LONDON – Entec Sound and Light provided the PA system for the Teenage Cancer Trust (TCT) 10th anniversary event, held recently at Royal Albert Hall with performance by Suede, Noel Gallagher, JLS, The Specials, Arctic Monkeys, The Who, and Them Crooked Vultures. Entec Sound and Light chose Shure to provide the event's PM systems.
Entec Sound and Light has served as the PA provider for the TCT annual live show since the first event in 2001. The wireless systems from Shure for the 2010 event included the Shure's recently-launched PSM 900 PM system.
"We'd already heard demonstrations of Shure's PSM 900, and it was immediately obvious from the sound quality that we had to showcase them at the Teenage Cancer Trust shows," said Liam Halpin, Entec's audio technical manager and crew chief for TCT. "TCT gives us an opportunity to put new products to the test in fairly intense situations. Everybody that used the units at the TCT gigs was blown away, many commenting that the new CueMode feature is something that they had been waiting for someone to implement."
The CueMode feature of the PSM 900 allows the sound engineer to monitor different stage mixes with the touch of a button. Precision front-end RF filtering significantly reduces dropouts from RF interference, and the enhanced digital stereo encoder provides stereo separation and audio clarity.
"On a personal note, I've always been a fan of Shure products, and the addition of the PSM 900 means that for me Shure's wireless systems are now complete," Halpin said. "Simply combine UHF-R [wireless mics], PSM 900 [monitoring] and their Wireless Workbench software for spectral planning for the whole event and I know I'm providing the absolute optimum quality for our clients, no matter what the event."
Magic, Entec's on-site monitor engineer for TCT 2010, was "amazed at just how good they sounded," he said, referring to the PSM 900 units. "The setup of PSM900 was very easy using the scan function built-in to the packs. It immediately found clean spectrum and once I synced the info via infra-red back into the transmitters, I was ready to go in no time.
"CueMode is a revelation," Magic added. "I can monitor exactly what each artist is hearing on their frequency, not what my separate PFL pack is transmitting. I can also switch to any frequency I have programmed in at the touch of a button and I can listen to everyone from one pack."
The Who wrapped up the 10-day event with a performance of Quadrophenia. "When The Who first got together in 2000 to raise money for this brilliant charity, I had no idea we'd achieve so much from these shows," said Roger Daltrey, The Who frontman and TCT patron. "In the last 10 years we've raised over £8.7 million and counting. Teenage Cancer Trust has come such a long way since our first gig and I'm extremely proud of this event."
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