MIAMI, FL — Cirque du Soleil took the field during Super Bowl XLI's pre-game festivities, accented by the visual art of Miami artist Romero Britto, and behind the scenes at Dolphin Stadium, Professional Wireless Systems founder James Stoffo returned for his 11th Super Bowl to choreograph an RF blueprint using 14 channels of Shure UHF-R wireless, as well as a supporting cast of PSM 700 PM systems. "The big show for RF mics this year was definitely pre-game," notes Stoffo, who made the trip from his base of operations in Portland, Ore. down to the southern tip of the Florida peninsula for this year's game. "UHF-R systems with SM58A-equipped transmitters were used for vocalist Anane, who accompanied Louie Vega and his Elements of Life Orchestra, as well as special guest performer Gloria Estefan. Spread among the Cirque performers on the field, UHF-R bodypacks were the order of the day, using WH20 headset mics also supplied by Shure, as well as the company's WLM-50 subminiature lavaliere mics. We miked two groups of percussionists with SM98s. Billy Joel sang the national anthem using a hardwired SM58, and monitoring across the board — as needed — was supplied by wireless Shure PSM 700 systems."
Faced with more than 1500 competing wireless devices on the field, Stoffo relied upon helical antennas to help cut through the clutter. Beyond the potential interference coming from within Dolphin Stadium, external threats to his plan existed in the form of local high-powered digital and analog television transmitters.
"I did my first sweep in here a couple of months ago," Stoffo relates, "and quickly discovered that we were within easy eyesight of a huge antenna farm shared by Miami and Ft. Lauderdale TV stations. The resulting RF noise floor is probably the worst I've seen anywhere and on any show I've ever done."
Stoffo contends. "With back-to-back DTV signals bombarding the stadium, as much as 30 MHz of the spectrum was unusable at any given moment. With UHF-R, I always had 30 MHz of clean space to hop to."
Equally important was UHF-R's transmitter power output, which, when switched into high-power mode, offered 100-milliwatt performance. "Anyone wearing a bodypack was switched to high-power," Stoffo adds. "Because this was a very bodypack intensive show with lots of lavs and headset mics, we needed that extra push. Unlike a handheld transmitter, a bodypack places its antenna right up against the body. That absorbs a tremendous amount of transmitting energy right out of the gate."
Stoffo first beta-tested UHF-R two years ago at Super Bowl XXXIX. At last year's game, he used 20 UHF-R channels for both the pre-game and halftime shows, including a performance by the Rolling Stones.
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Inspired by Brazilian street theatre and incorporating the art of Romero Britto, the Cirque du Soleil's pregame performance at Super Bowl XLI relied upon Shure UHF-R wireless, PSM 700 personal monitoring systems, and a number of subminiature lavalier and headworn mics also provided by Shure.
