36 l July 2012
www.prosoundnewseurope.com SOUNDBITES live EUROPE
The Edinburgh Lighting and Sound School has chosen an Allen & Heath MixWizard3 16:2 as the main training console on its new Production and Technology course. “Allen & Heath has a reputation for high-quality products and we are pleased to have a relationship with a British company which has a personal touch,” said school director George Tarbuck.
www.allen-heath.com
QSC Audio Productshas launched
qsctraining.com, a new website offering free training courses, product presentations, instructional videos and podcasts created on the company’s full line of products. Users have the option to become Q-Sys certified via online tests and assessments, with a number of training modules to be recognised towards the RU requirements for InfoComm CTS certification.
www.qsctraining.com
France-based hire company Concept Audiohas joined the growing list of Adamson’s Energia Beta Partners, which includes French partners SLS and MPM. In addition to the new E15 system, Concept Audio also carries Y18s, Y10s, T21 Subs, SpekTrix and M15 monitors in their inventory.
www.adamsonsystems.com www.conceptaudio.co.uk
Francophone singer Natasha St- Pier recently performed in Arques, France using an Eclipse GT digital mixing console from Innovason. Sound engineer Vincent Voyron commented: “In Arques I got to use an Eclipse for the first time and I wasn’t disappointed.” The tour is in support of her latest album, Bonne Nouvelle.
www.innovason.com
Engineers at Orbital Soundare among the first in the UK to be certified Axient Wireless specialists, having completed a training course at Shure Distribution UKcovering all aspects of the Axient wireless management network.
www.orbitalsound.com www.shuredistribution.co.uk
The backline in Baku
A brand new arena, unpredictable security, and no local live events infrastructure available for backup: what could go wrong? Erica Basnicki reports on the monumental effort required to make this year’s Eurovision Song Contest all go right…
Despite the challenges,
THIS YEAR’SEurovision Song Contest will perhaps go down in history as the most-talked about event in the show’s history, though certainly not just for the music. Nearly 16,000 fans filled the newly- built Crystal Hall in Baku, Azerbaijan to watch Engelbert Humperdinck, an Albanian version of Björk, and – just like last year – some outrageously political voting. And bloody Jedward. At least, Sennheiser revealed, the number of news crews using banned wireless spectrum at the event – always a problem at Eurovision – dropped by 50% this year. Production company
Brainpool deserve a trophy for the herculean task they had on their hands, which went above and beyond the average Eurovision workload. Every single piece of kit – from their own forklifts right down to rolls of gaffer tape – needed to be shipped in from Germany, as there is no live events infrastructure in Azerbaijan to speak of. It took two entire German
Federal Railways trains, 100 containers – each 16m long – two Boeing 747 cargo aircrafts and 110 40-ton trucks to get it all there. “Logistical nightmare” may have been mentioned a few times during the technical tour, and by several different people. Hats off to Brainpool’s head of production management, Xanten Stratmann, for pulling it all off despite some rather trying circumstances, including an ever- changing set of security measures which occasionally even prevented the technical crew from gaining access to the venue.
the 2012 event went off without a hitch
There was Euphoria for Sweden...
... but the Russian Grannies had to settle for second place
Adding to the challenge of
this year’s show was that Crystal Hall was an unknown venue to work with; construction began in September 2011 and was only completed on 16 April. In designing the show’s PA system, Brainpool’s head of sound, Florian Kessler, relied on L-Acoustics’ Soundvision package to plot the acoustics of the arena. In the end, Kessler opted for an L-Acoustics KARA system, flown in nine positions of 20 modules, with three SB18 subs at each position. Six arrays of KIVA line source elements were used as nearfield monitors.
www.prosoundnewseurope.com/live For the latest live news
Jedward: guaranteeing a non-win for Ireland
Eight Soundcraft Vi6 consoles
provided by Cologne-based rental company Toneheads were used to mix and monitor the contest; five for mixing all elements of the show, and three for backup. As Kessler explained: “To have the option to split MADI streams without using external equipment is why we chose to use them here.” Toni Kern and Guido Preuss engineered the FOH mix for the main contest, while the opening and interval acts (along with the moderation) were mixed on a separate desk. More than 150 Sennheiser
wireless microphone and monitoring links were used,
monitored on a Yamaha DM2000. As well as the microphones for the artists and presenters, this included the microphones for the opening act and the interval show, production microphones, microphones for the rehearsal room and press conferences, and wireless monitoring systems for the artists, presenters and technical crew. Celebrating its 25th Eurovision contest, Sennheiser provided performers and presenters with SKM 5200-II microphones fitted with Neumann KK 104-S capsule heads and SK 5212-II bodypack transmitters each with EM 3732-II dual-channel
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