Allen & Heath’s dLive S Class mixing system was recently deployed at the prestigious Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow for a performance by the Astrakhan Opera and Ballet company.

The Astrakhan performed its production of The Damnation of Faust opera – which has been nominated for the Russian national theatre award, The Golden Mask – with the dLive at FOH and monitors.

Provided by MixArt, the system consisted of a DM48 MixRack and S3000 Surface. A DX32 expander rack was installed in the orchestra pit to enable local connection of multiple instrument microphones, and the DM48 was equipped with a Waves network card to allow multitrack recording and virtual soundcheck. There was also an IP8 remote controller to manage special sound FX and playback.

“At rehearsals and at the last rehearsal I controlled the dLive system using the S3000 installed in the centre of the audience,” commented Vadim Shcherbakov, director of MixArt’s Southern branch. “Before the performance we put the S3000 backstage, and I managed the sound using only a laptop with dLive Director and an iPad with the MixPad app.”

“In opera, it’s very important that technical innovations do their work without impacting on the character of sound,” added Valery Voronin, art director and chief conductor of the Astrakhan Theater of Opera and Ballet. “I still believe in the old-fashioned idea that opera is better off without sound reinforcement, so I was especially happy to hear clear and natural sound.”

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