POITIERS, France — Futuroscope, a multimedia theme park, marked 25 years with a musical celebration that included an outdoor production of Dogora. Agora Audio mixed the event on an Innovason Eclipse console and used an Innovason Sy80 for monitors. Along with the consoles, Agora Audio provided the main P.A. and microphones (including 16 KM 184 D digital mics from Neumann) for the event.
More details from Innovason (www.innovason.com):
Dogora, written and composed by Etienne Perruchon, tells the story of an imaginary nomadic people. The Sept. 1 production included about 1,000 choristers from 40 different choirs, four soloists and a 40-piece philharmonic orchestra from the University of Poitiers. The celebration drew close to 10,000 people.
“Apart from the sheer scale of the show, the main issues arose from the fact that we were working against the clock,” said Agora’s FOH mixer, David Rocher. “We only had an hour to EQ and line check 64 open microphones for a total of 96 inputs prior to the full dress rehearsal, where everything was expected to work perfectly. This is where the Virtual Soundcheck function of the Eclipse is invaluable, as it allows me to fine-tune the mix between the dress rehearsal and the main show.”
That wasn’t the only advantage, however. “We had 16 KM 184 D digital microphones from Neumann for the choir, managed by a pair of Neumann DMI-8 interfaces, which in turn are managed by the Eclipse, giving me full control of the digital mic parameters from the console,” Rocher said. “That is a big plus if you want to use digital microphones on your event. I also like the stereo faders for managing pairs, and the ganging of the mic preamps, which enables me to adjust the gain of a group of microphones from a single encoder.
“I also find the Smart Panel and PCB (Personal Console Builder) features to be invaluable as it means that I can construct my mix interface in such a way that it mirrors the stage plan perfectly,” Rocher continued. “Some people prefer to have their console laid out the same way for every show, but I really appreciate the flexibility to adjust my control surface according to the requirements and constraints of each show. Finally, the EtherSound network capabilities enable us to offer a completely digital solution at a very reasonable budget for the production.
“The entire show was set up and performed without a hitch, which was quite an achievement given the number of people involved and the extremely limited time frame,” concluded David. “Both technically and culturally, the event was a great success.”
