UK production company Avenue Services was among those to provide technical production for The Salvation Army’s 150th International Anniversary celebrations at London’s O2 Arena – selecting Allen & Heath mixers for all the venues covered.Entitled Boundless 2015, the five-day event used all of the O2’s venues and attracted 20,000 visitors from around the world. Avenue Services provided full technical production for three of the venues, and some support for the main arena. Over a dozen different musical and dance groups took part in 18 performances across four venues – the O2 arena, the Cineworld Sky Super Screen, Cineworld Screen 2 and Building 6. ‘We provided a site-wide implementation of Allen & Heath digital and analogue mixers for ease-of-use, quick turnarounds and flexible set-ups,’ explains Avenue Services owner, John-Marc Swansbury.
Avenue Services used its iLive-T112 control surface and iDR-48 MixRack to support one of the Salvation Army’s leading gospel choirs from Sweden. All 48 choir mics went through the iLive as a sub mix into the main arena PA system, which was being handled under the main production company for the arena, Corporate Magic.
A GLD-80 with AR2412 and AR84 IO racks was installed to manage the 800-capacity Sky Super Screen venue, which mixed a varied programme of artists including brass bands, Hawaiian dancers, Indian Youth Singers, New Zealand Mauri dancers and 60-strong choirs. Fitted with a Dante network card, the mixer provided live splits to another set-up for live multitrack recording for a DVD production of the event.
‘This set-up needed quick changes between performing groups. The speed of the GLD for programming and out-of-the-box use for a digital desk made these swift changes quick and effective, while keeping a system base running for mix outputs for the main PA and onstage monitor mixes,’ Swansbury says. ‘The cinema being what it is – a very dry audio environment – means that the GLD’s onboard FX came into their own with the use of reverb and delays to enhance the vocal and brass performances.’
A QU-16 rackmount mixer and AR2412 rack were installed in the Screen 2 venue, which also featured an eclectic mix of performers and presentations. Meanwhile, in Building 6, the compact Zed-10FX was used to mix and route audio signals for the use of production show comms, and on-stage IEM mixes for the bands’ MD.
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