Broadcast live from Ahoy in Rotterdam, the 65th Eurovision Song Contest called on Shure Axient Digital Wireless System to serve the 39 delegations across Europe, in use not only on the main stage, but also in rehearsal rooms and the press centrum.
With more than 40 performers and an estimated audience of nearly 200m viewers across Europe, the 2021 Eurovision rtanked among the largest and most complex live music events in the world and required a wireless system that would meet every contestant’s demands. Developed with input from top audio professionals, Axient Digital is designed to offer extensive control and scalability, alongside stability, range, and clarity in the most demanding wireless applications.
‘With 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,’ says Ampco Flashlight Wireless Coordination Technician, Aart Heus. ‘Shure’s Wireless Workbench was the most qualified software for it, and the hardware not only provides control and stability. It is trustable and reliable – essential for a show of this size.’
The wireless line-up included 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 organising the Eurovision Song Contest every year for, with Erwin Rintiema acting as Head of Production for this year’s event. Together with Host Broadcasters NPO, NOS, AVROTROS and Ampco Flashlight, the official sound supplier for the contest, Shure Axient Digital was the go-to solution to address the show’s requirements.
‘Shure was the perfect solution offered by Ampco Flashlight that matched all our requests,’ says ESC Head of Live Sound, Jeroen ten Brinke. ‘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,’ says Shure Senior Director of Pro Audio in Western Europe, Tuomo Tolonen. ‘The ESC is a highly complex event technically and it’s been an honor to work with Aart Heus and the rest of the production team to deliver a successful show.’
See also:
Eurovision lockdown-style (OB)
More: www.shure.com
