Wisycom solution for Eighth Day global tours
- Details
Eighth Day Sound’s two most recent high-profile global tours turned to Wisycom’s MAT288 Matrix Combiner and MFL RF-Over-Fibre Antenna System to give sound engineers the tools necessary to cover the extensive wireless needs for these large projects.
For Eighth Day project manager Jordan Kolenc, creating an RF design that would provide maximum coverage for one such major stadium tour left him with a long list of concerns, and a need to pre-emptively find solutions. After much trial and error, Kolenc contacted Jim Dugan, president of Wisycom USA, who visited Eighth Day’s shop to demonstrate how Wisycom’s MAT288 combiner, along with its MFL antenna system, could provide expansive coverage for live touring applications.
The MFL Fibre Rack Unit provides coverage farther than the 300ft limit found in coaxial cable, making it suitable for stadium-sized tours. Additionally, the Wisycom MAT288 Matrix Combiner allows sound engineers to actively and effectively make adjustments that pertain to and affect the microphones and instruments, while the MFL does double duty by extending coverage over fibre for the in-ear transmitters.
“Wisycom is the only company that I know of that can handle the RF distance that we were trying to cover,” says Kolenc. “The company’s wideband capabilities are the largest in the industry. The fact that we can also use them with any of the other manufacturers’ packs that we are already running makes them a cost-effective addition to our arsenal of gear. In addition to coverage, Wisycom’s ability to handle antenna switching in a stadium or other large-scale environment is unparalleled.”
For Kolenc’s recent tour, RF coverage needed to span to aerial elements on which the artist performs, as well as her descent back to the stage. To accomplish this, with guidance from Wisycom, the Eighth Day team arranged a series of fibre links between multiple locations to handle relay signals for the antenna system. This ensured a clear and uninterrupted performance for fans, and also kept a continued transmission to the pop artist’s ears at all times.
According to Kolenc: “This is the biggest system we’ve implemented at Eighth Day from an RF standpoint, in terms of overall coverage area. No one has really done this before. What we needed doesn’t actually exist, yet, in an out-of-the-box solution. Jim [Dugan] was able to utilise Wisycom’s RF equipment in conjunction with other gear to make it all happen. These tours solidified our decision to own the Wisycom gear permanently.”
(Jim Evans)
