Swedish FOH and monitor engineer Peter Fredriksson frequently mixes monitors for Scandinavian conductor and arranger Hans Ek using an Allen & Heath dLive S Class S5000 Surface and DM64 MixRack. Among them, Ek’s Bowie in Berlin with the Malmö Symphony Orchestra concerts pay tribute to David Bowie’s famous Berlin Trilogy in a classical setting – with a full symphony orchestra, band, choir and vocalists.

‘If you are going to do an engineered crossover concert like this, it’s better to mic the whole orchestra instead of just parts – so we have as many as 100 live microphones on stage,’ Fredriksson says.

To manage these inputs, he uses a pair of DX32 Expanders for the choir and the band, and six DX168 Expanders for the orchestra. This gives a flexible input system while minimising mic cable length. The DX32 and DX168 Expanders connect to the DM64 MixRack and Fredriksson sends a split via Allen & Heath’s gigaACE network to FOH engineer Hans Surte Norin, who mixes on another dLive S5000. 



Many of the vocalists and band members have in-ear monitors, and Fredriksson often adds reverb to his in-ear mixes to give the performers the feeling that they’re in the room with the orchestra. ‘Our next goal is to try to do the whole orchestra with in-ear monitors with groups of musicians sharing monitor mixes,’ he says. ‘This will give us lower volumes on stage and reduced leakage from monitors into open microphones resulting in a tighter and better sound experience for the audience.’

For smaller concerts and fly gigs Fredriksson has a dLive C Class C1500 Surface, which has the same workflow as the S5000 in a reduced footprint. He uses the C1500’s layers, softkeys and DCA Spill feature to manage inputs, and adds a dLive IP8 Remote Controller for extra faders when needed. ‘The DCA Spill helps me switch quite fast between the DCA groups,’ he says.

‘The dLive is a really flexible system,’ he reflects. ‘You can patch anything to anywhere and I found it quite easy to get into the menus and the work flow with the drag-and-drop. And it sounds great. The artists say they can hear everything – all the small details.’

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