When German singer Mine staged a special orchestral concert recently, it was with an Allen & Heath dLive S Class mixing system as the central hub for the monitor mix and signal routing.
The setting was Berlin’sHuxleys Neue Welt music club, where Mine was accompanied by a 12-piece orchestra, 15-voice choir, DJs plus various guest vocalists and rappers. With more than 90 microphones and inputs to accommodate, the show’s Technical Director, Dennis Kopacz, chose a dLive S5000 Surface and DM48 MixRack expanded to 108 inputs to manage mixing and routing.
‘The S5000 is the heart of the whole production and is not only used as a monitor desk but also for routing the signals via Madi to the FOH desk and the Pro Tools rig, which records the whole show,’ he explains. ‘Since space was tight but we needed a compact desk which is still able to handle lots of inputs and mixes, and allows complex routings. dLive delivers in every aspect.’
Recording orchestral instruments on the crowded stage was another challenge for Kopacz, since no acoustic separation could be used. All string instruments are miked separately using Audio-Technica ATM350s: ‘Not only do the ATM350s sound great on all kind of string instruments, they are also very easy to handle by classical musicians who don’t have much experience in using microphones.’
Kopacz has previously used dLive for other music and TV productions, including the German TV show, Sing My Song, and an unplugged show for Austrian singer, Andreas Gabalier. ‘dLive is my first choice when I need to route a huge number of signals in an easy but flexible way,’ he says. ‘New features, like DCA spill, let me also handle large mixes on a relatively small surface.
‘Also, the system is absolutely reliable and simply sounds very good. Last but not least, the user interface is laid out very well and it’s easy to use; even engineers who have never worked on the desk before can get up to speed in no time and deliver great mixes.’
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