Taking place in late January at three of the UK's premier arena venues - Glasgow Braehead, Manchester's MEN and Wembley - the 'in the round' shows needed a system with plenty of power to ensure that master of ceremonies Jeremy Borash and playback music were heard above the roaring, sell-out crowds.
Urban Audio technical director Dan Lewis specified an L-Acoustics V-DOSC / DV-DOSC system, mixed wirelessly on a Yamaha M7CL console from an iPad running StageMix.
"The show was essentially quite simple, being playback and some radio mics. However the required aesthetic for the show was that there could be no out-front mix position, so it seemed like the ideal opportunity to buy an iPad and use StageMix," says Lewis. "The M7CL was sited backstage, behind the scenic drape, making control all-but invisible to the public."
Lewis used an off-the-shelf home router for the WiFi connection between the iPad and console, with the addition of an external antenna to boost signal range.
Although designed initially for ease of soundchecking by monitor engineers, Lewis found that StageMix is more than adequate for mixing such shows and it perhaps points the way to more complex applications being embraced in future updates.
"The StageMix app was more than enough to mix a show like this, with playback and vocals," he says. "The ability to stand next to the MC in the ring and EQ his vocal, so he was happy with it, was a real client pleaser. With the usual high level of backup that comes with Yamaha products I'm sure there will be lots of functionality updates."
"We're very pleased that a company like Urban has trusted StageMix to mix such a high profile show in major venues," says Karl Christmas, Yamaha Commercial Audio (UK) deputy general manager. "Being able to push the envelope, while giving the user 100% confidence, is a hallmark of all Yamaha pro audio products. We look forward to more user feedback, which will help us take StageMix to the next level."
(Jim Evans)