German artist Nena, with 25 million record sales and hit song “99 Luftballons,” hit the road over the summer with the ‘Nichts Versäumt Tour’ (‘Nothing Missed Tour’) travelling across Europe. Event technology service provider AMBION supplied the audio for the tour, which encompassed shows in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, The Netherlands and Luxembourg.
The size of the shows varied between audiences of 2,000 and 10,000. The tour budget specified one 40 ton semi-trailer for the entire audio inventory, so given the variety of venue sizes, AMBION supplied CODA Audio AiRAY 3-way line arrays.
AiRAY was supplemented by ViRAY, SC2-F sensor-controlled bass extensions, SCP-F sensor-controlled subwoofers and APS for nearfill and sidefill.
“Thanks to the exceptional flexibility of the systems it was easy to determine the optimum set-up for each venue to obtain the best possible homogenous coverage of the entire frequency spectrum,” says front of house engineer Oliver Steinberger. “The system is visually discreet and also comparatively light. It was noteworthy that even acoustically difficult halls, for example those with deep balconies or high tiers, did not pose any problems. Every area of the audience was covered in such a way that I was confident that the rear rows and balconies were connected to the action just as much as those in the front.
“As well as the incredibly efficient high-frequency drivers, which highlighted the full range of keyboard textures even at great distances, the precise, sensor-controlled subs also deserve a special mention. Listening to the system whilst playing my usual songs, gave me completely new insights – the impulse fidelity enabled me to hear things I had not ever previously perceived…
“The outdoor concerts really revealed the system’s true potential, where in addition to the range and excellent sound quality, it proved to be remarkably insusceptible to the wind. Summing it up in one sentence, I’d say it was simply a pleasure to mix on it.”
The full system:
— Main – 12 x AiRAY – 90°+ 4 x ViRAY 120°per side
— Outfill – 12 x ViRAY – 80°per side
— Low-End – 4 x SC2-F + 20 x SCP-F
— Nearfills – 14 APS – 90°
— Stage sidefill – 2 x APS + 3 x APS-Sub per side
— Amplification and DSP – 4 x LINUS T-RACK, 4 x LINUS M-RACK, 6 x LINUS RACK20, 2 x LINET-Master, 2 x LINET-Slave.
