Rental company auvisign GmbH was called upon to provide the PA for the huge crowds, from the main stage in front of the Brandenburg Gate to the 10 big TV screens spaced down the length of the fan mile and beyond to other stages. This massive task was supervised by sound designer Johannes Raack, who has worked many times here at Europe's biggest public viewing space.
A Nexo Geo D10 line array system was used on the main stage, together with Geo Sub and CD18 subbass cabinets, and a large number of Nexo PS Series. Elsewhere on the fanmeile, nearly 270 Nexo cabinets were deployed; Geo S12, Geo S8, Nexo Alpha and many more PS Series.
Together with Peter Sobisiak, Johannes Raack supervised all the technical direction and network operation. The main stage PA was accessed over one EtherSound network, with a second network handling all the delay lines and TV screen systems.
Inputs for the mixer were implemented via Yamaha AD8HR converters and Auvitran EtherSound mini-YGDAI cards over another ES network. All these networks, controlled from FOH, were consolidated in a common Gigabit network, using fibreglass connections (to meet the requirement for redundant ducting) to cover the distances of up to 600m from device to device.
(Jim Evans)
