NILES, Ill., April 2, 2013 — Transitioning a young artist from a junior high stage performance to a global arena tour takes a great deal of planning and work. After several months touring almost 100 schools across the U.S., pop singer Camryn was tapped by boy band One Direction to be the opening act for its “Up All Night” tour.
Ready to face the high-stress demands that come with executing flawless sold-out stadium performances, Camryn’s manager and FOH Engineer, Jeff Pringle, turned to Shure’s ULX-D™ Digital Wireless Microphone System with quad channel digital receivers and Dante™ digital audio networking.
The move to a wireless system was not easy, as Pringle was reluctant to allow Camryn to use anything but her wired KSM9. “Being a maturing artist, it’s important Camryn always sounds good to each and every fan,” said Pringle. “I remember conversations with her where I would argue that a wireless system affects how good vocals can sound. Deep down though, I knew Camryn needed a wireless solution to give her freedom of movement on an arena stage. After doing my homework, I was introduced to Shure’s ULXD4Q quad with Dante. My world changed.”
Pringle got his hands on ULX-D after hearing industry chatter about its unmatched audio clarity. Although the sound quality was paramount, it was the system’s integration of Dante networking that amplified the engineering behind Camryn’s performances, as the feature enables Pringle to distribute multiple channels of audio to a variety of devices over a single Ethernet cable.
“ULX-D has given us this really amazing and unique ability to manipulate the integration of vocals and guitars with our console and Pro Tools set-up—and it’s all because of Dante,” Pringle commented. “We have no guitar rigs on stage and no rack-mounted guitar simulators—everything is routed through the Dante signal to the console, or to our Mac mini computers and then to the console. I even run Pro Tools as an insert on my vocal channels, just like a piece of outboard gear, which is huge because I can automate the plug-ins, significantly relieving my FOH workload.”
“The flexibility of adding Pro Tools on the same network doesn’t compromise the system’s stability, enabling me to do my job confidently,” Pringle added. “While feature-packed, ULX-D’s Dante networking provides reliable, low latency audio networking.”
At only 7.6 pounds, the ULXD4Q has also proven valuable for traveling, as it delivers space savings in the rack and cost savings when shipping.
“Between the wireless gear, monitor gear, and in-ears, our whole show is contained in one 13-rack space road case that weighs less than 50 pounds,” commented Pringle. “We can easily check the gear in as luggage when hopping on a flight to get to the next show.”
A backbone for Camryn’s tour, Pringle and his team took the ULX-D system on the road when Camryn rejoined One Direction for its 2013 World Tour in Europe, which began on February 23. The tour includes more than 60 sold-out shows.
“I love this [ULXD4Q] box and all of the folks at Shure who help me do my job better,” concluded Pringle. “From a consumer standpoint, they’re always getting it right—the company listens to the features I need and always has customer support who will pick up the phone and answer my questions.”
