A Guide to Wireless Management in performances
I’ve put together this guide as I’ve seen it go wrong too many times.
Nathan Lawrence
August 2026
These days, wireless on stage is both inevitable and, in many cases, unavoidable. That said, I would still advise against using it simply ‘for the sake of it’. Large multi-cores of XLR cable can be a pain, but wireless can present many of the same challenges — the difference is that, unlike physical cable, you can’t see them.
So, during the planning stage, ask yourself: “Do I actually need wireless for this?” If the answer is “yes” — or the customer has specifically requested it — then take heed of the advice below when planning your event.
This guide provides a safe and practical roadmap to up to 52 wireless channels, along with separate provision for up to nine channels of stage communications, without breaking the bank.
Caveat
Note that this guide relates to UK frequencies and is fully compliant with Ofcom rules. Some of the bands listed below are harmonised across Europe, however EU operators should cross-check with your countires’ wireless regulatory body.
US operators should not make references to the frequencies listed below, as North American bands operate differently (however the advice to avoid WiFi is just as relevant).
Guide to terminology
The two equipment vendors that I am focussing on in this article are Shure and Sennheiser, who occupy the 1st and 2nd place of the wireless microphone industry.
When buying equipment, you will see that both vendors use their own terminology when referring to frequency bands, so I have put together a table showing all of the bands that I’m going to talk about in this article.
Rule 101: 2.4 GHz (WiFi) is the spawn of satan
There are few things more frustrating in the world of wireless audio than a set of microphones that work perfectly in the rehearsal room, only to turn into a stuttering, glitching mess the moment the audience arrives. And increasingly, the culprit is the same crowded slice of radio spectrum: 2.4 GHz. This band has become the Wild West of wireless—shared by Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, smart TVs, game controllers, laptops, phones, IoT devices and countless other gadgets, all competing for a finite amount of airtime. It’s cheap, convenient and globally available, but that convenience comes at a price: interference.
For wireless microphones, which need a clean, predictable RF path to deliver uninterrupted audio, trying to coexist with a room full of Wi-Fi clients can feel less like clever engineering and more like picking a fight with Satan himself. In this article, we’ll look at why UHF wireless microphones have a fundamental advantage in these environments, and why, when reliability matters, it can be far better to give your microphones their own slice of spectrum rather than asking them to fight it out with the WiFi.
Quick wins (no licence needed)
For this reason, one of the first candidates to move out of the 2.4 GHz band is any wireless comms (cans). Most comms systems usually offer two models, a slightly cheaper WiFi version an a premium DECT option. DECT is the band allocated to cordless telephones (landlines), with interference becoming less of an issue year on year compared to the WiFi bands which become more and more crowded.
In Europe, DECT is licence-exempt and runs in the band 1880-1900 MHz - this will give you better range than WiFi without interfering with anything else in your rig (unless you are using Sennheiser Speechline, which is geared more towards Conference Room AV than Theatre).
For a great wireless comms system, look into either Eartec UltraLite or Hollyland C1 Pro - both offer good quality DECT variants of up to 9 headsets, that won’t break the bank. I would avoid cheaper brands, as from personal experience the audio quality wasn’t great - “you buy cheap, you buy twice” as the saying goes.
Okay, but what about wireless microphones…
Firstly, providing your stage comms are not running in the 2.4 GHz WiFi band, you can get away with a small number of channels in this spectrum - despite what I said earlier.
However 6 is the generally accepted upper limit providing you invest in a decent system.
I would recommended looking at Shure’s GLXd range for this use case, as its frequency management capability is essential in order to mitigate the risks of using WiFi.
Beyond WiFi, Ofcom has allocated 863.0 MHz to 865.0 MHz ISM band for licence-free wireless microphone use. This band is also known as “Channel 70” and is theoretically sufficient to accommodate 3 channels, but I’d only bank on 2 as it can become crowded.
These frequencies are available within a number of systems, including the Shure SLXd and Sennheiser EW-D platforms discussed in this article (as an extension of the S50 / U1/5 bands, respectively).