"In the past this event has been held in the Palau Saint Jordi in Barcelona, and also in Lisbon," explains Delta Audio's sound designer for the event, Jim Lambert. "It's a conference and party for 5,000 Toyota car dealers and managers from around Europe, held over two days. This year's conference venue was the Forum, with the associated party held in the adjoining Barcelona International Convention Centre.
The conference was a mixture of live music, corporate presentations - including the launch of the new Toyota Formula One car and team for the current season - and a 50-strong dance troupe. "We used our own D5 112EX, operated by Simon Honywill, for this area with approximately 80 input channels, including playback from two 24-channel multi track machines," continues Lambert.
The party comprised a dinner and one-hour gala concert from Whitney Houston and her band, followed by a supporting dance act called Zig Zag.
"The PA was our own L'Acoustics V-Dosc system and we had two DiGiCo D5 Lives, one on monitors and one at front of house," says Lambert. "These were specified by Whitney's American crew, who flew in their front of house and monitor engineer for the two concerts. Although both new to the console they were keen to use it on this major event." Sound project manager for this element was Delta's Steve Lutley.
(Sarah Rushton-Read)
