Italian sound designer Daniele Tramontani was called in to design the huge audio rig supplied by Jinyun Cho's Seoul Sound, audio contractors at this ambitious event. Tramontani-based his choice of hardware on equipment he'd already used for important events, as far as mics, consoles and speakers were concerned. Following up on May's Pavarotti & Friends charity concert for which he was responsible for the sound system, and three DiGiCo D5 desks were used, he once again spec'd the console.
Tramontani also helmed the DiGiCo D5 56E personally on the mixer platform, mixing the overhead mics of the Regio Theatre's orchestra with a bug mic pre-mix and another of the soloists and choruses by Giovanni Sbaffoni: "Although Giovanni and myself have both worked on operas staged in large venues, this is the biggest Aida ever, so it was a unique event for all concerned," he said.
Opera-goers are accustomed to listening to shows at home or in the relative calm of theatres and aren't used to amplified concerts; it's no easy job creating the right atmosphere in a stadium, particularly as far as focusing the crowd's attention on the stage is concerned. Tramontani confirmed: "Pulling off such an event successfully is an incredible satisfaction for a sound engineer, as the instruments are very delicate and the mics can pick up a mosquito, so when you put in a 250,000W system, you have to be very careful of how you use it! With the DiGiCo console's new software, the results were excellent."
All the desk's 56 inputs were used, plus those on its local DigiRack. Although some cutting edge outboard compressors had been brought along, ready for use on the voices, particularly the sopranos', they weren't needed, as Tramontani explained: "This was thanks to the D5's powerful on-board features - although it's a compact unit, it's also very flexible, particularly as far as patches, communications and sub groups are concerned. With a four-hour show like this, you can't risk anything going wrong, and things that pass un-noticed on rock gigs could risk jeopardizing the whole show if they occurred, but apart from some weather problems, things went off extremely well and the event received huge media coverage, as well as hitting the headlines in local pro audio trade mags."
(Lee Baldock)
