The show has used the same RF format for over a decade, with some 12 radio-comms channels, as well as numerous radio mic frequencies, but the reducing RF spectrum available across Europe - due to the growth of digital TV - meant that there was simply insufficient clear radio space available in Antwerp.
The sound for We Will Rock You - a Stage Entertainment production - is being supplied by Orbital Sound, with Orbital's Dan Bailey as production sound engineer, and Richard Sharratt the show's associate sound designer.
Tom Byrne, sales director at Orbital Sound, explained the background to the radio comms challenge, "We foresee this kind of problem becoming increasingly commonplace for the larger productions, as the available spectrum - particularly for analogue radio comms - is a diminishing resource. Handling the sound for a big musical, for example, will become more of a challenge, and in some regions it will be practically impossible.
"The fit-out for We Will Rock You effectively hit a spectrum roadblock in Antwerp, and the only solution was to move the radio comms frequencies up into the GHz area. We identified that the recently-introduced HME DX210 2-channel digital system would be the most appropriate tool for the job. Operating in the 2.4GHz band, the fully-duplex DX210 is therefore in a safe spectral zone.
"Comprising a base station and twelve belt-packs, we dispatched the system by the quickest courier we could find. It arrived in Antwerp, they switched it on, it worked straight out of the box - problem solved! So the new 12-way HME digital system has replaced the show's previous technology, which was some ten years old and, due to the growing spectrum restrictions, had quite simply run out of road."
(Jim Evans)
