Wings Over Wairarapa

Noise Productions has been involved in Wings Over Wairarapa since 2003, initially providing the public address system but more recently we have provided more and more of the airshows core infrastructure services.

As one of the largest airshows in the country, Wings Over Wairarapa attracts upwards of 30,000 people, spread out over several square kilometers of hot and windy airfield. The logistical challenges of distributing audio to this many people over this large an area are numerous. Avoiding audible delays from distant speakers requires precision fine tuning of digital delay to each individual speaker and then constantly re-tuning each delay every time the wind changes direction.

In 2015, we added Video and Interactivity to the mix by providing large screens around the airshow displaying both live content from the ground and feeds from cameras mounted inside the aircraft. This proved extremely popular and added an entire new dimension to the entertainment. By integrating the big screens with the Airshows busy Facebook, Twitter and Instagram feeds as well as allowing visitors to upload pictures directly to the screen via Email and SMS message, Noise Productions created an extremely interactive and engaging event.

Of course, this degree of interactivity is difficult without great base infrastructure, so Noise Productions provided a massive site wide WiFi network that allowed thousands of guests to connect to the internet and participate. Constructing a highly reliable WiFi network on this scale is no small challenge and unless meticulously planned and implemented, most WiFi networks would simply buckle under the load of that many connections. High reliability was critical to the event as the entire ticketing system was also being run over the same infrastructure as well as the distributed event scheduling system that kept pilots up to speed with changes in the program in real time.

Thankfully the system stood up to the masses and idled through the event to deliver seamless connectivity to the masses and fast check in times at the ticket gates.

Noise Productions also created an online video channel for the event called WOW TV which featured content leading up to the event and a daily roundup of each days activities.
We also post produced the event DVD which was available for purchase.

By utilising Noise Productions to provide so much core infrastructure for the event, Wings Over Wairarapa reduced costs compared to having multiple individual providers as we were able to provide a highly capable crew that overlapped functions. For example staff monitoring the sound system could also monitor the video screens instead of having a separate crew for each. In addition, there was a single point of contact for technical concerns which reduced the management overhead for event staff.

In 2017, Noise Productions will be back again, providing even more core infrastructure for Wings Over Wairarapa.