This involved the deployment of 78 x main d&b loudspeakers and 32 sub cabinets at the main stage location in Albert Square, plus another 35 speakers and 21 x subs which provided local sound systems for five relay LED screen positions at key strategic points along the parade route.
Working for organisers Manchester City Council, the tube team of 19 noize boyz and girlz was led by Melvyn Coote and worked solidly in shifts for 36 hours before the event to ensure that everything was set up and sounded great, then de-rigged quickly, efficiently and effectively in order to minimise disruption to the public.
Says Melvyn, "We were all intensely proud to be involved in this event and to help honour our Olympic heroes. The logistics, prep and planning were mind-boggling at times, the timeframe for such a massive and high profile event was exceptionally tight due to it being in some very public spaces at peak time! Everyone worked very hard and some long hours ... but the teamwork and camaraderie were amazing".
A 60m wide by 8m deep stage was installed for the main ceremony in Albert Square to accommodate all the Olympic Heroes in their teams. Crowds were warmed up by the Brythoniaid Welsh Male Voice Choir and later entertained by rousing performances from rockers the Kaiser Chiefs and singer Rebecca Ferguson, who closed the show with a stirring rendition of David Bowie's epic Heroes.
The PA had to cover around 10,000 people in the main Square area plus all those gathering nearer the back and to the sides.
A major challenge was minimising the bleed into the mics to ensure the best possible quality audio for the broadcasts.
The main system comprised four flown loudspeaker arrays each of six d&b V8s, hung behind the stage to maintain clear visual lines for the long camera shots and zoom-ins, and on top of 10m high PA masts that were integrated with the stage structure.
They were focused to only just start hitting the audience area on front of stage, to ensure that as little PA noise was slipping onto the stage mics. A neat row of d&b E6 speakers positioned along the stage lip provided in-fill for the very front rows of fans.
Delays were needed to get audio to those standing behind the broadcast structures, with eight positions mostly utilising d&b Y8s, Y12s and Y-SUBS plus a few smaller spot positions with Q7s, Q-SUBS and B2s.
Main stage bottom was generated by a serious amount of B2s and V-SUBS and everything was powered by 23 x D12 and 4 x D80 amps.
A Yamaha CL5 console provided the control, run in conjunction with a Yamaha Rio2334 at FOH and two onstage to give sufficient outputs to route everything needed out to the PA, broadcast studios, press, IEMs, etc. with around 55 outputs in total.
Two Mac Mini servers running in parallel were utilized for the playback music sources.
Main stage monitors for music artists were provided with d&b M4 wedges and a total of 8 channels of IEMs for artists and presenter talkback systems.
The huge 60m stage-width hosting the medallists needed to also have clearly audible sound and this was achieved discretely with more d&b E6 fills in the pit firing back over the stage so all the Heroes could hear the proceedings clearly. Finally, two large induction loops were added to assist with hearing aid devices.
Twelve Sennheiser SKM5200 hand-held radio mics were supplied with a combination of condenser heads for the presenters and MD5235 heads for the artists - all running into an XTA DS800 line distribution system for integration into the BBC's broadcasting systems. There were over 40 ways of line splits in total.
The five relay screens were in four different key locations along the Parade route - with one pair running back-to-back. The sound systems were all made up with d&b V8s, V12s and V-SUBs driven by 19 x D12s.
In addition to Albert Square and the five relay screen areas, tube uk supplied a sound system for the last float in the Heroes Parade itself - designed and built by arts specialists Walk The Plank, the tube team installed four d&b Y7P speakers and four Q-SUBS powered by two D12s all running off a 5 kVA generator which was also part of the package.
(Jim Evans)
