micAddy: A Smarter Way to Manage Wireless Mic Assignments

You’ve coordinated the frequencies, checked the batteries, and made sure every presenter has the right microphone. Now comes the other part of wireless mic management: keeping track of who has what, who’s up next, and what changed since the last rehearsal.

On a busy corporate show, that information can end up scattered across a spreadsheet, a marked-up run-of-show, and a few quick conversations over comms. It generally works, until a presenter swaps channels, the schedule changes, and the A1 is trying to figure out whose voice is coming down channel six.

That’s the problem StageStrike is tackling with micAddy, a free, browser-based wireless microphone assignment tool. Castor Milano from StageStrike was kind enough to give us here at Crew to Comm a personal demonstration, walking us through how it connects the A2 backstage with the A1 at front of house and other members of the production team.

micAddy is organized into views built for different jobs. The A2 View is the working end of the system: presenters appear alongside the available RF channels, and the A2 can drag a name onto a channel to make an assignment. Instead of updating a separate list and hoping everyone sees the revision, the change becomes part of the shared session.

The A1 View strips that information down to what front of house needs most: the current presenter name on each channel. There’s also a Stage Manager View for the stage-management side of the operation, plus a Timeline View for planning assignments throughout the show. Everyone can work from the same information without everyone needing the same screen.

It’s a simple idea, but that’s part of the appeal. The crew doesn’t need another complicated system to babysit during showtime. It needs accurate information that’s easy to find.

There’s usually enough typing involved in show prep already. micAddy’s AI-powered import can read a run-of-show document and extract presenter names, roles, and time slots rather than making the A2 enter everything from scratch. The import window accepts Excel and CSV files, PDFs, and JPEG or PNG images, with up to four files in one upload.

The results still need to be checked against the actual run-of-show, especially when a document includes overlapping segments or multiple versions of the schedule. But getting a usable presenter list without retyping twenty or thirty names is a pretty good place to start.

On the transmitter side, micAddy can also populate channels from a Shure Wireless Workbench export, or they can be entered manually. This is a file import, not live RF monitoring or frequency coordination. Wireless Workbench still handles that job; micAddy handles the people and assignments.

The Timeline View lays transmitter channels out in rows against the show schedule, with color-coded blocks indicating when each presenter is assigned a microphone. At a glance, an A2 can see where channels are reused, which presenters still need assignments, and where timing conflicts need attention. In StageStrike’s example screen, the counters show 24 assignments, three unassigned presenters, and three conflicts.

Assignments can be planned in advance and deployed according to the schedule, or updated manually as things change. And things will change. A presenter asks for a handheld instead of a lav, a panel adds somebody at the last minute, or rehearsals go long enough that the printed timeline becomes historical fiction.

Rather than rebuilding a spreadsheet every time the plan moves, the A2 can adjust the assignment in micAddy and keep the rest of the team looking at current information.

This is where micAddy caught our attention during the demo. As an A1, there’s real value in having a presenter’s name clearly displayed beside the channel they’re using. It sounds almost too obvious to be a feature, until you think about how often that information is buried in a crowded run-of-show printout or delivered during a three-second exchange over comms.

Maybe you recognized the presenter during rehearsal. Maybe you wrote the name next to the channel number. Or maybe the A2 just told you who was on mic four at the exact moment the show caller, video, and stage manager all needed something. Now someone has changed transmitters, and the information you had five minutes ago is already out of date.

The A1 View replaces that guessing game with large, color-coded tiles showing the current assignment for each RF channel. When the A2 makes a change, the updated name appears for front of house in real time. Unassigned channels remain visible, and the A1 can focus on the mix rather than searching through a document for the next presenter’s name.

StageStrike already makes physical organizers for bodypacks and handheld transmitters, including its packHolder and miQb products. The color-coded approach carries over into micAddy, helping crews connect the channel assignments on screen with the microphones sitting on the tech table.

Those accessories aren’t required to use the software. But there’s something appealing about a workflow where the visual organization of the gear matches the visual organization of the show. Anything that helps an A2 locate the right transmitter in a hurry is a welcome improvement.

micAddy is currently free, runs in a web browser, and doesn’t require installing a dedicated application. It does require a reliable internet connection for the shared, real-time workflow. As with any network-dependent tool on show site, keeping an offline backup of the mic assignments is a good idea.

The free version is session-based, and show information is deleted when a session ends. A paid micAddy Pro version is in development, with multi-day show support planned. The AI-powered document import is also free during beta but is identified in the application as a future subscription feature.

Several things about micAddy stood out during the demo. The AI-powered run-of-show import, visual timeline, and conflict indicators could save crews a considerable amount of time during show prep.

Equally impressive was the A1 View. Having each presenter’s name clearly displayed beside their assigned microphone means less searching through spreadsheets, deciphering handwritten notes, or quickly asking the A2, “What mic are they on again?” right before a speaker steps onstage.

micAddy is a great solution to an everyday challenge in corporate audio production. It takes information that’s often scattered across multiple places and brings it together in an organized, easy-to-use application that keeps the crew on the same page.

Sometimes the best improvements in production aren’t about adding another piece of equipment. They’re about making the job you already do a little easier. We definitely recommend giving it a try on your next show.

Thanks to Castor Milano for taking the time to walk Crew to Comm through micAddy and share what StageStrike is building.

Try micAddy: https://micaddy.stagestrike.com/

Learn more: https://stagestrike.com/pages/micaddy