Electric Youth, a dynamic group of singer dancers from the Franklin School for the Performing Arts (FSPA) in Franklin, Massachusetts, recently completed a tour of Europe supported by an 18-channel dBTechnologies MOVING D wireless microphone system.
FSPA, founded in 1985 by director Raye Lynn Mercer, serves more than 500 students annually with an array of music, dance and drama programs offering professional instruction and 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 fourteen singer dancers using wireless headsets with Countryman mics and dB Technologies’ MOVING D-B bodypack transmitters. The tour also carries a pair of handheld wireless mics with dB Technologies’ MOVING D-H handheld transmitters.
Mercer explains, “When the show became fully choreographed, we needed headset mics. 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 handheld mics.”
dB Technologies’ MOVING D System features a 400 MHz RF frequency range (470 to 870 MHz) with no band switching. That allowed Derek Pisano, the Franklin School’s sound designer, to carry the same MOVING D 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 says.
Mercer comments, “We do two sets with 90 minutes of music and the mics work great for an entire performance. The experience is absolutely seamless for the performers and the sound was fantastic for the whole tour.”
Colin Studybaker, dB Technologies’ USA sales manager, adds, 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. 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 16 kHz so you can carry MOVING D on a world tour with no performance compromises.”
