The Netherlands Opera & Dutch National Ballet
go Digital with Clear-Com^® FreeSpeak^®

The Netherlands Opera and Dutch National ballet create and produce their own live shows at Het Muziektheater, Amsterdam. This involves a large amount of time on stage where clear communications are mission critical.

Figure 1. Het Muziektheatre

Het Muziektheatre in Amsterdam currently employs around 600 staff, including a full orchestra, a classical choir, full costume department, special effect team. To organise this volume of staff in a live environment requires a flexible and robust wireles communications system. The current working system is so successful that it is seen as an indispensable tool in the day-to-day running of the theatre. This is Clear-Com’s digital wireless system, FreeSpeak. One of the key things that has made FreeSpeak a success at Het Muziektheatre is the ‘role’ function. This allows all relevant parties to use any beltpack by selecting the users job function from a simple menu after the beltpack is powered up. Each role or user function can then be programmed to allow multiple groups and one-to-one conversions to occur simultaneously in the same system. “The intercom is the lifeline between the artistic staff and technicians,” said Hans-Willem de Haan, Head of Sound & video Department at Het Muziektheater. “We have a long standing relationship with Clear- Com, so when we decided to move to a digital intercom system, we chose the Clear-Com digital matrix in combination with the FreeSpeak beltpacks because it was the only system that could meet our demanding criteria and we were confident of their reliability.”

The FreeSpeak Solution
The system allows wireless communications through out the whole theatre complex with the added benefit of configurable groups and one to one communications.

The Clear-Com system chosen by Het Muziektheatre includes 16 x digital intercom panels, 75 x FreeSpeak wireless programmable beltpacks, 30 x FreeSpeak antenne. FreeSpeak operates in the License-free DECT (1.8-1.92 GHz) frequency band using cellular roaming technology to allow the wireless beltpacks to switch between antennas seamlessly. This allows the staff to move freely throughout the theatre without losing communication.

The fixed antennas are situated to give coverage over the whole theatre including offices and troublesome coverage areas such as stairwells and under the stage. Traditionally these are more difficult to cover using conventional wireless communication systems.

Het Muziektheater have developed a system to cover two shifts from 7am to 11pm, 7 days a week. For this they limit the number of beltpacks to 40 to be used per shift. This limit is set to the maximum number of users in a given cell and to avoid drop outs. Supporting the beltpacks there are 10 antennas located around the stage, this being the busiest part of the theatre.

Each beltpack is charged for a minimum of 3 hours using the built-in battery charging facility of the beltpacks. It is this structured charging which allows the beltpack to operate for a full 8 hour shift. All beltpack charging is monitored by a in-house custom system to guarantee each user has a fully charged beltpack to start their shift.

Every beltpack is registered in and out with RF id tags from the charging station and the user then powers on the beltpack and logs into the intercom system.

		“We required an intercom system with at least 40 wireless beltpacks that would give us digital audio transmission throughout and be able to operate simultaneously and seamlessly across a complex site. All of our performances are live, therefore we needed a system with a high level of redundancy.” “FreeSpeak is a reliable system. A truely viable communications option that operates in-house or on tour”.
Figure 2. FreeSpeack Beltpack & Antenna

Role Function
Any user can operate any beltpack by simply choosing the designated role from a simple menu when the beltpack is powered up. The roles contain all the key settings and group assignments that the user would need for their job function. The number of users per role type is allocated dependant on the phase of the show, i.e., rehearsals, set-up, live performance.

There are 16 different selectable roles (job functions) such as ‘Lighting Team’ and ‘Stage Manager’ used at the Musiktheater and each of the roles are configured differently. The configurations can be found on the following website for all to see www.FreeSpeak.nl.

Figure 3. Lighting Team beltpack ‘role’ set-up

Summary
Since initial installation FreeSpeak has changed the working environment at the theatre. No longer do they have to use multiple wired or wireless communication systems. All employees use the same system - the Clear-Com digital matrix with fixed digital panels and digital wireless FreeSpeak beltpacks.