The beginning of September saw Riverfire by Australian Retirement Trust, in association with Channel 9 and Triple M, kick off the 2025 Brisbane Festival in style, with fireworks courtesy of Foti International Fireworks and fighter jet flyovers by the Royal Australian Air Force providing entertainment for around half a million people that descended on Brisbane’s waterfront.
The Helm, specialists in cinematic broadcast solutions for live productions, was invited to provide ‘a new approach to timecode distribution and synchronisation for the event’.
Riverfire continued The Helm’s long relationship supporting Foti International Fireworks. “As rock-solid timecode delivery was critical for the event, we took a hybrid UHF and SD-WAN approach,” says Paul Barrett, co-founder and CTO at The Helm. “Our team deployed two constant transit UHF bases on key buildings, providing both frequency and geographic diversity. The fireworks barges then received the signal via two radios, ensuring clear and reliable timecode delivery.”
Leveraging 5G, Starlink and fixed connectivity, a robust SD-WAN was created using The Helm’s extensive inventory of bonded modem solutions linked to its private cloud servers, extending from the festival site to as far as the Channel 9 Network on Mount Coot-tha, where the timecode not only triggered the audio playback but also ensured co-ordination with other on-air commitments.
“What made this project so rewarding was seeing broadcast and live event workflows merge so effortlessly,” adds Barrett. “By combining UHF, SD-WAN and cloud control, we were able to deliver absolute precision and reliability across every part of the production.”
“This year, we engaged The Helm to provide technical expertise for delivering timecode to multiple locations across Brisbane City. The team’s expertise and the service they provided were flawless throughout the process,” says Tim Pack, technical director at Brisbane Festival.
“I would like to thank Paul and Nick from The Helm for their expertise and energy in delivering the timecode and soundtrack streaming,” concludes Tim Gray – Foti International Fireworks. “Despite a short turnaround and multiple stakeholders involved, their organised and collaborative approach helped deliver a great result and we look forward to working with them again”.
