Audio-Technica on CMA Country Christmas
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Audio-Technica’s third-generation 5000 Series frequency-agile true-diversity UHF wireless system powered the vocals for the event: Dustin Lynch sang through an A-T ATW-C6100 capsule, and Michael W. Smith and The Isaacs both used the A-T ATW-C5400 capsule.
The show, which was taped on 27 September, also used an assortment of wired A-T microphones, including eight A-T AT4050 large-diaphragm condenser microphones used on the choir, an AT4050ST large-diaphragm stereo condenser microphone used for the backline grand piano, and an AT5045P cardioid condenser microphones (stereo pair) on Diana Krall’s piano.
Clean Wireless Audio Owner Jason Glass, the wireless RF coordinator for the CMA on this and other events, managed the wireless systems.
“This was the third time I’ve done the wireless on the CMA Country Christmas show, but the first time I’ve used the third generation version of A-T’s 5000 Series system, and all I can do is rave about how good it was to work with,” observes Glass, who has also run wireless RF microphone systems for the annual CMA Awards as well as festival shows at Nashville’s Nissan Stadium, including the annual CMA Fest.
The RF system employed Glass’s own RF helical antennas located on trusses approximately 40ft in the air with 125ft coaxial looms connecting to the RF system, “and the RF service room was located across the corridor and under the bleachers, so it was very remote,” he recalls. “But we just dropped the A-T 5000 Series into our wideband antenna distribution system, and it worked immediately and flawlessly.”
But the real test of any microphone is how it sounds, and Glass says the 5000 Series and the A-T capsules made for a merry Christmas show indeed. “All of us agreed that it sounded like a wired microphone, and that’s the highest compliment you can pay to a wireless mic,” he says.
(Jim Evans)
