Ed Sheeran Uses Clear-Com Freespeak II System

Salisbury-based Major Tom are supporting long-term client Ed Sheeran with a full production package on his current 'Divide Tour', an extraordinary global trek for the singer-songwriter that started in early 2017 and is scheduled to finish some 20 months later in November 2018.

Soon after Ben Tredwell's visit he received a request from Major Tom, to assist with an on-the-road upgrade to their comms system.

Ben arranged a demo of the Clear-Com Freespeak II system at Sheeran's Manchester concert and then subsequently delivered and assisted with the setup of the final configuration at the Newcastle show. The final package (all running on the 1.9GHz DECT frequency band) includes eight Freespeak II Beltpacks, one Base II base station, four Active Transceiver Antennae plus a range of accessories including batteries, chargers and headsets.

With everything now up and running Ben commented: "We were lucky to have the opportunity for me to do a proper, real-world demo of the Freespeak II system at Manchester and the guys picked up on it straight away.

"I then spent a further two days with the tour helping to get all the new hardware installed and the result is even better than originally anticipated – not only does it give them the flexibility they needed but the group feature allows them to have groups of different departments talking to each other and other users able to have multiple private conversations simultaneously."

Dave White, Ed Sheeran's 'Chewie Tech' whose tour duties include their comms systems said: "Being able to have a 'real world demo' from Autograph was essential for us to see if the Clear-Com system would be suitable for our touring crew and our existing tried and tested method of co-ordinating Ed's production. We need to have clear departmental communication as well as global co-ordination to be able to manage the last minute changes that can occur with our show.

"Being able to have Ben on site for two days to help up set up a comms network that integrated with our existing system and give us some excellent advice on how to deal with setting up the system in multiple venues was essential. After our two day introduction the order was placed, and within a week our new equipment was delivered and installed by Ben personally.

"Finding the right equipment to suit a global tour is sometimes challenging, but with help from Ben and Autograph, this process seemed fast and effortless."