After five weeks of set-up and two weeks of rehearsals, the indescribably lavish production which included more than 65 tons of trussing, more than 23 European solo artists and bands competed for the title, while a jury at the venue and viewers at home voted for this year's winner.
The Athens based Adamson rental partner Enttech, took on the welcome challenge of designing the audio for this massive production with the help of consultant Scott Willsallen (previous work includes the sound design for the 2004 Athens Olympics also with Enttech). There were some obstacles to overcome, such as having to fly the sound system really high, to accommodate TV cameras and massive lighting rigs, but also finding a comfortable balance for sound levels; loud enough to entertain 13,000 audience members at the venue, but keeping convenient levels for the Live Broadcast for the TV audience that exceeded 10 million.
Enttech's chief sound engineer Nikko Chronopolous's design of the main sound system featured 44 Adamson Y-10's, extended by eight Adamson's new high powered T-21 Subs. The design was facilitated by Shooter, the predictive design software for Adamson Line-Arrays: It allows quick design changes, when unexpected obstacles arise.
All sound systems were powered with 48 Lab.gruppen fP6400 amplifiers controlled by five Lake Contour DSP's. Monitoring on the stage was ingeniously achieved by six units of Adamson's M-15 low profile monitors and two McCauley SM95-2 monitors, which were integrated into the stage design and fully invisible and unobtrusive for the performers as well as the audience.
The changeover between the acts was only two minutes; main FOH engineer Nikkos Espialidis mixed the entire show on two Innovason SY80 and two SY48 desks which were used at FOH, at stage monitoring, and for OB.
Sennheiser provided the wireless network, which featured 54 channels for handheld SKM 5200and HSP head mics and an additional 16 channels for EK3253 ear monitoring.
When consultant and co-sound designer Scott Willsallen returned to be present at the Eurovision show, after an absence of a few weeks since the set-up; he was stunned: "What I heard I can only describe as the most intimate, intelligible and enveloping sound I have ever heard out of a loudspeaker system. I was some 40 metres from the arrays and the announcements from a live HH wireless on stage sounded like that person was whispering into my ear. The music was like the greatest red wine I have ever had; big, full bodied, beautifully precise and as the wine improved with air; the PA improved with level. Nothing leapt out of the system at high levels; it felt completely linear at all levels. You have created something very special with the Y-10 system. Congratulations."
Scott continued: "A special thanks also to Didier Dal Fitto for his work on this project. We would not have achieved such a success without his involvement."
The surprise winner of the contest was the heavy metal Band Lordi from Finland, who closely resemble the Orks from the Lord of the Rings Film Trilogy. Ironically, the Finnish saying that has lasted for decades: "Finland will win the Eurovision Song Contest the day Hell Freezes Over", is now history.
Adamson have also been Nominated for a TEC Award. Brock Adamson has been nominated for the design of the T-21 Sub. "Founded in 1985, the Technical Excellence & Creativity Awards is the foremost programme recognising the achievements of audio professionals." reads the TEC Charter. The TEC Awards are nominated by and voted on by subscribers of Mix Magazine.
The category that the T-21 was nominated for is Sound Reinforcement Loudspeaker Technology. The T-21 will compete against the EAW NT Series Powered, JBL VRX932LA, Meyer Sound MICA, Renkus-Heinz IC
