As a Top 40 artist, English singer/songwriter talent Cher Lloyd's current schedule involves a promotional tour around the US and beyond – Dubai is on the stocks in April - performing live on radio stations, at local venues and high schools. With two to three set-ups typically a day, mix engineer James Lawrenson needed a compact system to take on the road that was capable of handling a number of different situations, from intimate acoustic performances with her guitarist Jon Ketchum, playing to 2000 or more fans in a shopping mall, or with her full band.

James' answer was to specify a rack-based system that combines wireless radio microphones, an in-ear monitoring system and a neat mixing solution, based around MOTU Ultralite-mk3 audio interface. This hybrid package features FireWire/UBS2 connectivity to a Mac or Windows computer, together with on-board mixing and effects. To this, he added the Shure UHF-R wireless microphone system, using UR4D receivers, with UR1-M micro bodypack and UR-2 hand-held transmitters. For the in-ear monitoring system, James selected the Sennheiser EK300 G3 system – Cher likes to use in-ears all the time, giving her the consistency she likes irrespective of where she is performing and the size of audience involved.

James explains:
"I am typically using the Ultralite as a portable mixer, doing five different stereo mixes for each performance. With ten bus mixes and fourteen physical outputs, I can handle the stereo in-ears for Cher and Jon, mix front of house if needed in a mall situation, have a separate feed for the broadcast mix and then a full back-up. I get round the fact that the Ultralite only has two mic inputs by sending the Shure wireless units back at line level, which works fine. It all packs up into a small rack, with a Pelicase for the mics, and I can be set up in just 20-30 minutes before Cher and Jon arrive."

James sourced the system from Orbital Sound Inc, on the basis of his long-standing professional relationship with Lorne Grabe at New York music venue Terminal 5. "Once I had put the kit list together, my natural inclination was to go to Orbital – the quote was good, and they got everything together for me really quickly. Lorne set the system up, Jeff Hahn did a full plot of all the frequency co-ordinates we were likely to need, and the whole service was top notch."

Cher and her team are taking a brief break from the current schedule to play in Dubai for a couple of days – giving James something of a carry-on baggage headache in the near future!

- Orbital's Jeff Hahn elaborates on the RF picture
For the Cher Lloyd Promotional Tour, Orbital Sound provided four channels of Shure UR4 receivers, with two UR2 Handhelds and two UR1M Body pack transmitters. The handhelds are used with the Beta 58 elements and the body packs are used for the instruments. We also provided two channels of Sennheiser G3 IEMs for stereo or mono foldback.

For the frequency co-ordination, I looked at each city of the tour, using selected tools to determine the clearest combination of frequencies to use. I typically prepare a list of frequencies with spares and email these lists to the client. In the event that they see unexpected interference, they can quickly switch to the spare frequencies. The Shure systems have a Sync function to set the frequencies quickly on the fly receiver to transmitter if needed. The FCC has allocated two TV channels in every city that can be used for unlicensed wireless microphones. However, sometimes these two channels are already used up by other wireless systems, so I would have to try to squeeze in clean frequencies. In the event that I can't add additional frequencies because of RF band availability or intermodulation issues, I apply for additional TV Channels through a FCC database for the specific event.

The Cher Lloyd RF System is compact and James can attach whip antennas right to the back of the rack for quick set-up. Since they are playing in radio stations and small studios, there is no need for remote receiver antennas.