Shure and Volkswagen team up at Beijing International Automobile Exhibition
Published: ASIA
CHINA: Shure’s Axient systems were used by Volkswagen at the recent 2012 Beijing International Automobile Exhibition. Swiss rental company Winkler Multi Media Events was tasked with creating a wireless pipeline that would deliver ‘uncompromised audio performance’ at Volkswagen’s stand amongst the 230,000m exhibition area, which accommodated 8,000 attendees and over 2,000 exhibitors.
Shure’s Axient system was deemed the most appropriate solution, according to Sebastian Hornung, head of audio engineering of Winkler Multi Media Events. A Shure AXT400 dual-channel receiver was relied upon to produce 11 channels, five of which benefited from Axient’s frequency diversity function.
‘Axient solves the interference problems and allows secure and safe wireless transmission,’ he explained. ‘The system affords our team an unparalleled level of control and flexibility that helps us navigate complicated RF environments with a stable and reliable signal.
‘A major challenge in these settings is the increasing time constraints on show setup,’ he continued. ‘Additionally, spokespersons often arrive at the stand within just a couple minutes of the show’s start time, removing any opportunity for our team to conduct a sound check with presenters onsite. This is where Axient’s Remote Control lends a huge advantage, as gains can be set and frequencies changed remotely in real time. Prior to using Axient, we always had to swap transmitters, which would interrupt sound check in an already time-limited situation, and now we have the Remote Control function to accommodate on-the-fly adjustments,’ he enthused.
‘The show was executed without a hitch, and more importantly, we didn’t have to worry about spectrum or interference issues,’ he furthered. ‘This wasn’t always the case in the past and Axient’s robust feature set gets the credit for combating hostile wireless environments, thus eliminating the headaches typically synonymous with live exhibitions.’