Hillsong switches frequencies with Shure
Published: WORSHIP
AUSTRALIA: With the recent radio frequency changes in Australia rendering a significant amount of older equipment obsolete, users have been forced to upgrade to new compliant models. Such was the case for Hillsong Church, which recently embarked on a project to replace its radio microphones and in-ear monitors at more than a dozen of its campuses. The multi-site megachurch has campuses in three different states, with services being held at more than a dozen locations, all with different spectrum requirements. Purchased and supplied through Jands, the church opted to install wireless equipment from Shure.
Steve Le Roux, facilities project manager at Hillsong, oversaw the process of evaluating the equipment throughout the organisation and preparing for the spectrum change and transition from the previously used 520-820MHz to the remaining, much narrower 520-694MHz spectrum. ‘I initially approached all of our campuses and extension services and got a list of all their radio equipment,’ explained Mr Le Roux. ‘It wasn’t a wish list. It was about replacing what they had if it wasn’t compliant; they give me an old unit and I give them a new unit. From that list, we determined that we’d need to replace the main Baulkham Hills radio devices and all the campuses. Equipment that was still compliant in the 600MHz range was redeployed into our extension services. As a whole, the process took five months.
‘We wanted the best value for money, so we needed to look at all the major players,’ Mr Le Roux continued. ‘We got some demo rigs in and compared apples to apples. Reid Wall from our Brisbane campus ran the demo assessments. Cost-wise, Jands and Shure really came to the table and sharpened their pencils.’
The Hillsong technical team subsequently decided on a selection of Shure UHF-R, ULX-D and QLX-D wireless microphones systems, along with PSM 300, PSM 900 and PMS1000 in-ear monitors.
‘We’ve gone to ULX-D in all campuses except Baulkham Hills, where we’ve stayed with UHF-R,’ offered Mr Le Roux. ‘Most main campuses run around 14 channels of IEMs, six ‘MC’ mics and six vocal mics. Our 12 satellite campuses usually run about six channels in total.’
‘I wanted really reliable RF performance,’ stated Mr Wall. ‘I need to confidently put all microphones and in-ears on stage and know they’re not going to drop out. I spend a lot of time mixing monitors, so the reliability of in-ears is a big deal to me. The PSM 1000s instantly impressed me. Their RF performance is ridiculous and I can’t believe how hard it is to make them “not work”. On other systems you can hear some intermittent RF interference and everybody just accepts it as part of using wireless.’
Mr Reid also selected ULX-D and QLX-D wireless microphone systems alongside the PSM 1000s for the Brisbane. ‘Finding frequencies for them was so easy,’ he continued. ‘They use such a narrow amount of spectrum. I can easily sub-hire extra channels when needed and drop them in without problems. I also love being able to manage everything in the Wireless Workbench RF management software. Being able to monitor every mic and in-ear system with one piece of software that also functions as the coordination and control software is really handy.’
Despite the desire for top-quality RF performance, ongoing operational costs were still the primary consideration. ‘We did a cost analysis on the rechargeable batteries,’ recalled Mr Le Roux, ‘and within two years, we will have paid for the batteries and the rechargers.’
‘The ability to have all my in-ears and mics sitting in chargers at “monitor world” is awesome,’ concurred Mr Reid. ‘The band and singers just pick-up and drop off their gear from the chargers and I don’t have to worry about batteries.’
Jands also supported the entire changeover, including RF engineering to ensure correct frequency allocation per site and region. ‘Using Shure’s Wireless Workbench software, we did scans in each campus,’ explained Mr Le Roux. ‘The scans were sent to Jands’ Jeff MacKenzie and Peter Twartz who coordinated the frequency allocation at each campus. We’ve had no issues in the rollout frequency-wise, even in an RF-heavy environment like Baulkham Hills, where we’ve split into two bands to allow us the flexibility to bring in external hire equipment.’