Audio-Technica celebrated its 19th year of supporting the Country Music Association (CMA) Awards by providing an extensive selection of vocal and instrument microphones for its annual awards show.
The 46th Annual CMA Awards aired live in 5.1-channel surround sound last week on ABC from the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, and included more than 200 Audio-Technica microphones, including an array of hard-wired mics and Artist Elite 5000 Series UHF wireless systems.
The team responsible for the audio at this year’s CMA’s again included a who’s who of broadcast audio. The audio was supervised by award-winning audio producers Tom Davis and Paul Sandweiss; ATK/Audiotek provided the sound system with FOH (front-of-house) mixers Patrick Baltzell and Rick Shimer; the broadcast music mix was handled by New Jersey/California-based M3’s (Music Mix Mobile’s) John Harris and Jay Vicari. Stage monitoring was handled by Tom Pesa and Jason Spence.
Audio-Technica’s Artist Elite 5000 Series UHF wireless system with the AEW-T6100 hypercardioid dynamic handheld microphone/transmitter was used for lead vocals by A-T endorser Jason Aldean, who opened the show performing “The Only Way I Know.” Aldean later returned in the show to perform his hit “Take A Little Ride.”
The backline mic complement of included AT4080 phantom-powered bidirectional ribbon microphones on guitars; AT4050 multi-pattern condenser microphones on guitars and bass; AT4040 cardioid condenser microphone on overheads; AE2500 dual-element cardioid instrument microphones on kick drum; AE5100 cardioid condenser instrument microphones on hi-hat and ride cymbals; AE5400 cardioid condenser microphones on rotary speaker top and AT4050 on rotary speaker bottom (used by Gregg Allman with the Zac Brown Band); ATM650 dynamic instrument microphones on snare; and ATM350 cardioid condenser clip-on microphones on toms and fiddle/violin.
Davis states, “Audio-Technica has been a longtime go-to microphone for the CMA Awards, based on their reliability and performance. Their ability to deliver clean, clear, consistent audio makes them exactly what I need when choosing microphones for this awards show.”
