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Driverack 4800 Passes San Remo Test
Fifty-six years after it first appeared on the European entertainment landscape, the famous San Remo Festival continues to go from strength to strength.
Promoted by Italian television giants, Rai, the song contest has always enjoyed high production values and this year’s event on the Italian Riviera saw the installation of a complete digital solution in the 1900-capacity Ariston Theatre.
Harman’s HiQnet connectivity and control protocol was used within a CobraNet environment so that all audio and control data could be routed over a common Ethernet pipe.
Making its debut alongside other HiQnet-compatible devices in the Harman product portfolio were five of the new dbx DriveRack 4800’s — the first to be used outside the United States — optimizing the performance of the two powered 10 x JBL VT 4888 DP-CN Vertec line array hangs. With its 96kHz DSP engine and standard analog/digital I/O outputs, the 4800 was run in conjunction with Crown I-Tech 8000 and 6000 amplification at San Remo.
One of the technical support team, Roberto Frigerio, said: “We are running the whole system through the 4800 — the two VT hangs, the two low and high VRX balcony delay clusters and the analog pick-up signals; we take the AES-EBU signals and can control all crossover and EQ functions on the PC, with the DriveRack also handling the mutes and delay taps.
“The DriveRack is very nice to use and has a really user-friendly interface and a logical matrix. The EQ, processing and overall sound are superb — but then it’s a dbx product so it is what I would expect.”
In addition he was also monitoring the performance of the AKG WMS4000 wireless mics (used on the orchestra), where each receiver, attached to a hub, was programmed, monitored and controlled via HiQnet.
RAI technical director, Mauro Severoni, who co-ordinated the event’s audio, said, “This solution makes life so much easier. The system set-up, management and control are far superior than anything we have had before.”
The RAI technical team, headed by event manager Alessandro Bernardi and production manager Franco Adinolfi, were assisted by Audio Pro Group (APG) through their subsidiaries, Audio Equipment and Analog & Digital Technology, who provided support during the project and all the phases of the festival.
APG’s Marco Porro, was delighted with the DriveRack’s debut and said that the system gave the system greater flexibility and controllability. “Because of the unusual topology of the theatre it has been easier to use HiQnet to control different elements of the system.
“It delivers better audio for sure and has a lot of extra features, including faster processing speed and the HiQnet and CobraNet support. The overall interface is vastly superior — and this is already being picked up by our customers, who are seeing the benefits of processors you can network together.”
dbx European sales manager, Glen Harris, agrees. “Offering multiple audio connectivity in the form of analogue and digital I/O from a single loudspeaker managment controller can fulfill all analogue and digital signal processing requirements. In addition, a two-button press to any processing module — without having to go through pages and pages of on screen text — makes the 4800 really simple to use.”
Because the event was televised by RAI over a five night period, splits were sent from a MADI interface, which was responsible for distributing 680 signals to production consoles in the broadcast room as well as the live sound desks and OB truck.
Artists taking part this year included Ron, Alex Britti, Gianluca Grignani, Michele Zarrillo, Luca Dirisio, Povia, Anna Oxa, Dolcenera, Simona Bencini, Anna Tatangelo, Nicky Nicolai, Spagna, Nomadi, Zero Assoluto, Noa featuring Carlo Fava & Solis String Quartet, Sugarfree, Mario Venuti featuring Arancia Sonora, I ragazzi di Scampia along with 12 young artists. In addition, special guests such as Eros Ramazzotti, Laura Pausini, John Travolta, Shakira and Hilary Duff also made an appearance.
Hosts were comedian Giorgio Panariello, assisted by Ilary Blasi-Totti, wife of Roma soccer player Francesco Totti, and Victoria Cabello, comedian and MTV VJ.
In Picture: the stage set Marco Porro with the dbx DriveRack 4800’s at San Remo
9th March 2006
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