The event was transmitted live and recorded by RAI, Italy’s state TV/radio broadcaster, and this year’s technical news was audio contractor Agorà ’s decision to use three recently purchased DiGiCo D5 Live consoles. Daniel Tramontani was designer and head of the complex audio set-up for the entire event - FOH, monitor, recording and broadcast. "This year’s exciting challenge was to use Agorà ’s three new DiGiCo D5 consoles at this very important event. DiGiCo’s technical staff in the UK gave us considerable assistance before and during the operative stage to facilitate file recognition when handling the hundreds of channels involved."
The three desks in the main control room mixed the audio, transmitted by RAI, and handled multi-track HD recording of the show which, as well as for possible future release, was also used to play back rehearsals, enabling the engineers to fine-tune the songs’ mixes. They also sent pre-mixes to the FOH and monitor engineers to facilitate their work. Each desk handled a specific area of the sound. John Pellowe (Pavarotti’s sound engineer) used one to mix the Orchestra Sinfonica Italiana’s 42 channels of overhead microphones and 36 bug mics, as well as four overheads for the children’s choir. Tramontani added: "As well as a direct 32-channel feed to the HDRs, John sent his L/R orchestra and choir mix-down to the main D5, manned by Maurizio Maggi . . . We made extensive use of the desks’ features. The D5 is a very advanced project with enormous potential, and I particularly like the idea of being able to use them in a fibre optic networked set-up."
John Pellowe stated: "The D5 mixers we used definitely offer great promise - the sound is revolutionary, the best of any desk I’ve ever used. Distortion level and quality are sensational and they’re much simpler to learn than most digital desks. The DiGiCo people gave as first-class back-up - from Roger to the folk from their Italian distributor Audium, under the watchful eye of founder Roberto Beppato."
Visual impact came from a 21m x 4m Lighthouse LED screen of 264 LVP1010C modules, installed centre stage. The Lighthouse panels were supplied by specialist firm Euphon of Turin, who also installed a 5m x 6m Lighthouse LVP2056 screen on either side of the stage. Euphon’s Franco Santoro explained: "We used a mixture of live shots of the artists on the side screens, and recorded footage and graphic sequences on the main screen. Of the eleven RAI cameras covering the event, five were connected to a sub control room run by multimedia director Giancarlo Soldi, who prepared the graphic contributions and was in charge of the live cameras. The control room linked to the main screen had a four-strong team, including two graphic ops, producing custom backgrounds based on each artist’s song. The event was probably one of the largest of this type we’ve ever done. We use several different brands of screen, manufactured in Italy and abroad, but the Lighthouse screens have remarkable colour quality and are versatile and easy to handle, fundamental for this type of application."
(Sarah Rushton-Read)
