Shure Powers Performing Artists at 60th GRAMMY Awards

At the 60th Annual GRAMMY Awards, many of the nominated and performing artists used Shure microphones for their sets during the awards ceremony.

A seasoned crew of professionals led by Audio Coordinator Michael Abbott teamed up to meet the show’s substantial sound requirements, with Firehouse Productions supplying the audio, RF and communications gear, while Music Mix Mobile brought two full recording trucks for 5.1 surround music mixing. As always, the GRAMMY team encouraged all performers to use their preferred vocal microphones.

To meet the challenge of delivering enough channels for the ambitious, dual-stage production, RF Coordinator Vinny Siniscal used Shure Axient Digital as the default wireless microphones for artists on stage, as its spectral efficiency permits more channels in less available spectrum than any analog system. As has become common practice on all major award shows, 24 channels of Shure PSM 1000 delivered flawless sound to the performers on both stages.  

Bruno Mars, used an Axient Digital handheld for his vocals, as did Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee in their performance of “Despacito.” The system was also central to several of the show’s signature events, including a Beta 58A version for the Chuck Berry tribute by Gary Clark Jr. and SM58 capsules for “Tears in Heaven,” featuring Maren Morris, Brothers Osborne and Eric Church.

“This was the first live to air show we’ve done with all digital mics, and this is a high-channel count show. I like the way Axient Digital performs; the RF performance is solid,” reports Siniscal. “I especially love the rechargeable battery technology. The long battery life and ability to monitor the battery status gives us confidence throughout the show.”

Kesha used her usual Shure UHF-R® handheld wireless, while backing vocalists Andra Day, Cyndi Lauper, Julia Michaels, and Camila Cabello used Axient Digital systems with classic SM58® mics. Other performers on Axient Digital included Bono, Little Big Town, Childish Gambino, Logic, Shaggy, DJ Khaled, Broadway stars Patti Lupone and Ben Platt, Khalid, Dave Chappelle, Alessia Cara, and SZA.

“We knew going into the GRAMMYs this year was going to be challenging, especially trying to coordinate wireless frequencies in one of the biggest cities in the world,” says Shure artist relations manager Cory Lorentz. “Shure wireless, especially Axient Digital, played a much larger role in this year’s show, and we were ecstatic to see the huge channel count on hand to make such a large production run smoothly.”