During a ceremony that featured no less than 23 live performances, Beyonc 's powerful rendition of Thomas A. Dorsey's Take My Hand, Precious Lord' - a traditional gospel hymn also sung by Mahalia Jackson at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s funeral in 1968 - was the emotional pinnacle of the evening. Dressed in an angelic white gown and standing reverently amidst a choir of 12 men and a swooning church organ, Beyonc 's vocal navigated effortlessly through the quiet valleys and explosive passages of the timeless hymn.
Sacred Music' and the Sennheiser Digital 9000
The Sennheiser Digital 9000 was successful in capturing every nuance of Beyonc 's extraordinary range and vocal expression. For this particular performance, she wanted to go for an old school vibe of singing in a church, observes Stephen Curtin, Beyonc 's FOH Engineer. I had 100 percent confidence in the Digital 9000, since we just used it on Beyonc and Jay Z's stadium tour, where it was rock solid. People may not be aware of this, but Beyonc 's GRAMMY performance was right in front of the P.A. system with SPLs reaching approximately 100 dB. We ran the vocals on top of all this without any issues at all. Having that kind of control is an entirely new experience in itself.
At monitors, James Berry was pleased with the performance of the SKM 9000 transmitter and MD 9235 capsule combination: The audio was pure and clean, and represented her vocal better than any other microphone out there. With the Digital 9000, you get out exactly what you put in - and this translates to in-ear monitors, the FOH mix and the broadcast world. At FOH, Curtin appreciates the Digital 9000's ultra-wide frequency spectrum and its ability to handle Beyonc s powerful, dynamic voice: Distortion is just something we have never experienced with the SKM 9000, and with the digital HD transmission, you are not losing anything at all.
Mixing Sam Smith: Nothing Less than Perfection'
The audience was completely transfixed when Mary J. Blige joined Sam Smith on stage for an emotionally charged performance of his instant classic Stay With Me'. Smith crooned through a Sennheiser SKM 2000 handheld transmitter coupled with an MMK 965 capsule, while Blige provided capable accompaniment singing through her Sennheiser SKM 5200 transmitter / Neumann KK 105 S capsule combination.
Simon Thomas, FOH Engineer for Sam Smith, has not been fazed by Smith's spectacular rise to fame, or his success at the GRAMMYs. I always had this feeling that Sam would go all the way, ever since I mixed his first American show in July of 2013, he says. Thomas was extremely careful when selecting the right capsule for Smith's voice, which has extraordinary range and power. I chose the Sennheiser 965 capsule for its extremely smooth response. Also I needed a microphone that was going to be very sensitive in the quiet moments, yet could also take a good old spanking when we pushed it.
In terms of reliability and RF performance, Thomas expects nothing less than perfection: I have no tolerance for RF interference, since my attention has to be on mixing the show, he says. To be honest, I have been using Sennheiser transmitters and receivers for over a year and a half now and I can't remember ever having a single RF issue.
Madonna's performance of Living For Love' was highlighted with her singing through a Sennheiser SKM 5200 transmitter coupled with an MD 5005 capsule, along with a Sennheiser 2000 IEM wireless system for monitoring. Meanwhile, Annie Lennox put her special brand of sizzle on Howlin' Wolf's I Put A Spell On You , singing through a Neumann KMS 105 wired condenser microphone. Later in the evening, Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga turned on the charm with a playfully romantic performance of Cheek To Cheek - which saw them both singing through a Sennheiser SKM 5200 transmitter and Neumann KK 105 S capsule combination.
Over the course of the evening, hosts and presenters such as Smokey Robinson, Miley Cyrus, LL Cool J and others used Sennheiser SKM 5200 handheld transmitters both on and off stage, coupled with with Neumann KK 105 S capsules.
Sennheiser: Supporting the Home Team
In addition to having its products represented in the vast majority of GRAMMY performances, Sennheiser was also on the ground to support the event's enclave of FOH engineers, monitor engineers, broadcast professionals and RF technicians. We wanted to use the Digital 9000 for the Grammys, but the sound vendor that we normally source it from had it out on another project, recalls Stephen Curtin. We called up Sennheiser and asked if they could send a unit out, and before we knew it we had one on the ground with a complete microphone package. To be able to get a wireless system of that caliber so quickly was a great example of the support we received.
Having reached over 25 million viewers through its broadcast over CBS, the GRAMMY Awards also set the social media sphere alight and was ranked the biggest social entertainment program of the 2014-2015 season by Nielsen Social, with over one million impressions.
Download full press release
Link to document
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
Blackmagic Design Cameras Empower Youth Broadcasting Program
Brie Clayton July 3, 2026
0 Comments
Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro and Blackmagi...
04/07/2026
iZotope Joins Boris FX
Boris Yamnitsky July 3, 2026
0 Comments
iZotope, the team behind RX and Ozone, is joining Boris FX. A letter from founder Boris...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
03/07/2026
New bundle & three Single Packs
Continuing to expand their already sizeable orchestral collection, VSL's latest release introduces three new Single Pack...
03/07/2026
Venue installs new ATC-equipped control room
LSO St Luke's, a unique music venue that also serves as the home of the London Symphony Orchestra, have rec...
03/07/2026
Caden Pearson appointed new Commissioning Editor for NITV
3 July, 2026
Media releases
National Indigenous Television (NITV) has strengthened its commitment...
03/07/2026
1 February 2023
SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email
Munich, Germany, 1st February 2023: Cinegy GmbH, the premier provider of software technology for digit...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Death Star
Andy Marken July 2, 2026
0 Comments
Look, I can't get involved. I've got work to do. It's not that I like the Empire; I hate i...
03/07/2026
Berklee's New Visual Identity: Honoring Our History, Building for What's...
03/07/2026
Scripps Research scientists awarded $2M to advance global disease surveillance Two Gates Foundation grants will expand wastewater surveillance and AI-driven dis...
03/07/2026
Joan Pulupa joins Scripps Research faculty to study the organization of DNA in brain cells and its links to neurodegeneration Using smell-sensing neurons and ad...
02/07/2026
Entering her senior year, this hometown girl is paving a career in live sports production gaining experience in replay and audio and as a TD
In the live-sports...
02/07/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
02/07/2026
BLAST, a competitive entertainment company focused on esports, has announced more than $133 million in revenue for 2025, representing more than 40% year-over-ye...
02/07/2026
Riedel Communications has announced official SKAARHOJ panel support for SimplyLive production workflows, enabled through the SimplyLive 2.1 release. The integra...
02/07/2026
The Fire Rescue Service of the Czech Republic has deployed LiveU video-over-bond...
02/07/2026
Gravity Media USA has announced the appointment of Brittney Boston as Head of Business Development, effective July 1, 2026. Based in Nashville, Tennessee, Bosto...
02/07/2026
TwelveLabs, a video intelligence company, has announced $100 million in Series B funding co-led by NEA and NAVER Ventures, with participation from Amazon, Radic...
02/07/2026
The Pro Padel League (PPL) has announced a broadcast partnership with USA Sports that will air five PPL championship matches on CNBC during the 2026 season, the...
02/07/2026
LiveLike, a digital fan engagement platform, has announced eight confirmed FIFA ...
02/07/2026
Cobalt Digital has received Future's Best of Show Award, presented by AV Technology at InfoComm 2026, for its blueCORE family of standalone signal processor...
02/07/2026
Synamedia has announced the appointment of Dr. Tzvi Gerstl as Chief Executive Officer. Paul Segre, who has served as CEO for the past six years, will transition...
02/07/2026
The Esports Foundation (EF) and Sony Group Corporation have announced an expanded collaboration for the Esports World Cup 2026 (EWC), taking place in Paris, Fra...
02/07/2026
Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. ( Z') has announced exclusive broadcast and digital rights for the Bundesliga in India for five years, beginning with the...
02/07/2026
An effort uniting News, Sports, Local, and Telemundo, the 50+-camera live produc...
02/07/2026
Zoey Deutch, John Slattery, Ken Marino, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, and Ben Wang appe...
02/07/2026
Stammering, stuttering, strangulated tones
The Crow Hill Company's latest creation promises to be the most original sound set they've produced to d...
02/07/2026
A new era in unmixing and spectral editing
The latest version of Steinberg's spectral audio-editing software has just arrived, building on the strength...
02/07/2026
Aims to simplify additive synthesis
Sine Machine is the debut launch from Melatonin, a Vienna-based developer who have spent the past six years creating wha...
02/07/2026
Products to remain fully active & supported
Following the news of Native Instruments joining the inMusic brand line-up, Academy and Emmy Award-winning visua...
02/07/2026
What you missed!
Last weekend, Saturday 27 June 2026, saw the debut of Sound On Sounds new GearExpo UK event, the largest dedicated pro-audio event to take ...
02/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/07/2026
Following the successful launch of its inaugural APAC Mentoring Programme last month, the Rise AV APAC Regional Council will bring the conversation around mento...
02/07/2026
Blackmagic PYXIS 6K Used to Shoot Director Takahisa Zeze's Cry Out
Brie Clayton July 2, 2026
0 Comments
Highly mobile camera supports tense and de...
02/07/2026
Broadcast Solutions acquires BFE, expanding its lead in European broadcast, medi...
02/07/2026
Berklee Alum and Faculty Perform at Boston Public Library's 250th Anniversar...
02/07/2026
Broadcast Solutions GmbH, a leading systems integrator and provider of innovative solutions for the broadcast media industry, is acquiring BFE Studio und Medien...
02/07/2026
Cinegy GmbH, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has extended the ingest facility at leading Brazilian sports company LiveMode, work...
02/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/07/2026
Standalone processors acknowledged for the innovation and value they bring to Pro AV
Cobalt Digital, a leading designer and manufacturer of signal processing ...
02/07/2026
Synamedia announced today the appointment of Dr Tzvi Gerstl as Chief Executive Officer. Paul Segre, who has served as CEO for the past six years, will transitio...
02/07/2026
Screen Australia backs audience-led filmmaking with new insight-driven initiativ...
02/07/2026
Screen Australia refines guidelines for Narrative Content Development and Docume...
During a ceremony that featured no less than 23 live performances, Beyonc 's powerful rendition of Thomas A. Dorsey's Take My Hand, Precious Lord' - a traditional gospel hymn also sung by Mahalia Jackson at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s funeral in 1968 - was the emotional pinnacle of the evening. Dressed in an angelic white gown and standing reverently amidst a choir of 12 men and a swooning church organ, Beyonc 's vocal navigated effortlessly through the quiet valleys and explosive passages of the timeless hymn. 
