Backwell School, United Kingdom


The Opportunity:

Backwell School is a comprehensive secondary academy with a long-standing tradition of supporting the performing arts. Each year, Backwell’s more than 1,700 students stage annual plays, live music performances and musicals like “Singing’ in the Rain”, “High School Musical” and “Hairspray”, as well as many additional clubs and events that run throughout the year, both in and out of regular school hours. To accommodate such a wide range of uses, Backwell needed an all-in-one audio solution that was easy for staff and students to set up and operate, powerful and versatile enough to address both large and more intimate groups and the additional ability to be used in spaces where traditional PA is not a practical option.

The Solution:

In order to enable both staff and students to achieve professional sound anytime, anywhere, Backwell decided that after a short trial the JBL EON ONE PRO was the right choice. Featuring a built-in 7-channel mixer with an intuitive interface, the EON ONE PRO makes it easy for students to quickly set-up and start rehearsing. Backwell offers many extra-curricular activities for students to get more performance experience, for example the GCSE ensemble groups, which include 10 to 15 instrumentalists and multiple singers. While the instrumentalists set up their equipment, the vocalists set up the JBL EON ONE PRO system and dial in a vocal mix using the on-board EQ and reverb. Using the EON ONE Pro ensures that the vocalist and backing singers can be heard clearly at the right levels without a huge amount of set-up.

The JBL EON ONE PRO also offers unrivalled portability—the entire system can be broken down into one piece for storage or transportation and can be easily carried with one hand by the integral handle. Students can rehearse or perform anywhere on campus, and since the EON ONE PRO is battery-powered, they are not limited by the location of electrical outlets, getting six hours of playback at full volume on a single charge, although in reality this often means the unit will last a whole day without needing to be plugged in.

The JBL EON ONE PRO has been sought after by multiple departments to deliver quality audio in multiple spaces and is finding new uses daily, both students and staff have been incredibly pleased at having the opportunity to use this portable PA system on a regular basis.

The Impact:

“Sound quality makes a huge difference to our drama performances, music performances, public speaking and other events, so it’s really important that we have a quality audio solution like the JBL EON ONE PRO. The students and staff at Backwell have really enjoyed using the JBL EON ONE PRO and we would whole-heartedly recommend it for other schools to use,” said Jon Nunes, Headteacher of Backwell School.

“In the limited time we have to practice we want to maximize our rehearsal time,” said Alex Pearson, Support Technician of Backwell School. “The biggest benefit of using the JBL EON ONE PRO is that the students can set it up themselves. The whole system is plug-and-play, students know exactly what everything does and how to set it all up. Now, in addition to music, they’re also learning about sound engineering, which is great.”

“We often need to amplify soloists to sing over a band or group of singers,” said Drew Salida, Music Teacher of Backwell School. “Since we rehearse in a variety of practice spaces, we can just pick up the EON ONE PRO, take it down the hall, plug in a few microphones and we’re ready to go, we can take it anywhere.”

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