The three day festival, which takes over every corner of the Royal Opera House in London's Covent Garden, invites people to listen to opinions, watch performances and films, and view the current trends in fashion and art. Just Tell the Truth was the theme of this year's event.
The Paul Hamlyn Hall, with its barrelled roof and floor to ceiling windows, served as the hub of the festival with a live stage for an eclectic mix of improvisational bands, speakers and dancers throughout the three days. For the second year running, Paul Nicholson of Midas ProSound and Red Square Audio was in charge of the audio for the festival and he chose Roland products for both the Paul Hamlyn hall and the Linbury Theatre. The Linbury Theatre itself is a modern theatre space within the heart of the Royal Opera House
Specifying the M-480 48 Channel Live Mixing Console for the stage in the hall and the M-400 48 Channel Live Mixing Console for the stage in the theatre, both Roland digital consoles were connected to their respective FOH consoles using S-MADI. In the main hall, Andy Reeves used the M-480 for monitors and Matt Trigg multi-tracked the whole performance using the Sonar REAC Recording System, a system which when used in conjunction with the V-Mixing System provides a comprehensive hardware and software solution to live recording, mixing, mastering and delivery.
The resident engineers at the Royal Opera House also asked NIcholson to spot record where required and he had no hesitation in recommending the use of the Roland R-05 hand held recorder. Four R-05 recorders were used in total - one on FOH and one on the monitors in each of the two halls. After demonstrating the superior sound quality of the R-05 to the engineers by playing an orchestral pre-recording on an SD card through the line array, there was no question about using them throughout the festival.
According to Nicholson, "The Royal Opera House engineers were so impressed with the hand held recorders they purchased the four units there and then."
(Jim Evans)
