The entire technical development was the responsibility of BMS Production Group of Vienna. To ensure optimum intelligibility for the audience, BMS managing director Ing. Fritz Staudinger and Thomas Millmann of rental company MTR Productions looked to the Electro-Voice XLC system. Their expectations were fully satisfied, as Millmann relates: "Despite cloudbursts all week long while we were setting up, the equipment performed flawlessly. In fact, many of the faithful came up and thanked us, adding that they were able to hear every word of the sermon from even the most distant congregation areas."
The mass from the basilica in Mariazell was transmitted live to a nearby sports ground where two LED screens had been erected, with the sound supplied by an Electro-Voice XLC 127+ line array (three hangs of eight) as well as eight Xi1152 enclosures. The PA system was driven by EV P3000 and P2000 amps and controlled via six EV Dx38 units.
System Technician Ing. Thomas Hasenhauer comments: "The biggest challenge came when the organizers requested lip synchronicity between the sound heard by the congregation and the LED screens. By distributing the eight Xi1152 loudspeakers at regular intervals in front of the smaller LED screen, we were able, of course, to cover the entire congregation without recourse to delays, thereby solving the problem. Applying the same principle, we then moved the XLC line arrays in front of the larger of the two LED screens forward slightly -again, obviating the need for delays - to bring us a few metres closer to lip-synchronicity."
(Jim Evans)
