London, UK (August 16, 2018)—After being closed for a decade, the Leicester Haymarket Theatre has been brought back to life following a £3.6m investment to redevelop it as a training facility for students studying production and performance related trades. Its sound reinforcement has been part of the renovation—a process that included opting for Shure’s Axient Digital, making it the first UK venue to use the new system.
Autograph Sales & Installations spec’d and installed the venue’s various audio systems. The project was led by Chris Austin, Technical Sales Manager, Autograph Sales & Installations, who noted, “The Haymarket have used Axient Digital on external events in challenging RF environments, and have found the monitoring and control through Wireless Workbench very useful. Good use was also made of the ShurePlus Channels iOS app on the first show in Haymarket, letting the production No2 walk-test the system on his own while watching for interference from stage machinery being used for the first time.”
Much as U.S. audio providers lost use of the 700 MHz band a decade ago, when it was reassigned by the FCC to emergency services, sound reinforcement suppliers in the U.K. will also have to give up that range soon.
“With the upcoming loss of 700 MHz, it’s only getting harder to produce big events from a wireless spectrum perspective,” said Austin. “A key consideration of specifying Axient Digital was its large tuning range, which removes one headache for the client when planning spectrum for an external event.”
As the 900-seat Haymarket theatre comes back to life, plans are afoot for it to host theatre productions, e-sports tournaments, live music, awards, parties and conferences.
Shure • www.shure.com
