over 13 years and Vince always brings in some wonderful artists to participate.  Benefiting the Mental Health Association, Vince and his many guests performed 2 sets of music, lasting over 2 and half hours.  FOH Engineer Hugh Johnson had a stage full of Shure wired mics as well as couple channels of wireless KSM9’s. Other Mics on stage included a pair of Beta 181/c on Leslie high, the Beta 98AMP on toms, and the KSM313 on Vince’s guitar amps.

Vince kicked off the first set with a couple of his hits and then got right to the business of bringing out the first of many guests.  Claiming comically that she wanted to go on first and head home, Vince’s wife Amy Grant joined him on stage for a couple songs.  The night continued with several songwriters and known singers from other groups.  At one point during the Del McCoury Band’s set, Hugh turned to me with a smile on his face and said “The KSM9 is the best microphone ever made.”    Hugh was there in the beginning of the development of that mic and has been using it on Vince and Amy’s vocals ever since.

Other guest artists included Keb’ Mo’, Taylor Hicks, Lynn Marie, and Larry Stewart of Restless Heart.