ASL Intercom helps North Sea Jazz Festival to go with a swing
Since its inception 34 years ago, the North Sea Jazz festival has grown to be the biggest jazz festival in the world, this year featuring a relentless schedule for its technical crews, with over 1500 musicians performing in 15 different venues over three days. Fast and accurate communication between technicians was crucial, which is why leading Dutch rental company Ampco specified ASL Intercom systems for the 13 main stages at the event.
Taking place between 10th - 12th July in and around Rotterdam’s famous Ahoy complex, the festival takes in a wide variety of jazz-related musical styles - from traditional New Orleans jazz, swing, bop and free jazz to fusion, avant-garde, blues, gospel, funk, soul, hip hop, R&B, world and Latin beats. Around 23,500 visitors each day enjoy the diverse music on offer, with the very swift turnarounds between acts meaning technical crews having to be crystal clear with their communication.
No less than 26 ASL systems were deployed by Ampco during the event, the 13 main performance spaces all being equipped with two systems, each comprising ASL Pro Series PS278/279 dual channel master station and IS141 sound and light call beacons, with PS19 intercom beltpacks and IS series headsets for staff. One system at each space was used by the audio team and the other by the lighting team.
“All the performers have very specific requirements, especially in terms of which microphones they use and how they want things set up,” says Ampco Pro Rent’s Jos van der Hoeven. “Changeovers have to be very fast, so effective communication between staff at the stage and Front Of House positions is critical.
“For us, ASL was an easy choice because the systems only require a single XLR line and they are extremely high quality. They definitely make working at such a high pressure event easier!”
[ENDS]