For a virtual music festival in Colorado that reached 750,000 fans, Brown Note Productions employed a Clear-Com FreeSpeak II digital intercom for a completely wireless comm solution.
The return of live events — though slow and tentative — is good news for fans and even sweeter music to the ears of live sound and event production companies. Since March 2020, live events have gone from non-existent to virtual to some type of hybrid model. But while live event activity has diminished, fan interest and demand remain high.
At the center of the “new” live sound business is intercom. Intercom has always been a key part of any production inventory, fundamentally for calling a show and coordinating the many moving parts of a live event. Now, its ability to ensure safety, collaboration and creativity is more important than ever in supporting the demands of modern productions.
From music and corporate to commercial and theatrical, every corner of live sound is wrestling with new ways to keep fan engagement high and operating risks low as they navigate a new landscape while managing logistics of all the acts that are headed to the road after a two-year hiatus.
Changing the Channel: A New Role for Comms
Before the pandemic, concerts were already growing in scale and complexity, with more elaborate production requirements, making comms less of an afterthought and more of an immediate consideration.
“Many concerts now are spectacles,” said Kevin Dennis, production services manager at Clair Global. “It’s not just a band on stage anymore; there are lifts and fly gags. Regular two-way radio communication just doesn’t cut it anymore. More tours are realizing that. They’re willing to spend the money now and build it into a rider from day one.”
He added, “There are more wireless comms going out on tours, especially more matrix-based comms. It’s always been 12 wireless and a few hard-wired beltpacks but now, we’re sending out 50 or 60 wireless beltpacks on some tours and on bigger tours up to eight matrix user panels.”
“I am certainly seeing an overall increase in people requesting RF comms,” said John Kendrick, a veteran communications technician. “My average show has nearly doubled from around 20 beltpacks to more like 40. I don’t know if that’s strictly a result of Covid culture or just a convenience, as RF packs are so much more reliable than they were 10 years ago. Maybe it’s a combination of both.”
Eric Marchand, RF and comms coordinator at Solotech, noted that, “Only a few years back, RF tech and comms tech weren’t even jobs. Someone would do it in addition to their main job. Now it’s a job by itself. You need someone that knows how to do it and do it properly.”
A Remote Reality
“Remote” has become the new reality and was a lifeline for live events since 2020 as artists took to internet live-streaming to reach fans. “In the early phase of the pandemic there was a clear requirement for online collaboration,” said Chris Dodds, managing director of The PA People in Australia.
The company experienced two main “pivots” during the pandemic. One was the provision of online production video services using online services to bring remote participants into a central vision switcher/hub to allow highly controlled managed video conferencing type meetings. The second pivot was providing remote access and comms for technical participants to be remote from the production site regardless of their location.
Producers and clients are also increasingly “remoting in” to an event site, making mobile app and desktop-based virtual clients more popular as remote communications solutions.
“We have always tried to innovate with remote access for comms and people, but it is definitely becoming the norm,” said Dodds, recalling a recent project where the show caller tested positive for Covid. Instead of finding a substitute, they provided a live video link, a time code display and full communications system to their house to enable them to continue calling the show. “It’s to the point now where even people who you thought could never be offsite can now be remote if provided with the right tools,” Dodds added.
“During Covid , we shifted to more remote communications and proved that remote production can work,” added Dennis at Clair Global. “Having a core crew on-site is still optimal, but if something were to happen, someone gets sick or travel plans get screwed up, productions now are more confident they can do a remote comms solution and still put on a great show.”
Live sound production teams have also been forced to learn TV studio production, supporting full “broadcasts” from a soundstage. Kendrick noted that to provide remote access, he’ll often have a matrix frame on-site and use VOIP to connect to another site, or to a master control room.
“Live events are becoming more like TV,” says Kendrick. “The event takes place at one location, but instead of just webcasting out, they will treat the broadcast side with just as high — or even a higher priority — than the actual live event.”
“That was the main challenge of operating these virtual studios and remote locations,” Marchand said, “bringing that TV mindset into the live event equation.”
Hybrid Production:
New Workflows, New Opportunities
Even as in-person events return, many live sound professionals see a hybrid online/physical model as practical — and profitable — for the long term. Promoters and producers are increasingly realizing the opportunity to expand the audience for an event beyond the attendees in the venue to reach new fans and add new revenue streams.
“We’re definitely moving to hybrid concert models and live streaming is now with us permanently,” said Ben Tredwell, project development manager at Solotech in the UK. “There will always be the crowd that has to be onsite in the venue. But there are also a lot of people that would rather watch the gig without going to the venue or simply aren’t able to travel to Glastonbury for a festival, for example. Now they can still experience the show: There’s a massive audience for that. We can fill the O2 every night, but that’s it. The audience is finite and limited to the capacity of the venue.”
To meet growing audience demands, Solotech diversified by acquiring XR Studios, a full-service agency specializing in extended reality with a virtual reality studio dedicated to immersive live-stream experiences.
During the pandemic, Clair Global created a Virtual Live Audience platform that allows artists and companies to have events with a remote audience they can interact with during the event.
“There is still a component of live streaming happening,” Dennis said. “There are large events like BTS at SoFi stadium that streamed to a theater for another live audience. There’s a big opportunity in the touring world with extra money to be made. You can sell out a stadium and then sell streaming tickets. And I can easily see this extending to in-home streaming for concerts.”
Staying Safe
With pandemic guidelines limiting the number of people allowed on a set, wireless intercoms enabled conversations among production teams while avoiding the infection risks of gathering in small groups. Even as restrictions loosen, production teams who were exposed to intercoms for the first time during Covid now continue to use them regularly. Beyond allowing safe distancing, wireless intercoms now play a larger role in providing a more nuanced, controlled way to communicate among teams.
“It’s great that the new systems let you allocate separate channels for targeted private side conversations; lighting and audio together, or just camera and audio,” Marchand said.
Tredwell added, “Intercoms have definitely grown up. We’re seeing comms being used now by people and tours that wouldn’t necessarily have used them before. Live sound comms is still a fairly simple deployment — a few matrices, two or three channels — there’s just more systems being used.”
Whatever the reason for the changing role of intercoms in the new live sound industry, be it Covid -enforced rules or the continuing advancement of technology, most live pros are simply happy to be back with the crowds. “It’s nice to be back at work,” said Kendrick. “Even with masks and Clorox wipes, it’s fine if it means I can do what I do.”
Author Kari Eythorsson is a product manager at Clear-Com.
