Shure PSM1000 at Country Music Awards

	Taylor Swift

Shure products shared the spotlight with several of country music's top artists and bands at the 45th annual Country Music Association (CMA) Awards show, which aired live on ABC-TV on Wednesday, November 9. Monitor engineers Jason Spence and Mike Parker relied almost exclusively on the new Shure PSM1000 personal monitor system for most of the live performances in Nashville.

"The sensitivity and the noise floor on the PSM1000 are amazing," said Spence. "Sonically, the stereo spectrum is wide and the system has unbelievable clarity. What I can provide to artists with this system both sonically and in RF stability allows me to do my job better."

For the broadcast, Spence and Parker used 14 channels of PSM1000, with 28 receivers covering almost all of the performances on the main stage and on a satellite stage at the back of the Bridgestone Arena. Due to the varying distances of the two stages from the monitor mix position, they adjusted the output power on each of the transmitters with some at 10mW, some at 50mW, and others at 100mW to compensate for the different distances to each stage.

"The diversity belt pack is a key benefit in our industry," added Parker. "Artists must have and expect a solid RF signal first and the PSM1000 is unmatched."

New Shure endorsers, The Band Perry, were the evening's big winners, taking home awards for Single of the Year and Song of the Year for their hit, "If I Die Young," and New Artist of the Year. They used three custom-painted Shure Super 55 microphones to perform their new single, "All Your Life."

Several other artists and bands used Shure UHF-R wireless and PSM1000 systems for their performances, including Entertainer of the Year award winner, Taylor Swift, who performed with a UR2/Beta 58, and Sara Evans, Vince Gill, Luke Bryan, and Rascal Flatts, who relied on UR2/SM58 transmitters. In addition, program co-hosts Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley once again used Shure UR2 transmitters for their performances.

Longtime Shure endorser Martina McBride also performed, singing her hit, "I'm Gonna Love You Through It," using her "go to" microphone, a wired SM58.

The PSM1000 systems and almost all of the UHF-R Wireless Systems were provided by ATK AudioTek.

The broadcast mix for the show was done by production mixer J. Mark King, and the music mix duties were shared by John Harris and Jay Vicari of Music Mix Mobile (M3). The live music mix was handled by front-of-house engineer Rick Shimer, of Blackhawk Audio.