The Rathausmarkt Open Air in Hamburg
Germany - After the successful opening of the Rathausmarkt Open Air in Hamburg Germany last year, the classical music event with general music director Kent Nagano and the Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestra returned in August.
For the first time the Farao Studios from Munich provided the acoustics at the event and started with a complex concept, that combined acoustic measures on stage with elements of virtual acoustics and a high-resolution pro-ribbon sound system from Alcons Audio.
The concept, originally developed for Audi’s ‘Vorsprung Festival’ in 2014, was brought by the experienced team of Farao Studios at the Hamburg Rathausmarket square this year.
A setup consisting of 15 Alcons LR28 large-scale pro-ribbon line array systems (l / r) and 14 Alcons LR18 as centre cluster was installed. A total of 20 of the powerful BC543 3x 18'' cardioid subwoofer systems provided support in the low frequency range.
The monitor system consisted of four 3 LR7 micro line-array and four VR8 compact monitor flown in the stage roof. 33 Sentinel10 amplified loudspeaker controllers drove the system, with 132 channels in total. Uwe Biesgen from Ceativsound in Berlin, an experienced Alcons system engineer was on-site in Hamburg. The Alcons systems were supplied by PM Blue from Hamburg.
“We deliberately opted for a large-format system and also for tall arrays,” explains Florian Rauscher, who was responsible for the mix during the open-air together with Farao-Co managing director Andreas Cämmerer. “When working with an orchestra, we want to keep the stage as quiet as possible in order to provide the musicians with the accustomed acoustics that allow the musicians to hear each other well.
“With the length of the arrays we therefore ensure first and foremost a good damping to the rear and to the side. However, we opted for the Alcons LR28 large-format system because we wanted a true full-range system. We work with a special multi-channel microphone technology, where the sound can be reproduced much more naturally with a real full-range system. And naturalness is always a crucial point in classical music.”
(Jim Evans)

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