Hosted for the third year by the multi-platinum duo Brooks & Dunn, the CMA Awards presentation is recognised as Country Music's Biggest NightTM, and represents the pinnacle of achievement for those involved in country music.
The team responsible for the audio at this year's CMA's included GRAMMY/Emmy Award-winning music producer Elliot Scheiner, as superviser; the Audio Coordinator was Michael Abbott; ATK/Audiotek provided the sound system with FOH (front-of-house) engineers Patrick Baltzell and Rick Shimer; New York-based Wireless First, a leading source of wireless sound equipment for major television and production companies nationwide under the direction of Kevin Sanford, supplied all the wireless microphones; GRAMMY/Emmy Award-winning engineer David Hewitt's Remote Recording provided the 5.1 production mix, while MTVN's R8 mobile recording truck supplied the 5.1 music mix.
Audio-Technica endorser Kenny Chesney repeated his 2004 win as CMA's Entertainer of the Year. Chesney performed using Audio-Technica's Artist Elite 5000 Series UHF Wireless System, with the AEW-T3300 microphone/transmitter and AEW-R5200 true diversity frequency-agile dual receiver. 5000 Series wireless systems were also used by Miranda Lambert and Audio-Technica endorser Jason Aldean.
Elliot Scheiner, known for his work with leading artists such as Steely Dan, Van Morrison, Fleetwood Mac, Sting, Foo Fighters, The Eagles, Nine Inch Nails, Aerosmith and many others, was the Music Producer at this year's CMA's and was pleased to have Audio-Technica back as the major microphone supplier. "I've been working on the CMA Awards show for the past five years and we've been using Audio-Technica for as long as I can remember," stated Scheiner. "The reason we use A-T is because of durability, reliability and of course, the high quality audio they deliver - especially the wireless systems. In all my years at the CMAs, we have never had a problem with an A-T mic. . . . Everyone agrees, this year's show sounds better than any one we've ever done."
In addition, a wide array of Audio-Technica hard-wired mics was also employed for the broadcast, including: the new Artist Series ATM250DE on kick; Artist Series ATM350 on strings, rack and floor toms; Artist Series ATM650 for snare; AT4033 on bass guitar; AT4040 and AT4050 guitar cabinets and overheads; AT4041 for hi-hat; AT4051 on ride cymbals; and AE5400 on vocals.
Michael Abbott, Audio Coordinator for this year's CMAs, commented: "Once again, A-T continues to be a key partner at the CMA Awards. When you are doing a live broadcast, there is just one chance to get things right. And working with A-T, that gives me one less thing to worry about when putting a show of this scale together."
(Chris Henry)
