For Sheridan College’s recent intercom upgrade, Technical Director Jacob Gow had a clear idea of what he wanted; specifically, “an IP-based system with multiple wireless and wired communication channels that provided communications between two performance spaces on different sides of campus, continuously, without having to rely on email or Microsoft Teams, which was, previously, how we maintained contact.”
As Gow researched possible solutions, in conversations with GerrAudio and equipment provider RP Dynamics, he realized that a Clear-Com system would best meet their current needs, allow room for expandability, and provide significantly more flexibility and functionality.
Upgrading to Clear-Com’s Arcadia platform provided a great deal more than that: class-leading functionality, ease of use, and a high degree of control and sophistication for current and future student productions via a cutting-edge system they can expand on going forward. “Just having an IP-based system opens up that entire intersection for students. The Clear-Com system has been really useful as a teaching tool, let alone the capabilities it offers in ‘show mode.’”
Deployed at their Oakville campus, the system consists of an Arcadia Central station, 2 LQ boxes, multiple HelixNet (HXII-BP) and FreeSpeak II belt packs, CC-300 headsets, an HXII-RM 4-channel remote station, and a more recently ordered HXII-KB 4-channel speaker station.
Sheridan’s 3-year Technical Production program educates students in multiple disciplines, including lighting, audio, stage management, and technical direction, and concludes with a field placement for students.
Musicals are a mainstay at Sheridan, split equally between both spaces, with a variety of large-scale productions mounted at Macdonald Heaslip Hall, Sheridan's main venue. “That’s our core season,” Gow says, referencing recent productions of Alice In Wonderland, Mary Poppins, Sweeney Todd, and Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play. Others (ranging widely in size and complexity from works in progress to concerts and Cabaret nights) may inhabit their black box Studio space or Macdonald Heaslip. All are produced in close collaboration with Sheridan's Musical Theatre program.
Gow and his two fellow technicians (Head of Audio Nick Vuckovic and Head of Lighting Andre Pezzin) support the spaces technologically and support students (as they learn to become technicians) by “walking them through the steps of why and how things are done," Gow explains. "They do the work. We make sure they do it safely and effectively and act as a conduit of information for incoming creative teams.”
Two primary factors informed the upgrade: the need to replace their existing, decades-old single-channel intercom system, which was increasingly expensive to maintain and resulted in “lots of crosstalk” – making it difficult for multiple teams to work in the space simultaneously; and secondly, to bring the studio space – which “feels a little bit out of sight, out of mind because our office and shop are next to the main stage” – into the fold.
“I have Arcadia and two TVs in my office with live connections to cameras in both spaces, so I can see and hear what’s going on. The shows are run by students – so being able to jump in and provide teaching moments; to say ‘Hey, here’s how to solve the problem you’re talking about’ or answer a student’s question, that’s really helped.”
As does having multiple channels to allow discrete communication, “instead of having confusion and chatter when lighting, the board operator, and the stage manager are on one channel during, for example, cue-to-cue rehearsals.”
Being an IP-based system, physical distance between the venues wasn’t an issue. “However, because of the subnets in Sheridan’s networking infrastructure, getting the traffic routed was,” says GerrAudio’s Adrian Sterling. “That’s where LQ stepped in. They’re specifically made for linking comms over anything from a local area network to the open Internet. What Jake’s doing is using an LQ box on each end to link two separate comms systems together instead of building one large system so, in this instance, that other space could have been in Australia and it would’ve acted the same way.”
Sheridan’s IT department was involved right from the beginning, Gow explains: “Because I knew we’d be using the college‘s network. The LQ boxes made that a simple process. And, right from the beginning, before we purchased anything, GerrAudio and RP Dynamics helped us test the equipment. It’s just plug-and-play - an entirely new generation (of technology) to what we had before,” he adds. “What’s also great is being able to operate using the 1.9 GHz band made our IT department happy because it doesn’t conflict with their Wi-Fi. They love that we’re on a different band and pretty much off their network; except for the LQ connection, which, because it’s direct, doesn’t present issues.”
Since the initial purchase, (owing to a firmware upgrade) Arcadia now supports LQ linking. “That allows Arcadia to join an LQ group without an LQ box," Sterling notes. "That’s big. Now, they can free up the box in their main space for use in another location because Arcadia can talk to the LQs directly.”
"That also gives me the sense Clear-Com will continually offer Arcadia upgrades," Gow adds.
Sheridan has had a lengthy relationship with RP and Gerr; long pre-dating Gow’s hiring in July 2022. “While I haven’t directly arranged service calls with GerrAudio, I’ve run into their people in other theatres I worked with,” Gow says. "And RP Dynamics is a 10-minute drive from Sheridan – if I need to rent something or a piece of equipment goes down - they’re really quick and great to work with.”
Unsurprisingly, Gow has a long history with Clear-Com’s technology. “I was very familiar with FreeSpeak II. I worked with that for years at the Canadian Opera Company. That's helpful, too; to be able to use a system that I knew and trusted, as opposed to going with a framework that was entirely new to me.”
GerrAudio and RP Dynamics also have a lengthy association with each other, says Jadon van Alphen, RP’s Client Solutions Associate/sales rep. on the project. “So we were able to go in and explore the challenges that come with a large organization’s network infrastructure and a couple of different options to bridge those two spaces effectively, keeping latency down and making it very user-friendly.”
Working with RP Dynamics was extremely helpful, Sterling says; “It’s good teamwork and it’s good for both of us. They’ve spent the time with the customer and built that relationship and we’re able to come in and fill the gaps as necessary. It works very well,” he continues, adding that close contact and collaboration with those who come to Gerr for equipment, often results in ‘good synergy’ on projects. “RP had a working relationship with the college, the college reached out to them with a need, and RP reached out to us. Jadon came with me for the demos. We tested quite a few solutions, and because RP does production rentals and sales/integration they were able to bring in rental equipment, and we were able to figure out the ideal system for Sheridan together.”
Having both the old and new system on hand also helps provide students with experience and knowledge about various technologies they may encounter; better preparing them for work in the industry. “I really like that we still have the older system in the studio space,” Gow says, adding that it's only interfacing with their Clear-Com system to the extent that, “one of the channels is going to the LQ box, which then sends it over to me in the other space.” In addition to providing additional connectivity and redundancy, “There are still many theatres with older systems and I think it’s important that students learn and understand how to work with older and newer gear and a two-channel or even a single-channel system.”
As for the future: “We don’t necessarily know what functionality we're going to want in five years so the Arcadia Central Station is a more flexible option for us,” Gow says. That extends to customizing the system and user interfaces for student use. “One of the things that drew me to this system was the flexibility for assigning channels and roles. Again, we’re student facing. They’re using the headsets and belt packs – the fact that I can set a minimum volume for different channels or different functionalities for different people makes it a lot easier to create a system where students can modify some parameters without degrading the use of the equipment. And we're giving them the kind of technology that’s relevant in a lot of different spaces – a lot of venues have more up-to-date equipment, but others don’t so being able to expose students to both systems was very important.”
Beyond bringing shared resources and knowledge to the project - like Sheridan - Gerr and RP are heavily invested in ensuring people coming into the industry have hands-on experience and are committed to facilitating that through both technology and relationships. This project is a prime example of that.
In the end, it’s just the beginning. “I’m very happy with the outcome,” Gow concludes. “I think, as we start to hone in on the role definitions, what channels are good to have where, and – with our additional wireless channel and the two-channel remote station – that frees up pieces we can deploy in different spaces."