August 25th 2007 saw 1.2 million people turn the city centre of Essen, in Germany’s Ruhr region, into a giant party as the Love Parade filled the city’s streets with a procession of floats, all with loud PA systems playing the latest dance music.
As well as the main parade, the event features a wide variety of associated parties and events, which this year saw performances by artists including high profile acts such as the Blue Man Group, Moby, WestBam, Kosheen and Sonos.
Forming the finale to the celebrations was a large, open air stage in the centre of the city’s main square, which had audio being broadcast 360 degrees around it. This provided major challenges for audio company Crystal Sound, who needed to provide a powerful but very well directed system in the square, which would ensure both that a strict noise limit of 93dB at the nearest properties was observed and also that there were no unpleasant echoes bouncing off the walls of the building that surround the square.
The sound design was developed by Frank Vogelsgesang, who chose a Yamaha DME64N digital mix engine as the ideal audio routing matrix for the loudspeakers, with PM5D-RH consoles for both front of house and monitor mixes - the FOH console upgraded with an additional DSP5D for the live acts.
The PA system comprised 96 d&b mid-highs and 80 d&b subs were distributed for the PA, the subs operated using a hypercardioid setup. This transformed the spherical characteristic of the bass into a heart-shaped pattern, resulting in the bass being distributed uniformly in the audience area and minimised under the stage.
For such a complex event, it seems almost unbelievable that the technical crew was given a mere 90 minutes in which to configure and soundcheck the system. Fortunately, the pre-programmability, versatility and reliability of the Yamaha equipment proved ideal for such a challenge, the technical rehearsal deadline was met and the event went ahead with no problems.
Three Optocore DD32 units connected the main system with the press podium and an outside broadcast (OB) vehicle. The FOH mix, along with a mix of ambient microphones relaying crowd atmosphere, was then made available by the OB vehicle to all media and broadcasting positions. Many media representatives commented favourably about the service that had been provided, which meant broadcast organisations were spared the task of cable routing.
Another important part of the event was including the infrastructure and logistics for a potential evacuation scenario. Four small JBL Vertec line arrays were also installed to facilitate this, in the event of evacuation being necessary an announcement via a microphone and pre-produced fire brigade CD would be broadcast using a Yamaha 01V96. A separate unit provided power to the emergency sound system throughout the entire event.
