Marc Anthony performs onstage during the 14th Annual Latin Grammy Awards. Photo by Michael Tran/FilmMagic.
LAS VEGAS—The Latin Grammy Awards, which was televised live on Univision from the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, featured live performances by Latin music stars, most of whom used Shure microphones for their vocals and backline.
The show was co-hosted by actors Omar Chaparro and Blanca Soto along with actress/singer Lucero. Together they showcased a number of performances, including Carlos Vives (UR2/SM58), Alejandro Sanz with students from Berklee College of Music (UR2/SM58), Pitbull (UR2/SM58), Marc Anthony (UR2/KSM9HS) and Carlos Santana with Juanes (UR2/KSM9).
As the night’s biggest winners, Marc Anthony, Carlos Vives and Draco Rosa took home awards for Recording of the Year (“Vivir mi Vida”), Song of the Year (“Volvi a Nacer”) and Record of the Year (“Vida”). Shure endorsers that won a Latin Grammy include artists like Bajofondo (Best Alternative Song and Best Alternative Album), and Alex Cuba (Best Short Music Video). Other artists that made history that evening were Gaby Moreno (Best New Artist) and Beto Cuevas (Best Pop/Rock Album).
Another highlight of the evening was Miguel Bosé, who was honored as the Latin Recording Academy’s 2013 Person of the Year, and was armed with a black Shure UR2/Beta 58. For this tribute performance, multiple artists performed some of his classic hits, including “Linda” by Gian Marco, Alex Cuba and Santiago Cruz, followed by Ricky Martin who performed “Bambú,” Laura Pausini who made a version of “Te Amaré,” Juanes and Bosé shared in a duet on “Nada Particular” and Natalia Lafourcade/Illya Kuryaki who sang “Morena Mía.”
“The Shure RFs were all rock solid for me the whole week. I was impressed in particular with the sound of Natalie LaFourcade's acoustic guitar with your Beta 181 microphone,” said Broadcast Production Engineer Tom Holmes said. “I know she went through a whole slew of guitars before she found one she liked, but she was happy with that mic from the start.”
Usually the choice of lead vocal microphones is left up to the performers as a matter of policy. Past and present ceremonies have included either a Shure KSM9 or a Beta 58A. Other Shure microphones used were the Beta 181 on acoustic guitars and the KSM313’s on horns. Latin music also uses a lot of percussion – another application for Shure was the SM57 on congas and bongos. For monitoring the leading choice were Shure PSM 1000 in-ear monitors.
This year’s Latin Grammy Awards telecast on Univision drew an audience of over 10 million viewers in the U.S. It was the fifth most-watched program on all of broadcast television with more adult viewers than the entire line-ups of the major English stations.
