Shure Axient Digital Wireless technology is powering the vocals and music of Just for One Day, a new musical at London’s Shaftesbury Theatre that commemorates the iconic 1985 Live Aid concert, which raised awareness and funds for famine relief in Ethiopia. The musical features songs by iconic artists who took part in Live Aid, including Bob Dylan, David Bowie, the Who, U2 and Elton John.
Gareth Owen, sound designer for Just for One Day, has relied on 84 channels of Shure’s Axient Digital Wireless System and PSM 1000 In Ear Monitoring System. The technical set-up includes Shure’s chrome ADX2 handheld wireless microphones transmitters, with KSM11 capsules, ADX1M micro bodypack transmitters, as well as ADX3 Axient Digital Plug-on Transmitter with ShowLink.
Meanwhile, Shure’s software applications, WAVETOOL and Wireless Workbench (WWB), provide a centralised solution for remote listening, while simultaneously monitoring RF and battery levels. Shure says this helps to identify and resolve any audio issues.
Gareth Owen, sound designer, said: “The sheer volume of RF equipment on most musical theatre shows means we just need a system that works. We can’t deal with unreliable RF for a musical like this one, and Shure delivers time and time again when it comes to reliability.
“The cast, besides loving the audio quality, are particularly taken by the robust nature of the handhelds. We haven’t had a single failure. Not bad for twenty-four handhelds in use eight shows a week.
“Using the remote management of Shure devices to change settings and make updates is an incredibly useful workflow in our system. We can update gain, frequency, and other settings remotely from Wireless Workbench, which is a massive time saver.”
Directed by Luke Sheppard and written by John O’Farrell, the new show donates 10 percent to The Band Aid Charitable Trust, with £1m pounds already raised.
