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A look at the technical side of the Grammys

By Ella Pravetz

Feb. 15, 2013 12:12 p.m.

It takes over 4,500 employees to put on the Grammys each year, and most of them aren’t celebrities or performers.

This year for the 55th annual Grammy Awards ceremony, the Grammy Producers and Engineers Wing reached out to the Daily Bruin offering a backstage tour of the technical side of the Grammys, so that the Bruin could bring secrets about what goes on behind the camera and below the stage to UCLA students.

Here are some entertaining, behind the scenes facts about the 55th annual Grammy Awards that you probably didn’t know:

1. There is practically a city underneath the Staples Center arena filled with trucks, trailers and miles and miles of cable. Audio is run from the Horizon and Eclipse trucks outside the arena, where two audio mixers work simultaneously on mixing the music for each of the performances, then sent to another truck located under the arena called Denali. The Denali truck is where all the video and audio is combined, including other sound bits, like the audience’s reactions. It all gets packaged and sent to another trailer that broadcasts the sound to millions of viewers worldwide.

Essentially, there are a lot of trailers filled with expensive equipment and highly talented professionals, doing video to audio work in extremely high stress situations.

2. One trailer underneath the arena is specifically devoted to the use of the software Pro Tools, which provides a way of organizing and editing pre-recorded tracks. The use of the software depends on the theatricality of a performer’s act. If one artist is onstage by themselves, like Frank Ocean during his performance of “Forrest Gump,” that artist will require more pre-recorded accompaniments.

The audio technicians in the Pro Tools trailer collect the pre-recorded tracks that artists bring with them, and organize them into their own system so they can be accessible when needed. A great deal of thought was put into making a foolproof system that wouldn’t shut down, even if it was cut off from power sources.

3. All of a artists’ instrument setups are waiting on a ramp backstage, already completely wired, so they can easily be rolled onto the stage and plugged in for quick changeovers between acts. There are a total of 160 stagehands who help orchestrate these changes.

4. Every performer gets their own dressing room and a personal designer to accommodate their specific requests. Elton John was one of the few performers this year to dictate exactly what he wanted. Rihanna’s dressing room was draped with red, gold and green fabric (rastafari colors) in reference to the Bob Marley tribute she was a part of.

5. During the band fun.’s “Carry On” performance, about five gallons of water were dumped on the band to simulate rain. All of the wireless microphones had to be coated and sealed with scotchgard to protect them from getting wet or damaged.

There was a wireless station underneath the stage to deal with specific concerns, including prepping every individual microphone. This group of technicians had to keep track of wireless microphones, wireless ear mics that were put into artists ears seconds before they entered the stage, and wireless guitars.

6. Justin Timberlake’s personal microphone was chrome.

7. Jack White’s piano wasn’t actually painted white. It had a shiny white, vinyl sticker that looked like paint stuck onto it. The sticker could easily be peeled off after the show so the piano would not be permanently painted.

8. Each of the giant screens that moved up and down on the stage weighed about 2,000 pounds.

9. Behind the raised platform that hosted many of the main pieces of camera equipment and controls, a section of seats is reserved for a group of paid “fillers.” If one of the celebrities sitting in the front does not make it back to their seat in time after a commercial break, a filler who approximately matches that celebrities appearance sits in their seat until the next commercial break so it does not look empty.

10. The center seating area for the Grammy Awards is sitting on top of the Staples Center’s basketball court, which sits on top of an ice rink.

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Ella Pravetz
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