An Allen & Heath dLive system was recently at the mix hub of a special performance by about 50 musicians from the Heidelberg Philharmonic Orchestra livestreamed against the backdrop of the Königssaal (Royal Hall), within the walls of the historic Heidelberg Palace in Germany.
The performance was the centerpiece of a cultural evening on July 10, staged by Heidelberg Theatre and Orchestra in partnership with the town’s municipal authority and livestreamed to Facebook and YouTube audiences. Full-service AV rental company, Konferenztechnik Kiel supplied the audio, video, lighting and streaming solution for the event.
Freelance audio engineer Eric Siemens headed up the sound team, supported by microphone tech Florian Montabaur as well as Martin Hildebrand, who directed the sound and video via intercom. Siemens mixed the performance himself, choosing a dLive C3500 Surface teamed with a CDM48 MixRack to manage the 59 inputs from the musicians, ambience and wireless mics. The event was also recorded in HD, with multitrack audio captured via a Waves3 card.
Originally planned as an outdoor event in the palace grounds, a sudden change in the weather necessitated a rapid move to the indoor venue. “The dLive’s flexible routing made the move very easy, but we were left with a very short time for sound check, which was a challenge,” Siemens notes. “We had to sound check around 50 musicians in 15 minutes, but because A&H pre-sets the gain at 27 dB, I didn’t need to touch the gain for most of them. The DCA Spill function was also very helpful for accessing the individual channels quickly.”
Another consideration for the sound team was a trumpet performance and interview, which opened the event from the battlements of a tower, some 100 meters from the Königssaal. Siemens ran a portable DX168 expander up to the tower for local I/O, with another DX168 in the main performance area extending the I/O capability of the CDM48.
Here’s a recording of the livestream:
