Dave Bellamy of Soundtronics Wireless.

Live performances are only part of the audio content that goes into the Grammy telecast. This part of my backstage tour explored some of the principal sources that come together in the audio broadcast.

Performance Microphones

Before the live music performed at the Grammys can be mixed down to 5.1 in the Effanel L7 truck, it has to be captured – in real time, obviously. Although a few wired microphones dot the stage area, the vast majority of the show’s 1,000 mic input signals are captured with wireless technology – hand-held mics, guitar packs, and lavaliere clip-ons. That presents its own set of logistical challenges, since each performer’s mic has to be assigned and tracked on one of 78 performer channel frequencies that are operating at any given time.

Keeping the mics, performers and frequencies sorted out falls to Dave Bellamy of Soundtronics Wireless, whose biggest challenge is allocating the RF frequencies. Noting that the wireless spectrum available for this purpose keeps shrinking each year due to high-def bandwidth usage, Bellamy said he offsets this with more sophisticated antenna systems. His task is compounded by the tremendous amount of RF interference in the backstage environment, including chatter between the backstage technical crew on additional wireless channels. Overseeing the Grammy's entire 190-channel wireless network is Keith Hall of ShowComs, who said that putting the system in place requires two full days of setup.


Audience Impact

	Klaus Landsberg of KLF Audio.

Live performances are only one part of the overall audio content of the Grammy Awards broadcast. In addition to the live feeds from the announcer and presenters, crowd response is an essential component. When properly captured, sounds from the audience do more than any other element to create that “you are there” feeling for the viewer at home. Getting the maximum impact from the audience is an art unto itself, and at this year’s Grammys, the task fell to sound designer Klaus Landsberg of KFL Audio. There’s a lot more to capturing audience sounds than simply sticking a mic in the air. To get the best capture, Landsberg explained, he uses 40 separate mics positioned in strategic “hot spots” distributed around the hall.

Determining those locations involves some educated guesswork. For example, he avoids the front sections usually occupied by industry heavyweights, who tend to be more jaded about the event, and consequently less responsive. On the other hand, the sections for ticket winners from radio promotions tend to be very enthusiastic, so he always mics them. The nominees’ entourage sections are also a good bet for reactions as well. In real time, Landsberg monitors all his mic feeds and produces a live 5.1 audience impact mix, which he passes along for integration with the show's other audio content. Landsberg’s other year-round efforts include ‘American Idol’, which he reports will also be recorded and broadcast in 5.1 this year – further evidence of multichannel penetration into the mainstream.


Pre-Recorded Audience Cues

In addition to live content, the Grammy Awards include a number of pre-recorded elements, from announcer tracks to those catchy audio clips played during the reading of the nominees and winners. Selecting these artist audio cues and controlling their playback during the broadcast is the responsibility of production mixer Don Worsham. Much consideration and research goes into selecting appropriate artist cues with “instant recall-ability” hooks

	Production Mixer Don Worsham.

so the viewer can recognize the best aspects of each nominee’s work in a limited time. He also pointed out that while nominee cues are selected for maximum impact, the winner cues have different requirements, such as accommodating voice-overs as the artists make their way to the stage.

Since the award winners are kept secret even from the production staff until the actual moment of presentation, Worsham must have pre-selected both nominee and winner cues available for each nominee. Leaving nothing to chance, he has the cues distributed among five separate playback units to allow the most flexible control over crossfades and other effects. Worsham, who has been with the Grammys since 1981, has kept current with several generations of playback technology – from cassette tape units through the hard drive units used for this year's telecast; next year, he’ll be migrating to a server-based system. In the last few years, Worsham notes that expanding sales of high-definition televisions have prompted The Recording Academy, which produces the Grammy Awards, to take its advanced broadcast technologies seriously. “High definition television has gotten big enough to where the [Recording] Academy wants our High Def and 5.1 surround content to be of equal quality with the standard def / two-channel broadcast,” he said.


Philip Brandes (Text) and Steve Grayson (Images) - 20/02/2005



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