Electro-Voice system powers 2013 Berlin Festival

An array of equipment from Electro-Voice (EV) was chosen for two high-profile live music events in Germany – the Berlin Festival and Click2Concert.

Over 50 acts performed at the eighth annual Berlin Festival held at Tempelhof, a former airport, including Blur, Björk, and the Pet Shop Boys. The event was immediately followed by the Telekom Click2Concert – at the same venue – which was headlined by David Guetta. Around 50,000 fans attended the two events in total.

Rental firm TSE AG was again given responsible for providing main stage sound reinforcement. As well as plenty of sound pressure, homogeneous sound and a high level of intelligibility, the audio team had strict noise abatement regulations to adhere to, with the venue being close to a residential area. A sound system based on components from Electro-Voice was eventually picked as the ideal solution.

The sound reinforcement concept for both events involved splitting the area into four independent zones served by 8 x Xvlt, 16 x Xvls, 4 x XLD (PA, near field), 10 x XLC (delay line), 12 x XLD (out fill) and 8 x XLD (covering the VIP area).

“By dividing up the venue in this way, we were able to expand or reduce the area covered depending upon the time of day and the size of the audience,” explained sound engineer Alexander Lewin of TSE AG. “By the same token we were able to adjust the volume level of the individual zones using the corresponding presets.”

To ensure sufficient sound pressure in the low frequency range, the crew opted for 36 Electro-Voice Xsubs. Here, the classic configurations to the left and right of the stage were enhanced by sub-arcs. Six stacks of three subs each were set up on each side of the stage.

“With this configuration, we were better able to control the dispersion of the bass frequencies while retaining the punch of the classic arrangement,” Lewin continued. "For all the systems, FIR full-range presets were used, the subs being configured as a sub-low extension overlapping the full-range enclosures up to 65 Hz.”

Power to all enclosures was provided by 50 Electro-Voice TG7 amplifiers with RCM-28 modules. The control and supervision of the system, as well as integration of all the guest mixing desks, was handled by an EV N8000 NetMax digital matrix controller equipped with a DM-1 Dante audio network module.

To drive the amps, the team led relied on OMNEO networking technology. Use of the open, IP-based standard made audio transmission of the signals possible. By means of IRIS-Net software, the TSE team were able – assisted by OMNEO – to control and monitor the amplifiers with ease.

“This was the first time we had used OMNEO for a pro sound event,” added TSE project manager Silvio König. “It proved a total success. We had no need for extensive cable harnesses and were able to accomplish swift and simple patching by means of standard Ethernet. This saved us a lot of time and transportation expense – in fact, a considerable amount of money.”

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