This year’s Academy Awards saw the event’s production team use 50 channels of Shure Axient Digital wireless, monitoring the spectrum with Shure Wireless Workbench. The team, comprised of professionals from ATK and Soundtronics, also used 16 channels of Q5X PlayerMics that were combined with Axient Digital wireless receivers to deliver superior digital transmission and spectrum efficiency.

Originally developed for the NBA, Q5X PlayerMics are particularly concealable, and are designed with Shure Axient Digital radios. Each Q5X PlayerMic was paired with Shure’s TwinPlex Premium Subminiature microphones to provide the most transparent audio while being easily concealed.

‘Unlike Broadway shows where the performers are trained to project their voices, movie actors prefer to speak confidentially, like they do on film sets,’ says Academy Awards Sound Producer, Pat Baltzell. ‘So, the challenge is more difficult to get their voices to the back row in a 3,300-seat theatre. We also chose to use the TwinPlex lavs on the drummers/vocalists for the Osage Tribal performance of ‘Wahzhazhe’ from Killers of the Flower Moon because we could pick up more of the vocal compared to the drum using judicious microphone placement.’

‘Throughout the Academy Awards, Shure’s Axient Digital delivered outstanding, reliable wireless for performers and presenters,’ says Soundtronics RF Coordinator, Stephen Vaughn. ‘In some cases, we paired Axient Digital with Q5X PlayerMics, which allowed us to offer even more flexibility and concealability for performers. Meanwhile, Wireless Workbench provided the monitoring capabilities necessary to help deliver a seamless event.’

Notably, all handheld presenters throughout the event used Axient Digital (AD2) transmitters that were equipped with Shure KSM9 condenser microphone capsules. Every single vocal performance throughout the evening trusted Shure Axient Digital (AD2) transmitters as well.

For Ryan Gosling’s performance of ‘I’m Just Ken’, the Barbie star sang into a KSM9 microphone capsule, while Jon Batiste performed his ballad ‘It Never Went Away’, written for the documentary American Symphony, singing into a Shure KSM8 dynamic microphone capsule. Andrea Bocelli and Matteo Bocelli shared an intense performance of ‘Time to Say Goodbye’ for the memorial segment using KSM9 microphone capsules. Music for the performance was arranged and produced by Hans Zimmer.

‘Congratulations to all of the individuals who worked on this year’s Academy Awards. It’s a joy to collaborate with this team to determine the technology that can meet the requirements of such a prestigious event,’ says Jenn Liang-Chaboud, Manager of Entertainment Relations, at Shure.

More: www.shure.com