Concerts performed by the Berliner Philharmoniker in the Berliner Philharmonie are recorded, mixed and broadcast live by radio stations using the concert hall’s Studio 3 Control Room, which has been upgraded to 96kHz operation, and is now able to handle 5.1 productions with a higher channel and microphone count. Key to this is the renewal and expansion of the audio network – built on Stage Tec’s Nexus – which has been use since 2006.
The Nexus boards have been upgraded and were supplemented with current technologies, including Dante and AES67. An additonal Nexus Base Device has been added to the network, which now includes six Base Devices and a Star router. The router is the focal point of the audio network. Broadcasters can connect their recording devices here, directly via Madi. A 56-fader Aurus digital mixing desk has been a fixture in Studio 3 for 12 years and is now equipped with seven powerful RMDQ DSP units for resource-intensive 96kHz operation.
‘Modern productions now require 96kHz as the standard for processing and storing audio signals’, explains Marco Buttgereit, Tonmeister at the Berlin Philharmonie. ‘We were already able to work with this high resolution, but the number of Aurus channels, mix buses and DAW connections reached their limits time and again. We now have a Nexus system with 80 microphone inputs and a significantly enlarged channel and bus structure that enables us to undertake very complex orchestral recordings. Upgrading the interfaces to include Dante and Ravenna has given us huge flexibility in connecting peripheral devices.’
A feature of this project is that the split microphone outputs can be used simultaneously with different sampling rates (one at 48kHz and one with 96kHz) for two productions running in parallel. The current project also includes extensive logic programming – a Crestron media control is integrated into the Aurus’ environment in cooperation with HeiMedia. The control buttons for this are located on the left-hand side of the Aurus graphics tablet with the buttons for camera remote-control and source selection on the right. The venue’s video sources are fed to two large displays suspended above Aurus.
‘If customer relationships continue across several product generations and tenders our concept has proved its merit,’ says Jens Kuhlmann, who planned this project and responsible for system planning, support and training at Stage Tec. ‘When it comes to such prestigious clients as the Berlin Philharmonie, we feel particularly honoured.’
In addition to the concerts, Studio 3 will also host Berliner Philharmoniker CD productions and broadcasts to the Digital Concert Hall. Radio stations such as RBB and Deutschlandfunk Kultur also use the control room for their own recordings.
More: www.stagetec.com
