Components from RF Venue are becoming go-to tools in the toolbox of Pro AV integrators and live sound providers working in any wireless audio environment and situation. Facing a wide array of challenges when it comes to wireless audio, these pros have found that RF Venue’s innovative products and technology make all the difference. Here are the stories of three teams—Las Vegas-based The Wave, Long Island-based Taylor Productions, and Clermont, Florida-based Frequency Productions—in particular.
The Wave Makes Jewel’s Audio a Gem
“We do a lot of club projects, often with well-known artists, and the biggest challenges lately have been LED walls, which are now quite prevalent in clubs,” said Scott Fisher, president of The Wave. He cites a recent show, an acoustic set by singer Jewel for an intimate charity fundraiser at the Tao Nightclub at Venetian Hotel on the Vegas Strip. “We used Shure PSM1000 IEMs plugged into the RF Venue COMBINE4 transmitter combiner driving an RF Venue CP Beam Antenna. I regularly use the RF Venue CP Beam for IEMs and their Diversity Fin Antenna with all my wireless mics—Shure Axient Digital and Sennheiser 6000 series—and they’re fantastic. No dropouts. The D-Fin antenna is also price-competitive when compared to a pair of passive paddle type antennas, and the fact that it mounts in a single spot using only one mic stand makes it very convenient to deploy. The COMBINE4 can also provide power to the Sennheiser Evolution series with the built-in power ports on the back and the provided cables. And the CP Beam is very convenient, as it compresses down to a much easier-to-transport form as well as being quite durable. Also, I like the fact that RF Venue pricing is very competitive with other brand products, and that spare parts are easily available and tech support questions are always answered quickly.”
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Fisher said he’s used this same complement of RF Venue gear for IEMs at shows including Jack Harlow at Zouk Nightclub at Resorts World, Meek Mill at Drais Nightclub in the Cromwell Hotel, Fat Joe at Tao Beach club at the Venetian Hotel, and dates with Saweetie, Sofi Tukker and Nelly at Hakkasan Nightclub/MGM Grand Hotel.
Happy (Interference-Free) Holidays
When the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) held a Fanatics media event last November featuring Fanatics founder Michael Rubin at its Midtown Manhattan headquarters, Taylor Productions, was ready to make sure every word of that holiday-themed announcement was heard loud and clear. “We had eight channels of Sennheiser G4 wireless microphones in the rack, and this was Broadway in the middle of Manhattan at the start of the holiday season, so you know there was going to be a lot of RF in the area,” recalled company owner Bill Taylor. Fortunately, Taylor also had two RF Venue DISTRO4 RF distribution systems in that same rack, as well as a 4ZONE antenna combiner. He paired these with a Diversity Fin Antenna located at the back of the room where he and his staff were mixing the press conference’s audio, as well as two low-profile Spotlight floor-pad antennas underneath the stage. Connected to each of the Spotlights and the Diversity Fin were RF Venue in-line Band-Pass filters, to eliminate out-of-band signals from ever making their way to the receivers.
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“Here we are on Broadway, in the middle of Manhattan during the holiday season, and the RF Venue gear performed flawlessly—absolutely flawlessly,” he said. “It was a stellar performance for this kind of RF environment. You’re just not going to get that with any other antenna system. This was a significant announcement by major-league athletes, so it had to be perfect. And with RF Venue, it was.”
Under the Boardwalk
Rehoboth Beach is Delaware’s premier Atlantic Coast town, with a boardwalk lined with restaurants, shops, hotels and amusements. In summer, the Rehoboth Beach Bandstand presents free concerts, and while this former WWII-era military base isn’t in an especially dense RF environment, any technology deployed there will face plenty of sun, salt and wind. That environment was on the mind of owner Mike Utter when his AV company, Frequency Productions—specialists in producing and executing high-profile corporate events – was contracted to update the Rehoboth Beach Bandstand wireless systems used for its summer concert series. To stay within the park’s budget yet be able to cover the entire RF area needed, and assure that every component could withstand the harsh Atlantic coast elements, Utter deployed an RF Venue Diversity Fin antenna and a DISTRO4 antenna distribution system.
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“Usually, you’re thinking about how well the equipment will handle the RF environment, but here we were more concerned about the actual environment—the elements that can really tear apart electronics over time,” he said. “We housed the gear in a single weather-resistant, molded-plastic rack. We’ve used RF Venue gear in these types of situations before, and they’ve been the most robust products you could ask for. Plus, we were able to get all the coverage we need from one D-Fin paddle, which also makes it mobile and easy to deploy as needed seasonally. Finally, even though the mic manufacturer’s documentation said it wouldn’t work with another maker’s antenna, the new wireless microphone system we brought in worked perfectly with the RF Venue equipment, as it has with every other make of wireless we’ve used it with in the past. That’s why RF Venue is our first choice for all wireless deployments.”
