EVENT FOCUS: Powersoft at the Grammys
Opposite: FOH position at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards. Below: FOH Engineer, Ron Reaves; The ceremony featured 72 Powersoft K10 amplifiers; Tom Pesa, Monitor Mixer.
is more or less predictable: “The Staples Center was built more as a sports venue as much as a concert venue, and it never changes acoustically or structurally. Therefore, the tuning and sonic adjustments we are making are based on the scenic design.”
and previous show settings from this venue, fire them up and be ready to go,” he commented. “This saves a tonne of time because we don’t have to start from scratch when we are tuning a room, and of course time is at a premium.” Despite the convenience of set up, Stewart
“We are never concerned about a Powersoft failure, and they have proven to be extremely reliable...” Mikael Stewart, ATK Audiotek’s VP of Special Events
Powersoft’s Armonia DSP system played an integral role in set up and room tuning, since ATK was able to use DSP presets from past Grammy Award held at the Staples Center, said Stewart: “We can easily call up previous years 34
asserted that reliability is the single, defining factor for a high-profile event such as the Grammy Awards: “Everyone is going to have a comment or an artistic choice on a certain sound, depending on where they are sitting
in the room, or how a speaker sounds. But when it comes down to it, everybody notices a failure, and we can’t afford that,” he said. “We are never concerned about a Powersoft failure, and they have proven to be extremely reliable.” Stewart added the Powersoft is a “very smooth sounding amp” and that the addition of Armonia software only adds to the cache of Powersoft. Beyond the reliability, great sound and tangible time reductions, Powersoft amplifiers continue to deliver on efficiency measures particularly when it comes to the amplifiers’ tremendous output capability and minimal physical footprint. “The fact that we can get so much power into a 6U rack is always a consideration and a definite saving,” Stewart observed. “When we are pairing up these Powersoft amps with JBL speakers that have to travel across the country, trucking weight and volume counts. Producers are very aware of potential cost savings in these areas, and it’s another way Powersoft routinely delivers for us.” Although the event was once again a rousing technical success for ATK Audiotek - and by extension Powersoft - Stewart said that the evening’s tribute performances were bittersweet. “We lost many A-level musicians this year, and the many tributes at the show last week were very moving - particularly the David Bowie sequence by Lady Gaga and Nile Rodgers. This emotional connection is a reminder of why many of us got into this business in the first place.” TPi www.grammy.com www.powersoft-audio.com