Given the many outdoor, concert and corporate events Chaps undertake for high-profile UK clients, they are often working in very crowded RF environments in the centre of large cities, and were attracted to Axient and ULX-D for their ability to minimise interference, and for the remote control and monitoring facilities afforded by using the systems in conjunction with Shure Wireless Workbench 6 management software.
"We got the Axient and ULX-D systems when we were asked to provide radio mics for a Microsoft conference in Barcelona last year," explains Chaps Production Company founder Steve Ludlam. "We've been users of Shure's UHF-R systems, but in our experience the available spectrum can be very limited in Spain, as it is in urban areas here, and we had 14 rooms to cover with radio mics, so we thought it was worth taking a step up.
"Shure Distribution UK were very helpful; the Barcelona conference was awarded to us at fairly short notice and it was literally a case of going to the SDUK HQ and building the racks on the spot, then taking it out of the country. Axient specialist Tuomo Tolonen provided invaluable assistance and training in the limited time available. The Microsoft conference went off well, and then out of the blue, we were asked to provide the RF microphone systems for their Xbox One launch in Leicester Square last November. We do a lot of events in Leicester Square and its proximity to the West End makes it a very challenging, crowded RF environment. It was a perfect test for Axient and ULX-D."
The star-studded Xbox One launch lasted several hours, with two presenters, Channel 4's Rick Edwards and BT Sport's Sian Welby, working from a stage in the middle of Leicester Square. Numerous competitions and giveaways took place throughout the evening and musical entertainment was provided by Katy B, Sway and Plan B.
Chaps FOH engineer Dave Paton devoted their four channels of Axient to the two presenters' handheld mics. The musical acts were miked up with the new ULX-D systems, using Shure Beta 58 heads, and the entire wireless setup for the show was drawn up and monitored with the latest version of Shure's real-time monitoring and configuration software, Wireless Workbench 6.
"Wireless Workbench is amazing for events like that," comments Steve Ludlam. "In places like Leicester Square, despite all your pre-planning, unexpected media people often turn up to the event you've set up and licensed radio frequencies for and just start using them without permission - I'm often staring at a display of green frequencies that are turning orange and red just as the presenter is taking to the stage."
(Jim Evans)
