Opened in 2015 as a venue for live events for its academic and science, the University Aula at Norway’s Bergen University is centred on Allen & Heath dLive digital mixing and ME personal monitoring.
The original technical specification was intended to cater predominantly for oral presentations, with no dedicated FOH mix position. However, the Aula’s popularity as a live performance venue saw the need for a powerful, flexible and compact digital mixing system that, in addition, could be run without a surface attached to deal with the wide variety of cultural events, debates and concerts that regularly take place. Located in the newly renovated south wing of the Natural History museum, the 300-capacity hall has also atttracted the Bergen Philharmonic and Grieg Academy to local rock bands, such as Hvitmalt Gjerde, and has become increasingly popular as a live performance venue.
‘This was one of the most important factors in choosing dLive,’ says Technical Coordinator, Arild Grindheim. ‘There is a completely self-sufficient stagebox with the capacity to process, mix and distribute simultaneously without a surface controller attached. This in itself is quite a challenging specification for a manufacturer but one A&H meets with dLive. The generous I/O, numerous expansion options, and built in features, such as the ME 40-channel personal monitoring solution, all contribute to making this a very powerful and flexible mixer.’
The system was supplied by Siv Ing Benum of Oslo, and comprises an A&H S5000 Surface and DM64 MixRack equipped with an M-Dante-A card, an IP8 remote control unit, and a ME-U hub with several ME-1 units.
‘Being a facility with many different users of varying technical abilities required a surface that is easy to navigate and straightforward for those with minimal skills, yet with all the essential tools instantly available for the most experienced engineers – a requisite that dLive fulfills completely,’ Grindheim says. ‘The fact that all of this can be achieved while still being able to visually monitor the status of gain level, gain reduction and gate activity on 64 channels on a single surface is quite unique. We have made an excellent choice with dLive.’
More: www.allen-heath.com
