For the evening line-up of DJs at the Grosser Stern, a number of conditions had to be met. At the Column, the organisers wanted powerful 360° sound coverage, evenly dispersed but without exceeding the pre-determined volume limit of 105dB(A). As the view from the Victory Column to both the east and the west was to be as unrestricted as possible, the structures needed for mounting the loudspeakers had to be kept very simple.
For the DJ stages at the east and west sides, a higher level of amplification was planned, which was to be integrated into the overall sound reinforcement design. The floats and trucks taking part in the parade were also to be incorporated as mobile components of the square's sound system.
Jesko Purmann and Michael 'Miwe' Wengerter from the Kassel enterprise Ambion GmbH successfully tendered a system design using nearly 90 GEO T tangent array loudspeakers from Nexo, several supplementary Nexo Alpha and PS Series loudspeakers and NX TDcontrollers, as well as 70 Vortex 6 amplifiers from Camco. It is the biggest central sound reinforcement operation using the Nexo GEO T system that Germany has ever seen. In addition, there was the networking of three locations, the central mixing / presentation point and the two DJ stages. Nexo's NX242s, with NXtension cards and ESmonitor software, were used to control the distribution network via EtherSound.
The programme involved a stream of different DJs and live bands on two stages, with changeovers every 20 minutes. The stage crews only had short time intervals to get the required props and structures up on stage for the short sets.
The extensive range of equipment used really paid off, says Purmann: "We managed to meet all the conditions regarding volume and range and even remained below them in some cases, and still we were able to achieve powerful, homogenous sound reinforcement across the entire venue. The only sensible location for the tangent arrays was directly on the Victory Column itself, just above the VIP area. The audience areas and the stages were about 30m away from the suspension points, leaving an average distance of 100m that we had to cover. The VIPs couldn't be exposed to any more than 97 to 100 dB(A) but we still had to get sufficient power to the square itself. The accurate coverage and very good rear attenuation provided by the GEO T meant that everything worked out to plan. It was just perfect. The artists, the guests and the organisers were all really impressed by the sound quality."
(Lee Baldock)
