Prisme and Delta combine for DWC opening ceremony
Published: MEA
UAE: Dubai-based production company Prisme International teamed up with local rental firm Delta Sound for the opening ceremony of the recent Dubai World Cup at the Meydan racecourse. The ceremony was designed and produced by Prisme under artistic director Pierre Marcout and production director Gilles Ledos, while Delta provided the audio system for 50,000 race goers.
The main audio system layout consisted of six PA towers spread over approximately 600m to give full coverage to Meydan’s main grandstand. Two of the six towers consisted of 12 V-Dosc cabinets and four SB218 subs. These towers covered the Royal Box and were driven by LA48 amplifiers and processed by XTA DP448s. Tower three consisted of 10 V-Dosc cabinets and four SB218 subs. Again the cabinets were driven by LA48 amplifiers, but processing was via XTA’s DP226. The fourth tower consisted of 12 Kudo cabinets and a further four SB218 subs. These were driven by LA8 amplifiers. Towers five and six had 12 dV-Dosc cabinets and three SB218 subs and were again driven by LA8 amplifiers. Analogue star quad multicore cables were used from Kelsey and VDC.
The FOH control position was located backstage in a temporary structure. The equipment put to use included an Avid Venue D Show with a Pro Tools HD system connected via HDx cards. An Avid Sync HD received timecode from a Brainstorm SR-26, which managed all timecode distribution. A second Pro Tools system was synced using a Rosendahl mif 4. And a 360 Instant Replay 2 hard disc networked with the two Pro Tools Mac Pros offered further back up.
Due to the scale of the venue, fibre optic links were used to join the different sites using the Level One and Planet fibre converters. BSS Soundweb units looked after the signal distribution of audio around the entire site. Soundweb Blu-100 units were used as a standalone audio link from the media control room up to the Royal Box. The Soundweb Blu-160s were used as audio and time code link between the sixth floor show call site, media and audio control areas. These units linked the opening event to the broadcast setup and to the house interior speaker system.
The Clearcom Eclipse median matrix system formed the backbone for the communications. Two desktop IP panels were used as show call units, these were on the sixth floor, and again fibre optic links were used with Level One smart switches, making use of the two fibre ports on-board. Stage and show crew comms consisted of the 602 belt packs from Clearcom, and Motorola GP 340 radios linked into the comms via a Tait repeater unit. The main show crew also had IP panels, linking them directly with their crew and the show directors.
A 10-minute film with music was composed specifically for this event and shown on the main screen. The images came from a Dataton Watchout video system, which in addition to sending images to the screen also sent the soundtrack to the audio system. The incoming timecode was distributed via the Brainstorm SR-26 to a backup Pro Tools system, as well as readers for the stage management and the fireworks control.