LONDON — The Star Wars saga is looming large via Star Wars: In Concert, where a live symphony orchestra and chorus performs John Williams’ film score beneath HD projections from the six Star Wars films on a 60-by-30-foot screen. FOH mixer Steve Colby is using Studer’s Vista 5 SR digital live mixing console for the tour. The Vista 5 SR is handling 110 inputs per night. “Everything about this production is big, and the Vista 5 SR has not skipped a beat,” said Colby, the primary FOH mixer for the Boston Pops Orchestra.
Fred Vogler, sound designer for Star Wars: In Concert, introduced Colby to the Studer Vista 5 SR for this project. “The console sounds terrific, very clean and musical,” Colby said. “We’re at 100 inputs at 96 kHz and the DSP can handle it with no trouble at all.”
Colby also credited the Vista 5 SR’s Vistonics touchscreen technology, calling the user interface “really powerful. It’s really nice having soft encoders embedded within the screen.”
The Vista 5 SR is the hub of a complex live sound-for-picture production and a sound system provided by Montreal-based Solotech and operated by Systems Technician Patou. The console is working in conjunction with a Rosendahl Nanosyncs HD Multi Standard Sync Engine that locks PAL, NTSC or slow PAL, progressive or interlaced HD video and digital audio reference signals together in any required combination, producing a synchronized AV performance.
“We’re also using a Lexicon 960L digital reverb as outboard, but otherwise, the Vista console is doing the lion’s share of the work, and it’s doing it extremely well,” Colby said. “It’s a great console and I’m planning on looking into using one with the Pops in the future.”
Other members of the sound crew on Star Wars: In Concert include Matt Fox, PA crew chief; Patou Lemay, PA systems tech; Jeremy Walls, PA tech; Hilario Gonzalez, PA tech; Greg (Chico) Lopez, stage sound tech; Richard Morris, stage sound tech.
Studer is a unit of Harman International Industries, Inc.
For more information, please visit www.harman.com.
