With more than 100 million people watching around the U.S. — and another 50-65 million watching around the globe — many eyes and ears tuned in to one of the biggest nights in sports.
From the Super Bowl pre-game show, a rousing rendition of the national anthem by Demi Lovato, referee mics, sideline reports, and the high-energy halftime performance by Jennifer Lopez and Shakira, Shure played an integral role in bringing the sounds of the game to a worldwide audience.
Lopez, a Shure endorser since 2016, and her daughter, Emme Muñiz, performed together on Axient Digital ADX2FD with customised KSM8 microphones. Muñiz sang with a gold mic and Jennifer used a custom crystal silver one as well as a second custom crystal black Shure KSM8 to coincide with her wardrobe change.
Columbian-born rapper J. Balvin joined the stage at halftime sporting an Axient Digital ADX2 with a KSM9HS microphone capsule. In addition, 164 Shure P10R Diversity wireless bodypack receivers for in-ear monitors were used during the halftime show as well.
“For the third year in a row, we relied heavily on Shure Axient Digital Wireless Microphones for the Super Bowl Halftime Show,” said Gary Trenda, Lead RF Technician for Professional Wireless Systems (PWS), which was hired by ATK Audiotek to handle wireless microphones and IEM systems for the pre-game, halftime entertainment and referee. “We utilised the system’s Frequency Diversity and Quadversity capabilities to deliver reliable wireless
audio this event requires.”
The ceremonies officially started with a magical performance from Yolanda Adams, who sang “America the Beautiful” on Axient Digital ADX2 with a BETA 58A. Lovato, in her second awe-inspiring performance on back-to-back Sundays after performing at the GRAMMYS, delivered a flawless rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner” on Axient Digital ADX2FD with an SM58.
Fox Sports’ pre-game, halftime and post-game shows relied on 20 channels of Shure Axient Digital. With difficult RF conditions in Miami, Axient Digital allowed many wireless channels to coexist within a single TV channel of frequency availability. This enabled the event to also operate 22 channels of Shure PSM 1000 in-ear personal monitoring systems. Using Wireless Workbench, the audio team was able to closely monitor all of the gear throughout the entire program.
“The versatility of the Shure Axient digital and analogue units were an integral part of our pre, halftime and post-game shows in a very hostile RF situation,” said Chris Eckert, Lead RF Technician at Soundtronics Wireless, Las Vegas.
“The use of interference detection mixed with real time frequency hopping made a sticky situation into a breeze. Alongside with the PSM 1000s range and clarity to cover all the walks that talent had to do on this constantly moving show to ensure they had IFB coverage wherever they went.”
Referees were outfitted with Shure’s newest line of premium subminiature microphones, TwinPlex, which were officially launched after last year’s Super Bowl. The TL47 model was used with ADX1 with ShowLink in bodypack frequency diversity.
The sideline interview mics used by Erin Andrews and Chris Myers were powered by Shure Axient Digital with Quadversity, a patented technology leveraging four simultaneous RF inputs to feed a single RF channel. In hostile RF environments like the Super Bowl, Quadversity can extend the coverage area of a microphone channel or enable multiple coverage areas with additional antenna inputs.
CP Communications, a leading provider of live event broadcast production solutions, managed the sideline microphones for the Super Bowl, as they have for the majority of FOX, CBS and ESPN NFL coverage. This also included field effects audio, such as parabolic dishes. They also used Axient Digital for NFL Network at Opening Night on South Beach and at the stadium. Loren Sherman managed exceptional RF coordination for the various
activities.
Shure was also prevalent at other major NFL broadcast events leading up to the Super Bowl, including the AFC Championship game press conferences and the NFL Honors special. For the AFC Championship game, Freeman provided 64 channels across multiple rooms of Axient Digital. To produce the NFL Honors broadcast, ATK provided 20 channels of Axient Digital, four channels of UHF-R and eight channels of PSM 1000.