Big Brother Canada audio crew (l-r) John Carlyle, Howard Baggley, Omar Davis, Dave Vanderploeg (kneeling), John Lacina (with P.A. Plus), Dylan Ford, and Peter Stoynich.
Toronto, Ontario, Canada (April 26, 2013)—P.A. Plus Productions of Toronto is providing Digital Hybrid Wireless technology from Rio Rancho, NM-based Lectrosonics for reality TV show, Big Brother Canada.
Adrian Sterling and Robert Kennedy, both of P.A. Plus Productions, have been actively involved with the show’s equipment, providing 19 Lectrosonics WM series watertight beltpack transmitters and three fully stocked Venue VRMWB wideband receiver mainframes outfitted with VRT receiver modules.
“One of the challenges we had to consider during pre-production was that there would be no audio personnel allowed near the talent during the run of the show,” he explained Sterling, audio systems operations manager for P.A. Plus Productions. “The durable build quality of the WM packs [was] a big seller for us, as they are in use 24/7. The fact that they are watertight—with a watertight connector—sealed the deal and we hope to make use of this feature on future projects.”
“Since we have no access to the cast, we needed a very robust transmitter,” said Dave Vanderploeg, one of the audio mixers on the project and the RF technician. “The Lectrosonics WM transmitters have exceeded our expectations, by far. The transmitters have been submerged in water numerous times and not once has there been an issue. They have been dropped, dragged and generally abused far beyond what would be considered normal for a ‘standard’ television production. We are extremely happy with how robust they are.”
“As for battery life,” added Sterling, “the WMs are exceptional. These transmitters are capable of 250 mw of transmit power for a duration of 7.5 hours, which makes them a very good tool for anyone’s wireless kit. The cast changes their own batteries and they were able to pick this up very quickly. The fact that the transmitters continue to operate on a single battery has proved to be a really useful feature, as we have uninterrupted audio, even during battery changes.”
Lectrosonics
www.lectrosonics.com
