Audio-Technica's Artist Elite 5000 Series UHF Wireless System was used with the AEW-T5400 handheld microphone/transmitter for frontline vocals on performances by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five (Kid Creole, Cowboy, Grandmaster Flash, Melle Mel, Mr. Ness, Raheim), Aretha Franklin, Sammy Hagar, The Ronettes featuring Ronnie Spector, and bandleader Paul Schaffer.
Other microphones on the event included Audio-Technica's AE2500, AE5400, AT4047/SV, AT4050, AT4054, AT4055, AE5100, ATM23HE, ATM25, ATM350 and ATM610.
The technical staff for the induction ceremony was made up of professional audio industry legends in their own right. Mitch Maketansky returned as audio coordinator this year, organising and assigning all the inputs and microphones for the event. Remote recording specialists XM Productions/Effanel Music, the company responsible for both recording the programme and mixing the broadcast, deployed its remote truck with Grammy Award-winner John Harris as lead engineer, mixing the event's audio onsite, while Jorge Silva was the production mixer. In addition, Dave Natale was FOH engineer and Tom Holmes was the monitor mixer.
John Harris remarked, "Audio-Technica has been a mainstay at high profile award shows and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony is no exception. When you're doing a complex production like this, having group of products with the sound quality and dependability of A-T provides a level of comfort for both the mixers and artists - and that is very important."
(Jim Evans)