Delta’s head of technical Mark Underwood, the Stadium project manager for the Ceremonies and the Games, used a total of 32 BSS DSP units within a fibre optic infrastructure to create one of the most extensive temporary Soundweb installations ever designed. From the hub at the front-of-house position, Soundwebs provided the signal distribution highway for Delta's audio installation throughout the City of Manchester Stadium, distributing to six remote amplifier sites via fibre optic cable, and managing all the matrix routing and outboard processing.
"If we hadn't had the Soundweb technology and the line length the fibre offered us, we simply couldn't have done this job with any degree of system flexibility," says Delta's sound designer Paul Keating. "At the event, we had 98 speaker outputs from the consoles, and we did not experience one single glitch or ground loop issue which is pretty good considering the system was fed from several generators."
Mark Underwood was also responsible for setting up a wireless LAN network which could take control of the entire Soundweb network via a laptop anywhere within the stadium, vastly reducing the system set-up time. "We also used the Webs to automate level, EQ and delay times during different sections of the show," says Keating. During games times, other refinements included the use of ambient mics set among the crowd around the stadium which could determine the levels of the PA according to different track and field events taking place in one vicinity or other.
Delta Sound is now "tooled up to provide a large stadium network," says Keating, having made the investment in Soundwebs and 4km of fibre optic cable and cabinets, together with all the equipment to terminate the fibre. "We've made an important transition to now being able to deploy such a large network in-house. Obviously the majority of the time we will be using product in smaller systems more appropriate for Delta's mainstay business, the 40 or so corporate and presentation projects we handle every month."
After 18 months of planning and execution for the Games, Delta is getting back to normal business. First projects include a major corporate launch for Ford at the Paris Motor Show, and a McDonald’s convention at Euro Disney.
(Ruth Rossington)
