The U.S.-based operation of Creative Technology (CTUS), a multi-national provider of technology and project management for the live events and system integration markets, recently worked with Sennheiser on the design and specification of 140 custom audio “flight pack kits” incorporating its EW-DX wireless systems.
CTUS routinely tackles over 100 events per month, many of which are large-scale shows with thousands of attendees. As part of global broadcaster NEP Group, the company’s specialty is staging enterprise level corporate events and it also has a foothold in the audio, video and lighting services for a variety of sporting entertainment and and working with clients that include Google, VMWare, Meta, Microsoft, and others.
Philip Barrett, director of audio at CT Group, states, “As we continue to serve our high-end client base and produce more and more events, the pressure is on us to deliver at the highest level. When I was doing music and touring, I used to say that ‘nothing sobers the mind like the thought of 20,000 people asking for their money back.’ In the live events space, I would add that it doesn’t matter how beautiful the LED screens are, or how fantastic the lighting looks. If the CEO walks on stage and his mic doesn’t work, that’s all they’re going to talk about.”
With warehouse offices in Atlanta, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Chicago and New York, CTUS employs full service technical event teams, logistics operations and provides on-site support for its clients in venues ranging from intimate meeting rooms and ballrooms to arenas and large outdoor spaces. “I like to say we are the largest sound company you have never heard of,” Barrett says. “In terms of where we operate, we run the gamut and we have to be flexible.”
EW-DX systems have stated latency of 1.9 milliseconds and input dynamic range of 134 dB. In Standard Mode, the systems can handle up to 146 links within its switching bandwidth and up to 293 frequencies in Link Density Mode.
“Our goal was to put together kits with everything in one box that our clients might need,” says Barrett. “It was a clean solution for us to package everything in one place so it’s all there and ready to go. We can’t afford to have people looking for disparate components and having to ship them out at 10:00 p.m. on a weeknight. These are very easy to ship and also easy to transport on-location in and around the staging area.”
Each kit contains a Sennheiser EW-DX receiver, two HSP headset microphones, two ME4 lavalier microphones and two EW-DX SKM-S handheld transmitters, both coupled with MMD 835 capsules. Also included are two EW-DX SK bodypack transmitters as well as an Evolution Wireless Digital charging case. A QR code leading to the instruction manual is printed on inside of each case for the reference of stagehands.
When considering the need to acquire several dozen wireless microphone systems for its secondary breakout systems, Barrett says of the EW-DX: “It was a great purchasing decision for us, because the system was on-point price wise, while delivering all of the performance and reliability we expect from Sennheiser. Our end-user customers are very often C-level presenters, and the application is almost always spoken word, so high-quality, predictable performance is key.
“Being able to deploy large quantities of systems in close proximity and still have available frequencies is key for us,” he adds. “We work in so many different cities, and the EW-DX works in all of them. There are always plenty of frequencies available in this box and it is so easy to use.}
CTUS RF coordinator Jeff Jones adds, “On one of our recent projects we coordinated over 200 frequencies just in the labs, workshops and breakouts using the new Sennheiser EW-DX R1-9 and Q1-9 RF bands. These units were easy to set up, easy to tune and easy to sync body packs and handhelds. Having the two wide RF bands allowed us to tune over the complete available spectrum making the EW-DX units a superior choice to handle the large quantity of breakout rooms versus older generation, band-limited technologies. We had rock solid performance with the new Sennheiser units.”
