Shure powers Eurovision with Axient Digital
- Details
With more than 40 artists on stage and an estimated audience of nearly 200m, viewers across Europe, the 2021 Eurovision edition needed a wireless system that could meet every contestant’s demands.
“With Shure’s Axient Digital we found the perfect system to monitor and coordinate the complex audio set up that Eurovision required, in which sound quality and spectrum efficiency are key,” said Aart Heus, wireless coordination technician at Ampco Flashlight. “Shure’s Wireless Workbench was the most qualified software for it. The hardware not only provides control and stability, it is trustable and reliable which is essential for a show of this size.”
The Eurovision Song Contest relied on Shure’s gear and trusted its Axient Digital for the sound set up, including: 20 Axient Digital AD4Q Four Channel Quad receivers, 20 Axient Digital ADX2FD Handheld Wireless Microphone Transmitters including ShowLink Remote Control and 70 P10R+ Diversity Bodypack IEM Receivers.
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) is responsible every year for organising the Eurovision Song Contest. The 2021 edition was led by Erwin Rintiema, head of production. Together with host broadcasters NPO, NOS, AVROTROS and Ampco Flashlight, the official sound supplier for the contest, Shure Axient Digital was their go-to-solution to address the show’s demanding requirements.
“Shure was the perfect solution offered by Ampco Flashlight that matched all our requests,” added Jeroen ten Brinke, head of live sound at ESC. “The fact that channels are duplicated and can change frequency automatically when needed is an amazing feature. It was the best system in which we could trust for this major European event.”
As with other high-profile productions, Shure product specialists visited the stage before the performances to ensure that all artists’ and technical producers’ audio needs were met, and to make the return of the Eurovision Song contest the exceptional music experience it was expected to be.
“Sound and reliability are everything in an event like the Eurovision Song Contest and Axient Digital is the perfect system for meeting these expectations. The ESC is a highly complex event technically and it’s been an honour to work with Aart Heus and the rest of the production team to deliver a successful show,” remarked Tuomo Tolonen, senior director of pro audio in Western Europe at Shure.
Look out for LSi's coverage of the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 in our upcoming July issue.
