NEW YORK – Clear-Com® has revamped the wireless setup at New York City’s prestigious Juilliard School. The school installed three Tempest®900 digital wireless intercoms in its production department and one additional system in its recording department. The two-channel Tempest systems provide coverage within each of the facility’s three performances spaces, operating independently of one another without signal interference.
Previously, only one Julliard theater, the Peter Jay Sharp Theater, had a wireless communications system with wired Clear-Com being used in the other production venues. The wireless system also could not provide full coverage in every production area within the Sharp Theater. For wireless to work in the school’s Stephanie P. McClelland Drama Theater, it would require the installation of an expensive and complex antenna system with long coax cable runs to get sufficient coverage. Clear-Com’s Tempest900, however, offers reliable coverage that is free of dropouts wherever the production team needs communications. One remote transceiver is connected over a common CAT5 cable to enable communication in the drama theater’s production space, allowing for a cost-effective setup. Additionally, each of the Tempest900 systems operates independently of one another without interference, even though all of them are located within the same facility.
“Julliard’s previous communications system placed a lot of restrictions on production staff members’ ability to perform at their best,” explains James Schaller, Clear-Com’s Regional Sales Manager for the Northeastern United States. “The Tempest900 system offers a wide range of reliable coverage, ensuring that personnel can remain in constant contact within each theater. Due to the system’s advanced RF technologies, it experiences no interference from wireless devices, cell phones, or in this case, other Tempest systems. It also easily integrates with the facility’s existing Clear-Com partyline systems utilized in the facility’s three theaters.”
As with all Tempest products, the Tempest900 features Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS) technology to ensure interference-free communications despite other wireless devices operating in the vicinity. With FHSS, each Tempest900 BaseStation employs a different frequency while at the same time changing frequencies every five milliseconds. This prevents interference between the independent systems.
The easy-to-use Tempest900 wireless system helps crew members keep up with Juilliard’s hectic production schedule of roughly 800 productions a year. It can be up and running in a half hour or less so crew members can focus on the production at hand without worrying about equipment setup. With Tempest’s T-Desk management software, the technical crew can also rapidly reprogram the system and customize communications for each production or project. The three theater systems typically use a setup that assigns one channel to stage management, sound, and carpentry on the scene. The second channel is given to the lighting board operator and Lighting Designer. Another of Julliard’s Tempest systems gets conveniently moved from venue to venue by the Recording Department for remote recordings.
