SALZBURG, Austria – The Grosses Festspielhaus (Great Festival Hall), home to the Salzburg Festival, recently underwent an audio system upgrade that included a redesigned control room and a Studer Vista 5 digital console. Coinciding with the hall's 50th and the festival's 90th anniversaries, the new Vista 5 was chosen in part for its recording capabilities.
Working to achieve 5.1-quality sound in the control room, which is fairly small and oddly shaped due to the architectural aspects of the nearly century-old venue, the Vista 5's compact operating surface is well-suited to the small space. The console is also rigged to be mobile and can be easily disconnected and reconnected and transported to areas beyond the hall for performances outside of the festival season.
The console is installed on a raised platform, which provides the sound engineer and director a direct view of the stage and orchestra pit. Mobile Studer D21m stage boxes are placed under the platform and interface, along with multi core cables connecting the existing audio house cable. The determined parameters for each show are stored utilizing a BSS London BLU-100, able to be quickly recalled from the mixing surface.
The Salzburg Festival, a five-week event focusing on music and drama performances, begins July 27, 2011.
For more information, please visit www.harman.com and www.salzburgerfestpiele.at.
