The event featured top acts on stage and celebrities on the red carpet. Bandleader James Last was the surprise guest while Michael Bolton, German country star Helene Fischer, mezzo soprano Anne Sofie von Otter and pop artist Juli entertained the crowd.
PRG's Kai Reiss handled FOH duties for the artists on the PRO9 following some training with Lars Lüdemann from German distributor Mega Audio. "It's the best sounding digital desk I've used so far," he says. "It immediately reminded me of the first time I encountered a Midas XL3 back in the early nineties. The EQ is second to none and I really liked the dynamics and effects - I've been a great fan of the Klark Teknik DN780 reverb so it is nice to have an emulation of this unit back in Midas digital desks.
"At first I was wary of having only 12+4 faders to handle 80 channels in such a complex situation, but thanks to POP(ulation) groups and VCAs it worked out much better than I could have imagined.
Reiss found the Midas consoles' integrated AES50 network a very powerful tool for distributing and collecting signals throughout the venue. "It was also easy to set up. We had three Midas DL431 splitters and one DL 451 modular I/O box equipped with analogue out cards as outputs for the monitors. Connection to the system drive was analogue into a Midas XL88 which summed the PRO9 and the XL4 and divided the signal into the sound system processors, using the I/O cards in the back of the PRO9 to connect to local equipment.
"We connected the video signal from the Sennheiser WSM software and used the built in KVM switch on the PRO6 monitor console to show the status from the IEM transmitters on the console's screen. This is a very cool feature for a monitor engineer, giving them the opportunity to watch the important parameters of the in-ear systems without moving away from the desk."
On monitors, Thomas Hofer was using a Midas PRO6 with Klark Teknik DN9331 Rapide graphic controller to handle the setup of in ears and wedges.
In addition to the Midas digital desks, an XL4 handled hosts, voiceovers, DV, jingles, walk on/off music, and lectern mics.
Since 2006, the PRG Live Entertainment Award (PRG LEA) has honoured outstanding work and achievements in the concert and event industry in German-speaking territories.
(Jim Evans)
