At the heart of the audio control room is a latest-generation 48-fader Lawo mc²56 - which is both compact and powerful. The interfacing to the outside world is taken care of by a DALLIS I/O system in the truck and two DALLIS stageboxes (with port redundancy) that are linked via Ravenna. The console's integrated Lawo Plugin Server allows seamless integration of plugin effects that can be recalled with stored snapshots.
Gabriel Thomazini, sound engineer in Rio on the GloboSat OB truck, reports on his work with Lawo, "We have had good results with audio-over-IP for some time, but we now face the requirement for a higher channel count and infrastructure growth. We are ready for this next level of challenge with Ravenna / AES67 and the Lawo mc² series. For us, Lawo represents an ideal balance between technology and functionality for a complex event like the World Cup."
The Maracana stadium was built for the world championships in 1950, and was then the world's largest stadium providing space for 200,000 spectators. It has since been rebuilt several times, including being updated in readiness for the 2014 event, now seating around 78,000 people. This year, following the group matches, it will host the quarter finals and then the final and the closing ceremony. All will be broadcast with Lawo sound and Ravenna technology.
(Jim Evans)
