Front-of-house music mixer Jamie Pollock took a few minutes during rehearsals for the 66th Annual GRAMMY® Awards at the Crypto.com Arena (formerly the Staples Center) in Los Angeles to talk to Live Design about some of the gear he is using, the biggest challenges, and how this massive live for broadcast event differs from life on the road.
Pollock is using a DiGiCo Quantum 7 Digital Mixing Console provided by audio vendor ATK Audiotek, now owned by Lititz, PA-based Clair Global, saying “It is traditionally used for this show, and it makes the most amount of sense for channel count, flexibility, backups, and being able to handle the infrastructure required.” Pollock has a few other elements to work with. He says, “I try to keep everything internal, just because it makes things easier and quicker, but I have a couple of select outboard pieces of gear, including a pair of Bricasti Design processors and we are running Waves SuperRack SoundGrid too, so we have some plugins available if needed, and then I have a multitrack so I can record and do a virtual playback offline.
Pollock has worked front of house for Depeche Mode, Peter Gabriel, Nine Inch Nails, and Jeff Beck, among others, but he says, “As far as mixing goes, it is very similar to what I would do on tour. But for the GRAMMY's, in this world it is more about understand the different elements of the TV show and how you fit into the bigger picture. It is not just about one performer, and there are different departments you have to interface with, to me that’s the biggest difference. And it is more structured as far as scheduling goes because you are working with so many other departments.”
Last year’s GRAMMY award show was watched by more than 12 million people, three million more than watched in 2022, and the show is broadcast live, so the pressure is on. Pollock says his largest concern is making sure everything works. He says, “We are in a world with a lot of computers and a lot of elements that must work together. You need to have a back-up plan for everything, and I am always thinking about alternate workflows, building in redundancy, and making sure everything is in sync.”
Since Pollock has worked with several of the 14 acts and special guests before, we wondered if familiarity was useful. “Yes, but also, I’ve seen a lot of these acts live and in other TV shows, and that definitely helps. It’s good to be prepared for all their expectations. This show stands out to me because of the attention to the smallest details in the mix. How it’s represented in the house is important because it’s filled with the artists, engineers and producers who created it, and they deserve to have their work honored. It’s nice to be able to mix at a low volume and be a part of this process.”