Sound Developments at the 58th Grammy Awards · 66 • June 2016 • Lighting &Sound America TECHNICAL FOCUS: AUDIO Held once again at the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles,

66 • June 2016 • Lighting&Sound America

TECHNICAL FOCUS: AUDIO

Held once again at the Staples Centerin downtown Los Angeles, the 58thannual Grammy Awards broadcast inmid-February on CBS Televisionattracted a reported viewership of over24 million people around the world,

Sound Developments at the 58th Grammy AwardsBy: Mel Lambert

“Music’s Biggest Night” uses new JBL VTX line arrays and all-digital infra-structure

Duff McKagan (left) and Alice Cooper, of Hollywood Vampires, performed using Shure KSM8 Dualdyne mics mounted on UHF-R wire-less transmitters.

Photo: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

Copyright Lighting&Sound America June 2016 http://www.lightingandsoundamerica.com/LSA.html



together with a live audience of morethan 18,000 music aficionados. Theshow included Lady Gaga and NileRodgers paying tribute to the lateDavid Bowie, Jackson Browne joiningwith The Eagles to perform a rousingversion of “Take It Easy”—a songBrowne wrote in 1972 with the band’sco-founder Glenn Frey, who sadly diedin January—plus Adele, AlabamaShakes, and Meghan Trainor, who wonthe Best New Artist award. The Albumof the Year award went to 1989, fromTaylor Swift, who, in the end, walkedoff with no fewer than three Grammys,while Record of the Year was awardedto “Uptown Funk,” from Mark Ronsonfeaturing Bruno Mars, and Song of the

Year to “Thinking Out Loud,” by EdSheeran.

Following a pattern set some 16years ago, ATK Audiotek providedaudio services for the event, includingfront-of-house and monitor consoles,multiple line arrays, and an all-digitalinfrastructure. Mix Music Mobile/M3set up a pair of production trucks tohandle music mixing for the TV audi-ence. The three-and-a-half-hour showwas hosted once again by LL Cool J.

According to Michael Abbott, the

Grammy Awards’ audio director/coor-dinator, “Our biggest creative chal-lenge came from the fact that our fea-tured artists often are reluctant to final-ize elements leading up to their per-formances, which causes the audioteam to plan for various scenarios.After many years of doing the show,we are used to this ‘creative process.’We also needed to secure final prere-corded tracks for play-out and syn-chronize them to the video content.”

Revitalized sound-rein-forcement systemNormally, ATK Audiotek fields fouridentical hangs of 12 JBL ProfessionalVerTec VT4889 line-array cabinets plusa delay ring comprising two 8-boxclusters of JBL VerTec 4889 cabinets,plus 16 VerTec VT4880A subwooferarrays flown above the stage; last year,because of the rigging requirements,the subwoofers were divided into two8-box arrays hung on either side of theinner pairs of line-array cabinets.

The audio splitter rack area, a/k/a “Split World.”

PA power amplifier racks beneath stage right. Wireless receiver racks in the RF area.



“A couple of years ago, we optedto use some of the early prototypes ofJBL’s then-new VTX Series systems,”recalls Jeff Peterson, ATK system-design engineer. “This year, with theavailability of new-generation versions,we used several VTX V20 and V25cabinets within the Staples Center,powered by Crown iTech andPowersoft K10 amplification.”

The main left/right clusters com-prised 12 JBL VTX V25-II-CS cabinetsper side, powered by Crown VRackswith i-TechHD 4x3500 amplifiers, withnine JBL VTX S28 subwoofers perside in cardioid configuration, poweredby Crown VRacks with i-TechHD12000 amps. The left/right outfillscomprised 15 JBL VTX V20 cabinetsper hang, powered by Crown VRackswith i-TechHD 4x3500 amplifiers, withthree delay clusters of eight JBL VTXV20s, powered by similar CrownVRacks. “The 300-level fill comprisessix clusters of two ATK C6 three-waycabinets, powered by Powersoft K10-

DSP amps,” Peterson adds. “For floorsubs, we had four ATK CSW-218 2x18cabinets and, for front fills, six JBLVRX932 cabinets, four JBL AC26 cabi-nets, and two JBL VRX928 cabinets.”

The JBL VTX Series line arrays fea-

ture redesigned component drivers,waveguides, and suspension tech-nologies, and are also supported bytechnologies from HarmanProfessional sister companies. TheV25-II-CS cabinet is a full-size three-way design that features the firm’s D2dual-diaphragm/dual voice-coil com-pression driver on a patented suspen-sion system, fourth-generation HFwaveguide technology, and a patentedRBI (Radiation Boundary Integrator).Aluminum front baffles reduce cabinetheight and weight and provideimproved heat transfer.

For stage monitoring, ATK supplied24 channels of Shure PSM1000 IEMtransmitters—12 channels per stage—working with 24 channels of PSM600-HW Hardline in-ear packs, togetherwith 12 ATK M5 2x12" and 50 ATKM2C 12" monitor wedges.

At the front of house, for productionsound ATK VP of special events MikaelStewart helmed a DiGiCo SD10 digitalconsole with an SD-RE remote redun-

PA and stage rigging at Staples Center.

“Our biggest creativechallenge came fromthe fact that our fea-tured artists often arereluctant to finalizeelements leading up totheir performances,which, in turn, causesthe audio team to planfor various scenarios.After many years ofdoing the show, weare used to this ‘cre-ative process’.” —Abbott

Kevin Winter WireImage/Getty Images



dant engine, while Grammy regularRon Reaves handled music mixing ona DiGiCo SD7 console. Once again,Tom Pesa and Michael Parker mixedstage monitors and IEMs for stageright and stage left respectively, usingidentical DiGiCo SD7 consoles. “Wealso had an extra DiGiCo S21 consoleat FOH as backup,” states Peterson.“All eight DiGiCo SD racks were inter-connected to the appropriate controlsurfaces,” and shared on-stage pre-amps and five-way 56-pair splitters viafiber links.

“For interconnects, we used twoOptocore DD4MR-FX fiber drive sys-tems that accept MADI I/O and syncfrom the DiGiCo consoles,” Petersoncontinues. “These connected to threeamplifier positions—house-left, house-right, and the flown delays—each ofwhich had two Optocore DD32R-FXAES I/O units feeding primary andredundant AES signals to all poweramps. In the event of a failure, thefiber system would switch automati-cally between consoles and feeds; theamplifiers would also switch automati-cally between primary and redundantsources in the event of a signal loss.All in all, we used 9,000' of fiber toconnect the 15 clusters, 124 PAspeakers, and 756kW of PA amplifica-tion.”

Peterson tuned the system usingRational Acoustics Smaart 7 acousticmeasurement tools, Roland Studio-Capture preamp/USB interface, andEarthworks reference microphones.Loudspeaker control and processingwas via Powersoft’s Armonia DSP sys-tem.

“The Staples Center was built as asports venue as much as a concertarena,” Stewart advises, “and it neverchanges acoustically or structurally.Therefore the tuning and sonic adjust-ments we made were based on thescenic design. We were never con-cerned about a Powersoft failure; theyhave proven to be extremely reliable.Powersoft is a very smooth-soundingamp.”

“Being right in front of the PA, thesatellite stage—which we refer to as‘The Dish’—always presents a chal-lenge,” Reaves acknowledges. “Beingprimarily a mixer for television shows,I’ve gotten used to having performersin front of the speakers, but that does-n’t make it any easier to achieve gainbefore feedback. A lot of careful equal-ization—and some intense fader rid-ing!—go into making those perform-ances satisfying in the house, whilenot interfering with the TV mix, which,of course, is the primary concern. It’s

another one of those things that’s agood idea from a scenic point of view,but not so much from an audio pointof view!”

The new ATK rig “sounded great tomy ears,” says Reaves. “The JBL VTXcabinets with the new waveguidesreally add a new ‘depth of field,’ andare fast and accurate. We had severalpeople who have been with this showfor many years comment on theimprovement in intelligibility and ‘crisp-ness’ of the mix.”

“Yes,” agrees Stewart, “the sys-

Co-broadcast music mixer John Harris in the M3 Eclipse truck.

Broadcast production mixer Thomas Holmes in the Denali Audio truck.

tem’s top-end performance was defi-nitely smoother and more accurate.Using the VT20 boxes as side anddelay coverage was far more conven-ient, and allowed us more control; it isan exceptional enclosure! A majorchange in the set design meant thatthe presenter/winner position wasmoved 15' downstage, with the seatedaudience placed upstage of this loca-tion. Transitioning from lead perform-ances into dialogue is always a chal-lenge, and will continue to be.”

“Creating so many discrete ear andwedge mixes is time-consuming,”Pesa states, “but the DiGiCo SD7 andmy usual templates, which offeredcustomization for each artist, helpedimmensely. When you’re able to offerso much processing, dynamics, etc.—all instantly available—things movemuch more quickly. Having built greatworking relationships with many of theGrammy acts’ mix engineers, thatmutual trust allows me to pre-dial andget a snapshot built based on what Iknow about them, their artists, andalso the special environment that the‘one-off’ Grammy performance entails.James Bay’s monitor engineer, MarcGraham, is fond of the SEQ dynamic

EQ for James’ vocal, and it reallysounded great. We all listen and learn,and that is what makes a show of thiscaliber truly great to be around.”

New mixing and monitortechnologies for livebroadcast music mixTechnologies within the pair of MixMusic Mobile/M3 trucks—Eclipse,based on the East Coast, and Horizon,based in Los Angeles—have alsoundergone some dramatic changes. Apair of identical Lawo MC²56 digitalconsoles with 48-fader control sur-faces was used to prepare a 5.1-chan-nel music mix from the live perform-ances, with outputs passing to theNEP Denali Summit AV truck, wherethey were combined by productionmixer Tom Holms with announcer andpre-recorded sources to develop thesurround-sound broadcast mix forCBS Television in New York. Duringrehearsals and the live broadcast, theshow’s music mixers—John Harris andEric Schilling—alternated in theEclipse hot seat; during down time,the mixers moved to the second, iden-tically-equipped M3 truck, where theyrefined their static levels, pans, EQ,

and dynamics settings using multi-channel Avid Pro Tools recordings.During the show, these automationparameters were recalled betweennumbers and were available as start-ing points for the live music mixes.The Lawo consoles replaced a pair ofidentical Avid ICON D-Control sur-faces.

The 48-fader Lawo consoles utilizefully redundant processing cores withlocal I/O boxes; a built-in 8,196-by-8,196 audio router is featured, togetherwith Ravenna/AES67 compliance.“The decision to go with Lawo was anatural one for us,” states Joel Singer,M3’s engineer in charge, and responsi-ble for systems design. “These newconsoles sound much more ‘open’than what we were using before,” andoffer enhanced flexibility and reliability.

“We looked at other consoledesigns to replace our eight year-old[Digidesign] Icon consoles, includingthe new Avid S6Live, which is notbroadcast-friendly,” Singer says.“Nothing else looked appropriate.These Lawo consoles, which havebeen proven in sports broadcasting,will offer us an eight-to-ten-year lifespan.” The operation has also upgrad-ed with a Waves SoundGrid Extremeserver, along with a DiGiGrid MGOoptical MADI interface to accommo-date MADI inserts for the Lawo I/Osystem via the SoundGrid network,which is said to handle multiple Wavesand third-party SoundGrid-compatibleplug-ins with ultra-low latency.

“The first benefit of using a WavesMultiRack plug-in host with our Lawoconsoles is that we have instantaccess to the Waves plug-ins thateveryone is used to,” Singer states.“John Harris and Eric Schilling areaccustomed to the plug-ins they usedwith the Avid setup, so they are ourgo-to plugs,” ranging from the WavesCLA-76 compressor/limiter,Renaissance compressor, andRenaissance Vox to the H-Reverb andIR1 Convolution reverb. “They areused to controlling system parameters;being able to run [Waves plug-ins]



Tori Kelly also performed with a KSM8/UHF-R combination.

Kevin Kevin Winter/WireImage

www.lightingandsoundamerica.com • June 2016 • 75

directly on the Lawo console is anadded benefit because now the workflow is so much faster, with a unified,fully integrated system. We can useeither the Lawo touch screen to con-trol parameters for the Waves plugs, oruse a mouse or trackball.

“It’s also a matter of what we gainin operational speed and integrity.Since console, router, and Wavessnapshot recall happens at the pressof a button, the work flow for livebroadcast events is greatly increased.While the Avid work flow was good,we had to surround it with externalrouters, etc., which we tried not toadjust during live shows, since itwould have meant multiple recallsfrom different systems.”

According to Singer, Waves H-Reverbs figured prominently. “We useit in a mono-in/5.0-out surround con-figuration,” he explains. “That way,we’re able to create a space for vocalsand instruments; the Staples Centersounds great, but it’s not the type ofambiance you would want on a vocalor on certain instruments. We use twoinstances to create different types of5.0 reverb returns, which fill out theentire surround infrastructure. We alsouse the Waves CLA-76 RenaissanceCompressor and RenaissanceDeEsser on vocals, to level them andkeep it where the engineer and artistare happy. The CLA76 offers the samesound to the legendary [UniversalAudio] 1176LN compressor limiter.”

“As always, my biggest challengeduring the Grammy broadcast was tokeep my artistic hat squarely on myhead,” co-mixer Harris considers. “I

need to serve the artists as best I can;the Lawo console sounded great andperformed perfectly. The on-boardEQs and compressors are musical,with all the advantages of a soft sur-face and traditional design; because I

could also use Waves Grid, I had thebest of all worlds. The integration ofLawo engineering with Waves provid-ed super-friendly custom layers withgreat ergonomics. Console and Wavessnapshots were easy to manage and

Playback mixer Eric Johnson.

“Being primarily a mixer for television shows,I’ve gotten used to having performers in front ofthe speakers, but that doesn’t make it any easi-er to achieve gain before feedback. A lot ofcareful equalization—and some intense fader rid-ing—go into making those performances satisfy-ing in the house, while not interfering with the TVmix, which, of course, is the primary concern.It’s another one of those things that’s a goodidea from a scenic point of view, but not somuch from an audio point of view.” — Reaves

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bulletproof. I used the same plug-ins Ialways have on vocals, etc.—it is moreabout my palette than a commercialmimic, but complex vocal effects andsuch were no problem, and alwaysinstantly recallable.”

In addition to new acoustical treat-ment and tuning, courtesy of Audio

Design International, the two M3trucks now feature an M&K Sound5.1-channel system that comprisesMPS-2510P for the left, center, andright channels, MPS-1611P for thesurrounds and two X10 subwoofers;processing is handled in a MeyerSound Galileo unit. “Ninety percent of

our shows are mixed by M3 engi-neers—John Harris and Jay Vicari—sofinding a new speaker system for themto use during this retrofit was a task,”Singer explains. “With all these top-end speaker systems, you’re compar-ing Ferraris. It comes down to whetheryou like the red one or the yellow one,

The front-of-house audio crew.


and John and Jay choose yellow.” AllM3 mobile trucks are now equippedwith M&K Sound monitors.

Sound for the segment that fea-tured the cast of Hamilton performingthe hip-hop musical’s opening song“Alexander Hamilton” from the RichardRogers Theatre in New York wasmixed by Vicari aboard M3’s Voyagermobile truck, and delivered with HDvideo to the Staples Center by satellitelink; the broadcast mixer was FritzLang, who worked aboard All MobileVideo’s Titan AV truck. Hamilton is theeighth musical cast to perform at theGrammy Awards, and it was only thefourth time that the telecast has fea-tured a live performance via satellite.

“The audio mix was delivered as a5.1 discrete embedded feed via fiberfrom NYC,” M3’s Singer explains. “Jay[Vicari] is familiar with the sound fieldthat Grammy mixers use for the livebroadcast; having him in New Yorkwas a real bonus, because he has thesame audio sensibilities as John Harrisand Eric Schilling.”

Wired and RF microphoneselections Once again, Audio-Technica,Sennheiser, and Shure supplied a vari-ety of wired and wireless microphonesystems for the awards show.

During the show’s opening song,“Out of the Woods,” Taylor Swift useda Sennheiser Digital 9000 system.Lady Gaga, who charged through anelectrifying medley of David Bowiesongs taken from various stages of theartist’s career—including the songs“Space Oddity,” “Ziggy Stardust,” and“Heroes”—used a Sennheiser SKM-5200 handheld transmitter coupledwith an MD-5235 capsule, “DuringLady Gaga’s six-minute segment,”recalls the artist’s monitor engineer,James Corbin, “we used three differ-ent microphones: all SKM-5200/MD-5235 combinations. Under normal cir-cumstances, this would be a real chal-lenge, because most matched cap-sules from other microphone manufac-turers rarely sound the same. But the

MD-5232 capsules sound identical,which meant I was able to get thesound I wanted in soundcheck withone of them, and literally cut andpaste the EQ settings across the othertwo mics.”

The Weeknd, nominated for sevenGrammy Awards, used an SKM-

5200/MD-5235 transmitter/capsulecombination. “Our Sennheiser micsdelivered crisp and detailed audiothroughout the evening,” says front-of-house mixer Reaves. “I am particularlyfond of the MD-5235 capsule, since ithandles proximity very well and is alsovery responsive across the entire

Lady Gaga used three different microphones: all Sennheiser SKM-5200 handheld trans-mitters coupled with MD-5235 capsules.


Kevin Kevin Mazur for Getty Images


dynamic range.”Some 65 channels of RF mics—50

main receivers and 15 more for thebackline—plus 37 channels of IEMswere wrangled by Dave Bellamy, fromBurbank-based Soundtronics Wireless.“The most important thing for me isthat the equipment is reliable,” hestresses. “It has to be something Idon’t need to think or worry about.Since we have a substantial amount ofSennheiser equipment in our inventory,my confidence in the product speaksfor itself.”

LL Cool J used the new ShureKSM8 Dualdyne microphone mountedon a UHF-R wireless transmitter, whichwas brought in for consideration at thesuggestion of audio coordinatorAbbott. “I’ve been using the KSM8 onThe Voice for host Carson Daly withexcellent results,” he states. “Thereduced proximity effect and flatresponse gave us a smooth sound,making it an ideal choice for LL CoolJ.”

The KSM8 was also the mic cap-sule of choice for UHF-R transmittersused by Tori Kelly in her duet withJames Bay, Johnny Depp, and DuffMcKagan from Hollywood Vampires,and three members of Little Big Townfor their hit song, “Girl Crush.” “I wasvery pleased with Little Big Town’svocal mic choice,” says Schilling. “TheKSM8 has a very natural sound andrequires very little EQ to make it work.”

Shure Axient AXT200 handheldtransmitters were utilized for leadvocals by Justin Bieber, using aKSM9HS capsule, and AlabamaShakes with an SM58 capsule. Inaddition, for the second straight yearthe production team designated anAxient handheld with an SM58 capsuleas its global spare wireless.

Now in its 50th year of production,the classic Shure SM58 capsule wasused with several UHF-R handheldsduring the Lionel Richie tribute, includ-ing microphones for Demi Lovato,Luke Bryan, Meghan Trainor, Tyrese,

and Richie himself. Hardwired SM58swere used for all backing vocals byThe Eagles during their Glenn Freytribute, and by both Gary Clark, Jr. andBest New Artist winner Chris Stapletonduring the B. B. King tribute segment.

All wireless in-ear systems wereShure PSM-1000 units, supplied byATK Audiotek. “Five years and count-ing, PSM-1000 is still going strongwith a zero failure rate,” stressesParker.

Mel Lambert has been intimatelyinvolved with production industries onboth sides of the Atlantic for moreyears than he cares to remember. Heis principal of Content Creators, a LosAngeles-based copywriting and edito-rial service, and can be reached [email protected];818.558-3924. He is also a 30-yearmember of the UK’s National Union ofJournalists.

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Sound Developments at the 58th Grammy Awards · 66 • June 2016 • Lighting &Sound America TECHNICAL FOCUS: AUDIO Held once again at the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles,