Known as music’s biggest night, the Grammy Awards were presented by The Recording Academy to honour outstanding achievements in the production and performance of recorded music. This year’s awards were hosted by LL Cool J and featured performances by AC/DC, Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga, John Legend and more.
At the 57th Annual Grammy Awards, Harman’s JBL loudspeakers were once again a major part of the live sound and broadcast elements of the event, with ATK Audiotek providing a JBL Vertec line array system at the Staples Centre and JBL’s brand-new studio monitors used in the television committee room and audio post studio.
ATK Audiotek provided the PA system for the awards ceremony, which included a total of 72 x Vertec VT4889 full-size line array elements. The main system included four arrays of 12 x VT4889 loudspeakers, with two arrays of six VT4880A subwoofers each. The system also featured three delay arrays of eight VT4889 loudspeakers each and 12 x VRX932 Constant Curvature loudspeakers for front fill.
The Staples Centre also features a permanent JBL Vertec line array system, which ATK Audiotek also utilised. The system at the Staples Centre features eight arrays each containing between 11 and 13 x JBL VT4889DP-DA powered line array elements, plus two fill clusters each containing four VT4889DP-DA elements, which are specially positioned to cover the end seating areas. The system also features four subwoofer arrays, each containing six VT4880A full size array able subwoofers.
In the Audio Post Studio, Josh Morton and Paul Sandweiss designed and mixed the sound for all the video playback packages for the live broadcast at Sound Design Corporation. The studios are all equipped with JBL LSR28P studio monitors and LSR6312SP subwoofers. In the television committee room, committee members listened to the mix of the show in real time through five JBL LSR708i Master Reference Monitors and two LSR6312SP Powered Studio Subwoofers.
The new 7 Series Master Reference Monitors incorporate the innovative transducer and waveguide technologies of JBL’s flagship M2 Master Reference Monitor to deliver exceptional imaging, extended frequency response and unprecedented dynamic range for music, post and broadcast applications.
“I was invited to hear JBL’s new 7 Series system late last year and was very impressed with its sonic capabilities along with the system DSP and amplification, and the demo impressed me so much that I recommended the 7 Series monitors be used at the Grammy telecast, the detail and accuracy of these speakers gave Television Committee members a crystal-clear representation of the mix,’ says Michael Abbott, audio coordinator for the Grammy Awards.
