The Midas consoles were supplied by Oslo-based AVAB-CAC, which has provided all audio requirements for the Nobel Peace Prize Concert for the past 17 years. In an entirely new approach to the event's audio network, the consoles were used to link three stages, produce live sound and provide a broadcast feed. A PRO6 was used on each stage for monitor mixes, with a pair of XL8s at front-of-house.
"Quite simply, we changed from a system that used many snakes, analogue and digital, running back and forth between the various performance areas and took us five to six hours to install and check, to a process that took barely half and hour," explains system designer Oystein Karlsen from AVAB-CAC. "Having experimented last year using the Midas XL8 console for front-of-house mixing, the benefits of the Midas AES50 audio transport technology were apparent in the mix domain.
Duties for the two front-of-house XL8s were divided between the three stages, with one desk handling orchestral inputs, VT feeds, and inputs from presenters Sir Michael Caine and Scarlett Johansson, plus ancillary stage announcements. The second XL8 mixed down the bands performing on the left and right stages, then fed the resulting mixes into the first XL8 for the final mix, balancing them with the orchestra. Although some of the change-overs between bands were mere seconds, the Midas consoles' automated routing made light work of reliably repatching and reconfiguring hundreds of audio connections with each scene recall.
The system handled almost 100 inputs from the Norwegian Radio Orchestra performing on the central stage, plus inputs from guest artists on stages to the left and right. Signals from all three stages ran to racks of Midas DL431 mic splitters positioned stage left; here Karlsen positioned the DL371 PRO6 and DL471 XL8 mix engines, with all desks, splitters, mix engines, and routers (DL461s) linked together variously via Cat 5, AES50, and fibre optic to front-of-house where the run to desk exceeded 100m. Splits went three ways, to broadcast, FOH and the three monitor desks.
The centre PRO6 took the bulk of the orchestra into its 80 inputs and mixed them down for a generic orchestra mix to orchestra monitors, and to be picked up by the left and right PRO6 monitor mixers. These two desks took the mixed down orchestra and all individual feeds from their own respective stages to create the variety of mixes demanded. For example, Per Ola Holden mixing on stage left regularly used all 32 available outputs, sending multiple mixes, mono and stereo, to a variety of wedges and in ear systems.
The 2008 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to veteran Finnish peace broker Martti Ahtisaari, who over the past 30 years has helped resolve conflicts in troublespots such as Indonesia, Namibia, Northern Ireland and the Balkans.
For a full review of the Nobel Peace Prize Concert production, don't miss the February issue of Lighting&Sound International magazine. Sign up to our L&SI Digital Edition now to be automatically informed when the February issue is available to read online.
(Lee Baldock)
