Last November when the Grammy nominations were revealed, the Recording Academy announced that it would be postponing the Immersive Audio award due to the pandemic — the committee that judges the award, which essentially recognizes superior sound quality, was unable to meet together in a suitable and safe environment with the appropriate high-end audio equipment — but issues related to sound seemed to be plaguing today’s virtual Premiere Ceremony as well.
As producers have pivoted to virtual awards and Zoom, technical glitches are not uncommon. Just the other week at the Golden Globes, Daniel Kaluuya experienced some audio difficulties after winning best supporting actor for “Judas and the Black Messiah.” As Kaluuya tried to deliver his speech, audiences could not hear him and the camera cut back to host Laura Dern (he later returned for a do-over).
But seeing as the Grammys primarily award outstanding sound, the multiple acceptance speeches during the Premiere Ceremony that suffered from echoing, distortion or absent volume felt like a big miss for a show of its stature.
This is not the first time the Grammy Awards has experienced glitches with their audio. During the live show in previous years, both Adele and Katy Perry have been some of the performers plagued with tech issues.
During Adele’s 2016 performance of “All I Ask,” the performer’s microphone cut out. It was later explained that there were audio issues with the piano mic. The singer tweeted, “The piano mics fell on the piano strings, that’s what the guitar sound was. It made it sound out of tune. S–t happens,” Adele explained. “Because of it though… I’m treating myself to an in n out. So maybe it was worth it.”
PvNew has reached out to the Recording Academy for comment.
the funniest thing about the grammys are the sound problems and them just cutting of the people mid talking
— lissy❀ ♡’s harry (@bbyharoId) March 14, 2021
for a ceremony that is supposed to celebrate music, they do have a lot of problems with sound #grammys
— aimee (@heylouisblue) March 14, 2021
The way they just skipped that one man in the middle of his speech because there wasn’t any sound… RUDE #GRAMMYs
— melis⁷|
