The Electric Youth troupe from the Franklin School for the Performing Arts (FSPA) in Franklin, Massachusetts, recently completed a tour of Europe supported by an 18-channel dB Technologies’ Moving D wireless mic system.
Founded in 1985 by Director Raye Lynn Mercer, FSPA serves more than 500 students annually with a range of music, dance and drama programmes offering professional instruction and extraordinary performing opportunities. The school’s Electric Youth ensemble performs a fully staged show of popular hits and show tunes backed by an eight-piece band.
This year’s Electric Youth tour featured 14 singer-dancers using wireless headsets with Countryman mics and dB Technologies’ Moving D-B bodypack transmitters. The tour also carries a pair of hand-held wireless mics with dB Technologies’ Moving D-H Hand-held Transmitters. ‘When the show became fully choreographed, we needed headset mics,’ Mercer explains. ‘But we also do classic rock and some great songs from the ‘60s where mics on stands are visually more appropriate. We want that sound and feel from the older rock ballads so, for those tunes, we switch to the hand-held mics.’
dB Technologies’ Moving D System features a 400 MHz RF frequency range (470–870MHz) with no band switching, which allowed Derek Pisano, the Franklin School’s Sound Designer, to carry the same system on the entire tour which included performances in England, France, Switzerland and Italy. He used dB Technologies’ Software to scan available frequencies and avoid intermodulation on the system’s 18 channels with Moving D-R receivers installed in Moving D Touring Racks. ‘The Moving D stood up nicely in every single country,’ he reports.
‘We do two sets with 90 minutes of music and the mics work great for an entire performance,’ Mercer says. ‘The experience is absolutely seamless for the performers and the sound was fantastic for the whole tour.’
‘We’re delighted that the dB Technologies Moving D Wireless System has served the Franklin School so well, and we want our US customers to consider Moving D too,’ adds dB Technologies’ US Sales Manager, Colin Studybaker. ‘The system’s unmatched RF bandwidth means a simple software update allows it to operate in almost any country. And, it’s fully digital with flat response from 40Hz to 16kHz so you can carry Moving D on a world tour with no performance compromises.’
More: www.dBTechnologies.com
