Recording and Production in the News

Backstage at the Grammy Awards for two lucky winners

London UK: At the end of January, William Robinson and Teddy Schrader were given a unique opportunity to see backstage preparations for the 2010 GRAMMY Awards in Los Angeles after winning a competition organised by Prism Sound and speaker manufacturer PMC.

racks of radio mic receivers backstage at the Grammys

The two British companies joined forces to sponsor The Recording Academy's P&E Wing 2010 Grammy Week Celebration, which took place at the Village Studios in west Los Angeles on January 27th. This connection enabled them to offer the tours as competition prizes. Demand was so great that there were more than 350 entrants vying for this golden opportunity.

William and Teddy were taken around the Los Angeles Convention Centre by Pro Audio Media Consultant Robbie Clyne. Teddy, who works as an audio coordinator and product technician in the corporate branded radio division of music production company DMI, says: "The tour was an amazing opportunity to see what is really required when organising such a large Awards event. I have worked in music for 10 years now and know how many moving parts there are to production, but even so I was really blown away by how much coordination is needed to pull the Grammys off."

Based in Pasadena, Teddy is a session guitarist, music teacher and live sound engineer in his spare time. For this visit he took fellow musician Corey McCormack as his guest and both said that seeing Green Day and The Black Eyed Peas rehearse was a highlight of the day.

"I got to take pictures and ask some really technical questions," Teddy adds. "Everyone we met was extremely polite, well informed, and candid with their responses. Often you see a lot of jaded people working production in the entertainment business, but they were all genuinely enjoying their job, and passionate about doing it well. That kind of enthusiasm is very contagious! I have never looked forward to watching the Grammys as much as I did this year. To see it all in construction beforehand was really a treat!"