Episode #263 – Black Box Money, Background Music And Grammy Audio Co-Ordinator Michael Abbott

My guest today is Michael Abbott, who started in television audio doing front-of-house sound for projects like the opening and closing ceremonies for the Olympics and the Academy awards, to working for the major television networks as a staff mixer on a variety of shows. Michael now heads the sound design, engineering and consulting company All Ears, where he not only co-ordinates the audio for the Grammy Awards show, but shows like The Voice and Shark Tank, presidential debates and awards shows like the ESPYs, the Country Music Awards, and the Oscars. In the interview we talked about the massiveness of the Grammy audio setup, keeping the performers happy, the super-fast sound checks involved, some of the last minute problems he’s presented with, and much more. On the intro I'll take a look at Black Box money that songwriters aren’t receiving and the fight over it, and how a new study determined that background music doesn’t really help your concentration.