Geoff Baynard talks wireless wizardry

Product specialist at Wisycom USA, Geoff Baynard, recently sat down with Headliner for a chat about all things wireless audio technology, revealing details about the company’s relationship with respected IEM manufacturer JH Audio…

Baynard joins Headliner on a Zoom call from the offices of Wisycom USA in Alexandria, Virginia, although it’s in the small town of Tombolo in Northern Italy where the company has its main headquarters, having opened a new building there at the end of 2019.

When the pandemic first hit, things naturally slowed on the production side for Wisycom due to the lack of gigs. Its R&D department stepped up a gear however.

Product-wise, Wisycom offers a full line of wireless microphones, wireless IEM systems, and RF-over-fibre distribution units – the latter to serve the needs of big broadcast events like Moto GP and Formula One.

“Most major news outlets around the world, especially here in the US, use Wisycom mics or wireless tech,” reveals Baynard.

“We have products with really specific applications for RF distribution, like our MAT Diversity Combiner, which – if you need coverage on your A stage but also need coverage for your mics on a B stage and a green room and a bus out back – allows you to take your whole setup, make it a bit easier to use, and expand it without a lot of fuss.

“The thing that most people know us for is our wideband and multiband capabilities. Our main claim to fame over the past few years is that we have one system with enough spectrum to cover everything you need, that system being our flagship IEM transmitter – the MTK952.”

Like many manufacturers, Wisycom’s main challenge during the pandemic has been sourcing components for its products. Baynard says that with such high standards of RF and audio performance, the company rarely compromises on components of a lesser quality when it comes to production.

“And despite the challenges of the pandemic, Wisycom was still able to move from a modest 30 or 40,000 square foot building to our new building in Tombolo – which is about 100,000 square feet – to meet the demand that we know is coming.

Baynard explains that Wisycom has been building and developing a relationship with fellow IEM technology company JH Audio for some time now, which “for me, comes down to a lot of mutual admiration,” he says. “I have a pair of Roxannes from JH and I absolutely love them – they are easily the most musical headphones I’ve ever worn.

“During the pandemic, we sent the JH team one of our full IEM systems because they were doing a test with some other manufacturers. A few weeks later I heard back from Kevin at the company and he said, ‘My jaw’s on the floor with this system, I tested it against everything out there and it has the best phase coherence of any top tier system on the market right now.’

Baynard says that Wisycom lives for a challenge, and is constantly looking at industry trends and how it can get involved. It’s clear that the company has established a strong chemistry with the JH Audio team, “so it’s nice to have those conversations to see how we can take our work together to the next level, and make something really cool that no one else has thought could be done,” he says.

“The way we look at our workflow is that it’s all digital processing, but with an analogue carrier, which gives us a lot of versatility and flexibility and a much more reliable signal. That being said, there’s a lot of new projects that we’re working on. 

"We just released a brand new body pack transmitter, which is built on a next generation platform for our transmitters with Bluetooth 5.0 long range. We basically have a positioning system, where a transmitter could be on the stage at position X, and in real-time that transmitter moves, allowing the user to correlate RF power and gain and whatever else they want to do.

“On the production side, the teams have started coming back in to build up and prepare our stock. So as shows start getting back into rehearsals, and when they’re ready to make the switch to Wisycom, we can fill that show with gear.”