Alameda, CA—Later this month, The NAMM Show will return, packed with exhibitors, events and more, but one of the biggest draws every year is the Yamaha Grand Plaza Stage, which showcases both up-and-coming and well-established musical artists. Despite the dozens of artists presented daily, the stage runs like clockwork, thanks to a dedicated team of seasoned industry pros. Helping keep those pros all on the same page is Clear-Com, the official intercom supplier for the stage.
Clear-Com was brought on to the production by long-time partner, Mastermind Production Group, which provides the majority of the audio production infrastructure for the stage with P.A. being provided by Reach Communications. Chad Griswold, CEO of Mastermind, states, “Clear-Com’s a natural choice for this production since they are a first choice in intercom for the touring and live music market and our first choice for all of our events in the music and corporate event spaces we work in. We used the Arcadia system last year with great success, and this year, we are excited to put the latest updates to that system to the test, including the Bluetooth connectivity on FreeSpeak II beltpacks.”
The Clear-Com Arcadia Central Station system will be based at FOH, with FreeSpeak II Wireless Intercom System and FreeSpeak Edge wireless beltpacks dedicated to the stage management and production team members who need to roam freely around the area. HelixNet digital wired partyline user stations will be located at key fixed locations, including the lighting director, spot ops, and for the Audio FOH, monitor, and broadcast mixing engineers.
This year, Griswold plans to experiment with using Bluetooth headsets for the FreeSpeak II 1.9 GHz beltpacks; with bone-induction headsets, users can maintain situational awareness (or use hearing protection for when things heat up) while staying connected on comms.
Throughout the show, Yamaha will entertain attendees with performances. The Night of Worship concert on Thursday, January 25, will bring the sounds of live worship music, while Friday, January 26, will see the Yamaha All-Star Concert on the Grand return with inspiring performances from notable artists. Closing things out, on Saturday, Yamaha will offer an Evening with performances.
