An import of the Edinburgh military pageant which also uses TiMax, the Basel Tattoo is likewise staged al fresco in front of the 18th century Kaserne Hof barracks next to the Rhine. The performers are spread out over a 70m by 25m parade arena surrounded by audience seating on three sides.
Swiss sound designer Thomas Strebel this year specified a 32x32 configuration of the new TiMax2 Soundhub, following the successes achieved with the TiMax Classic Rack systems in previous years.
The TiMax matrix received MIDI preset control and twelve groups of MADI audio from a Soundcraft Vi6 console, which handled more than 32 radio mics plus CD and harddisk playback content for various dance troupes and effects. Another Vi6 was located in the temporary Basel Tattoo Studios built under the main grandstand for multi-tracking the show to Pyramix for a 5.1 DVD release and also to provide stereo feeds for live TV and radio broadcasts.
Out Board's Robin Whittaker was on site to provide TiMax setup and programming support to Strebel's audiopool crew at front-of-house, with Laurence Zschokke supervising TiMax and Felix Hohl running the console. Employing a similar distributed speaker configuration as for the 2008 production, Robin Whittaker used a wireless tablet PC to help with equalisation across a dozen Kling and Freitag clusters on poles in front of the side-seating audience plus four separate channels of d&b J8 line arrays on the ground in front of the main VIP stadium seating.
Six independent K&F B5 sub bass channels were spread out under the seating areas, all separately delayed back to seventeen TiMax Image Definition localisations across the arena, with additional images also created for the clock bell, tower and castle balcony. Sub bass alignment was particularly important for several acts who integrated an amplified rock band and drummer into their sets.
Meanwhile the Edinburgh Tattoo marked its tenth year using a TiMax Classic Rack system to provide similar delay-matrixed sound reinforcement for its now world-famous show, supplied by Wigwam Acoustics and supervised by sound designer John Del'Nero with support from Seb Frost.
(Jim Evans)
