"It wasn't that it needed to be loud," said Wigwam Director Chris Hill, "but it was imperative that everyone present heard every word."
Hill with Wigwam's systems expert Rob Priddle devised a temporary installation of monumental scale as befit the occasion. "We put in a main stage system of d&b audiotechnik J-Series, with a mix of d&b J and Q-Series across twenty three delay towers. The park was licensed for 80,000 so we had more than enough PA for an audience that size, but it's not a flat open space.
"Across gently rolling wooded hills delivery needed to be targeted and intimate; precise audio propagation was essential, that's why we chose d&b from our inventory of systems. There was also a 'B' stage we needed to cover which the BBC used for a Radio 4 broadcast before the main Mass. A widespread audience; a windy environment; and the quiet softly spoken voice of an 80-yer- old Pontiff; contrasted against the backdrop of 3,500 people on stage, most of them choristers, made speech intelligibility our number one priority.
The stage was 125m wide, backstage was home to a further 3,500 people, while the audience was spread over a depth of 600m; factor in the twenty three PA towers and it's immediately apparent how delicate was the setting of the delay parameters. "
Thirteen systems of Optocores 'Optorack' ran the digital signal distribution via two Yamaha DME 64 dsp units providing a master matrix system with delay and EQ settings. The d&b D12 amplifiers handled additional delay locally. Steve Levitt from Production North was responsible for the main mix on a Midas H3000, Jonathan Digby mixed down the choirs and cantors on a Digidesign Profile console, Stage and orchestra monitoring was provided by a Digico SD7 and a Yamaha PM 5D , Andy Robinson and Ant Carr engineering these consoles.
The purpose built lecterns and ambo for the event housed a number of Schoeps lectern microphone systems and over 120 other Schoeps microphones were used, 96 channels on the Digidesign and 56 plus 16 on the Midas, including 21 inputs for the organ and 36 channels for the orchestra, it was all full.
To avoid any embarrassing vulnerabilities Hill decided to eschew use of radio mics completely, "There were just too many other parties present with radio systems to take that chance. We hand painted the Pope's mics to match the stage colour and powder coated all the mic stands to blend in as much as possible."
Mark Wallace WRG chairman and show producer Alli Tilley were in overall charge of production.
(Jim Evans)
