"There was nothing on the stage but Sennheiser," reports Scott Scherban, project manager and audio crew chief for Delicate Productions of Camarillo, California, who provided the event production systems. An octagonal stage, located at the focus of a 66,000sq.ft. semi-circular area constructed on the palace gardens especially for the event, featured Sennheiser Evolution Series e614 condenser microphones for the string section, along with e602, e604, e609, e865 and e903 instrument mics, as well as six Evolution Wireless SKM365G2 RF handheld vocal mics, four ew300IEMG2 wireless personal monitor setups, and thirty Sennheiser wired headsets.
"There were twenty Sennheiser e614s for condenser overheads on the string section," elaborates Scherban. "There were sixteen strings, four cellos, an eight-piece choir, a drum kit, bass guitar, and two keyboard rigs. The rest was percussion, including eight tablas." The orchestra played without a break throughout the party, which started at six o'clock and ended at midnight, he says. "But each time a different vocalist - and there were six - came up, they'd bring their own percussion, keyboard or other musicians. I had six channels of wireless microphones, all G2s, for the vocalists."
The sound system, which also featured Yamaha digital consoles and Martin Audio line array speakers, encompassed 52 inputs in total. "There were ten monitor mixes - four wedges for the percussion and the rest on ears," explains Scherban. Thirty Sennheiser single-earpiece headphones were provided for orchestra members. "On top of that, there were four wireless personal monitor systems. The string section was on ear monitors because the percussion was so loud."Explaining Delicate Productions' involvement, Scherban says, "Initially, we went to Dubai, but they didn't have enough audio equipment for this calibre of show." Because all of the designers had constructed their set pieces in the United States it was eventually decided to source everything in this country, he adds. All of the items, from the cutlery, plates and glasses to the chairs, staging and production equipment, were flown to Qatar from the U.S. in twelve Qatar Airways jets.
The stage was specially draped and lighted so that the all-male orchestra could not see the 3,000-plus all-female guests, as is the custom. All of the scaffolding and trussing was covered with wood and hand-painted to match the palace. The party area was laid out on scaffold decks over the palace's landscaped gardens, overlaid with marble and custom-dyed rugs. Several fire pits were set up, and the platforms, which also featured dance floor areas, were decorated with large cages of exotic birds.
(Sarah Rushton-Read)
