First staged in 1985, the Rock in Rio festival has since built an international profile, not just in its line up of artists, but for the sound at the multi-stage site in Rio de Janiero. This year marks its 40th anniversary.
The choice to use DiGiCo consoles for the main front of house systems was down to artist preference, explains Peter Racy, Rock in Rio’s front of FOH system manager and mix engineer: ‘We are seeing a dominance of DiGiCo consoles being used by artists on the main stage,’ he says. ‘In front of me, at the mix position, three of the four consoles are DiGiCo – we are also using an SD11 to control system feeds, including video mapping, pyro sound, FOH stage communications, FOH walk-in music and more.’
Created by Roberto Medina as a gift put Rio de Janeiro on the world music map, it has an enormous reach. To date, there have been 19 editions, and 2,038 artists have performed in front of 9.5m attendees. A further 12m fans have watched the live stream online, with the festival’s social media channels connecting with 143m people since 2017.
In Rock City, the festival site, there are seven music stages, rides, attraction and food choices from chefs flown in from around the world.
‘It was very special to see so many artists coming through the festival using DiGiCo consoles,’ says Ian Staddon, VP of Sales for DiGiCo, who joined the Gabisom team and Audio System’s Brazil, DiGiCo distributors and suppliers for the festival. ‘In addition to being at the front of house position, I also got to witness the team from Epah Studios provide the live broadcast mix from their SD7, and the Gabisom engineers in their purpose-built studio using the Quantum 852. It was a really positive experience.’
Rock in Rio has long been an industry leading festival, with techniques used there replicated at festivals across the world. Today the visitors’ experience is second to none and festival-goers can experience VIP lounges, shopping experiences, chill out zones and, for the first time this year, the Hype Fair, a new space for fashion, art and design. Rock City is an extravagant opportunity to really enjoy all that the music world has to offer with the highest-class facilities, and visitors do so knowing the weekend will be mud free, thanks to extensive site preparations.
‘The event was outstanding,’ Staddon reports. ‘The whole system was exceptional, with many engineers commenting on the quality of the set-up. There was a long list of artists on the Palco Mundo and Sunset stages that were using DiGiCo, and I noticed a full range of Quantum consoles from all the headliners.’
Technically, the audio set-up was huge. Not only must the audience hear the artists at each stage, but the entire festival was also live streamed via the festival’s website and recorded. The live recordings were mixed onsite from the Gabisom recording studio installed backstage, with DiGiCo consoles providing the reliability and clarity that is required by all sound engineers, regardless of the application.
‘From my perspective as a systems manager and also a FOH mixer, I like DiGiCo consoles for a number of reasons,’ Racy says. ‘Thanks to features like their dual power-supplies, dual engines, and redundant fibre loop, they are a solid and reliable platform. And you can’t forget the excellent audio specifications and performance, all accessible via the amazing, feature rich user interface.’
Thanks to the festival’s long history and luxurious setting, they have no trouble booking the very best acts, and the calibre was high across all seven stages this year. Each one had its own focus, with the World Stage featuring artists like Imagine Dragons, Ed Sheeran, Karol G, Avenged Sevenfold, Charlie Puth and Ne-Yo.
‘Peter Racy and the Gabisom crew are masters of their craft,’ says Staddon. ‘Flipping between both main stages, interspersing acts with live, aerobatic display team fly-bys as well as full fireworks displays and anniversary presentations, it’s outstanding to see. Mariah Carey closing the Sunset in style, with a Quantum 5 at FOH and a Quantum 7 on monitors, was a special moment.’
‘The Rock in Rio production team have turned festival-production into a fine art, the result is relaxed, looks incredible and almost feels like a theme park,’ Racy concludes. ‘DiGiCo consoles fit into this world because they are feature rich and super flexible. The software is highly evolved to do exactly what we need it to do. Add to that combination the practical and communicative surface, and there is no doubting that the Rock in Rio/DiGiCo trend is here to stay.’
See also:
Rock in Rio turns 40 with sound support from Outline
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