MARIAZELL, AUSTRIA — Over 30,000 people flocked to the Austrian town of Mariazell to follow—via giant LED screens—a Mass celebrated by the Pope. BMS Production Group was responsible for the production, commissioned Thomas Millmann's MTR Productions to provide much of the sound reinforcement using systems from Electro-Voice.
Pope Benedikt XVI’s three-day visit to Austria attracted a great deal of media attention throughout Europe, with the procession and Mass in Mariazell being just one of the events covered live by broadcasters, such as Austrian television company ORF. Sound reinforcement systems from Electro-Voice made it possible for the 20,000-plus pilgrims viewing the event on giant LED screens to follow every word of the Pope’s Sermon on the Mount.
The entire technical development was the responsibility of BMS Production Group of Vienna. To ensure optimum intelligibility for the audience, BMS managing director Ing. Fritz Staudinger and Thomas Millmann of rental company MTR Productions looked to the Electro-Voice XLC system. Millmann says, "Despite cloudbursts all week long while we were setting up, the equipment performed flawlessly. In fact, many of the faithful came up and thanked us, adding that they were able to hear every word of the sermon from even the most distant congregation areas."
The Mass from the basilica in Mariazell was transmitted live to a nearby sports ground where two LED screens had been erected, with the sound supplied by an Electro-Voice XLC 127+ line array (three hangs of eight) as well as eight Xi1152 enclosures. The PA system was driven by EV P3000 and P2000 amps and controlled via six EV Dx38 units.
Even with state-of-the-art sound reinforcement equipment, however, the bar was set pretty high as System Technician Ing. Thomas Hasenhauer explains: "The biggest challenge came when the organizers requested lip synchronicity between the sound heard by the congregation and the LED screens. By distributing the eight Xi1152 loudspeakers at regular intervals in front of the smaller LED screen, we were able, of course, to cover the entire congregation without recourse to delays, thereby solving the problem. Applying the same principle, we then moved the XLC line arrays in front of the larger of the two LED screens forward slightly — again, obviating the need for delays — to bring us a few meters closer to lip-synchronicity."
As well as the Mass itself, there was a procession through the streets of Mariazell — this year celebrating its 850th anniversary as a shrine — with singing, instrumental interludes and prayers. To provide coverage along the route, MTR Productions erected four sound reinforcement towers — each hung with two QRx112/75 loudspeakers and an Xi1082 system.
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