RF, Comms & Stage Technician – Björk Cornucopia World Tour (Tokyo 2023)
End Client: Björk | Technical Provider: Southby Productions
Cornucopia is one of the most technically ambitious live productions that toured — a fully immersive show that blends theatrical staging, a d&b audiotechnik GSL & KSL system running Soundscape object-based audio, and a visual design language so precise it governs every inch of the performance environment. I've been part of it for six years, from early work during the Utopia era through production rehearsals, the original New York launch in 2019, and international touring dates including the sold-out performances at Tokyo Garden Theater.
My role sits across three areas: RF systems, communications infrastructure, and stage-level technical support. In a production of this complexity, each of those disciplines feeds directly into the others — and all of them have to work without fault, every night.
Wireless & RF
The show's wireless audio runs on Shure Axient Digital, with Shure PSM1000 handling in-ear monitoring for the performers. My responsibility covers the full scope — RF planning and frequency coordination in advance of each venue, antenna deployment, day-to-day system management, and real-time monitoring throughout the show. Touring internationally means adapting to a different RF environment in every city, accounting for local broadcast spectrum and coordinating across all wireless systems on the production to keep everything clean and interference-free.
Communications
Keeping a touring crew of this size connected across a complex show is its own discipline. The comms infrastructure runs on Clearcom HelixNet digital partyline and Clearcom FreeSpeak II wireless intercom, giving stage crew, production, and all technical control positions reliable, high-quality communication throughout the performance. HelixNet handles the fixed infrastructure with full partyline flexibility, while FreeSpeak II extends that wirelessly across the stage — essential for crew who need to move freely during the show.
Console Rig & Signal Chain
Front of house runs on a fully loaded DiGiCo SD7 Quantum, with a DiGiCo SD10 on monitors. Local I/O is handled through a DiGiCo SD-Rack loaded with 32-bit analogue cards, and an Optocore MADI converter bridges the playback system into DiGiCo's Optocore fibre network — keeping the signal chain consistent and latency-controlled from input to output.
Stage Deployment & Performer Support
The stage is a multi-level steel structure, and deploying audio infrastructure across it — cleanly and correctly — is one of the more involved parts of the role. Floor monitoring runs on d&b audiotechnik M2 and M4 stage monitors, with a d&b V-Series system as side fills. Wired lines include four Shure SM58s on 30-metre XLR runs, all routed and managed across the full stage footprint.
Before each show, I fit and prepare the septet flute players and choir — installing and testing every wireless pack, DPA headset and IEM system to make sure everything is fault free and performance-ready before rehersals and doors. It's a part of the job that's as much about trust and attention to detail as it is technical knowledge. Performers need to know their systems are right, and that if anything needs attention, it'll be handled quickly and without fuss.
Technical Work Inside a Visual Production
What makes Cornucopia different from most touring productions is the degree to which the visual world of the show governs every technical decision. LED indicators on wireless packs and microphones are coverd so they don't distract the audience. Cables are dressed into the stage environment rather than simply managed. Every on-stage intervention has to be fast, precise, and invisible to anyone watching — because in a production designed to this level of detail, anything that breaks the visual language breaks the show.
That balance between technical function and artistic intent is something I've developed across the full run of this production, and it's shaped the way I approach stage work across everything I do.
Six years on one of the most demanding productions in live touring. It's the kind of work that raises the bar — and keeps it there.