The world-famous production, Cirque du Soleil, was brought to an abrupt end, like many shows around the globe, as a result of the pandemic.
As technicians brought shows down, the production team at Cirque du Soleil were able to test, evaluate and verify its entire equipment arsenal for its touring operations. Launching the KOOZA show in May 2021, which involves clowning and acrobatics, the production team introduced Sennheiser’s Digital 6000 Wireless Microphone System.
The Alegria show, which opened in Houston in November 2021, has also been equipped with the system and the production team has found that it has suited the technical aspects perfectly. “You can have what appears to be a functioning system, but if you are able to improve two or three links in an audio chain, you can achieve greater performance in the end. While we are on tour, we usually only have one day in every city to do all our maintenance,” says Matthew Steuart, sound specialist at Cirque du Soleil.
In the case of the Sennheiser Digital 6000 Wireless System that was already used in Alegria, the team didn’t have to do anything except perform a recommended firmware update. “We tested it and everything just worked.”
On Alegria, for which rehearsals have occurred in Houston, 18 channels of the Digital 6000 system have been deployed, along with several bodypack transmitters and a pair of SKM 6000 handheld transmitters.
One of the reasons Cirque du Soleil chose the Digital 6000 System was because of its ability to identify and lock in frequencies in an increasingly congested RF environment: “The spectrum is just getting more and more crowded,” observes Steuart, who appreciates Sennheiser’s routine firmware updates.
“When we sent Alegria to Miami a year and a half ago, if we didn’t have the Digital 6000, we simply wouldn’t have been able to do the show – there was just no RF space. Now, with the latest firmware updates including the new Link Density mode, it is so much easier.”
“Sometimes we have to fit all of our wireless channels into a 6 or 8 MHz block if we are lucky, so being able to work within such a narrow bandwidth has been key.”
{ SOURCE: AV Interactive }
