A Yamaha audio network for Italy’s “1 Contro 100”
1 contro 100, Canale 5’s Italian version of top TV game 1 vs 100, produced by Endemol Italia and hosted by Amadeus, is a combat arena with a lone hero and a wall of contestants to be demolished with correct answers, in a fight against a hundred other participants to win the 200,000 euro cash prize. The game consists in a series of questions, each of which has a cash prize, which gradually increases, and the first to answer are the players in the “Wall” (Mob). Then it's the contestant's turn, and he or she faces the challenge from a rostrum in the centre of the studio, right in front of the Wall. If the contestant replies correctly, the members if the Wall who get it wrong are eliminated.
For the audio system necessary in this type of game, which above all has to ensure faultless rapid opening of over a hundred microphones, as well as excellent sound for the participants, Mediaset called in Backstage PA from Mariano Comense.
The company’s Alberto Mariani explains, “The set-up was designed to meet the studio’s strict scenographic requirements and the need to use a hundred microphones, which are opened and closed according to how the game proceeds. Nothing is preset – we only know that there will be groups of microphones (which can vary every time) and we must be able to pick out individual contestants in each group. We therefore decided design the system with a single control centre.”
The microphone signals from the wall of contestants are converted under the stage by a Yamaha AD824, an eight-channel analogue/digital converter with high quality 24-bit conversion able to provide a 110dB dynamic range. A Mini-YGDAI card slot enables the AD824 to be connected to various devices, in order to also use it with digital mixing consoles or digital MTRs, thanks to its variety of output interfaces, suited to all the most common digital audio connection formats. The AD824’s inputs have remote controllable mic/line preamplifiers and the unit can also be used as a stand-alone converter.
After A/D conversion, the signals are transported to the broadcaster’s control room, via a Yamaha NHB32-C, a Network Hub Bridge with 32 I/O AES/EBU channels using CobraNet™ technology to transfer high quality 24-bit 48kHz digital audio in real time with a simple Cat5 cable link. As well as being able to handle up to 64 channels of digital audio, the NHB32-C can also be used with control data.
The system designed by Backstage takes the AES/EBU signals from the output of the NHB32-C and sends them to two Yamaha DME64N programmable DSP engines, which group, equalize and compress the microphones, then send them on to the Mediaset playout console.
As well as the microphone signal conversion, transmission and processing chain, a fundamental role for the success of the game (particularly as far as the players are concerned) is played by the sound reinforcement on the studio set. This task was entrusted to a series of four Yamaha XM 4180 power amplifiers, which – as well as the enclosures used by Amadeus and the contestant – power all sixty-eight mini loudspeakers installed behind the players in the wall. The XM series combines light weight and compact lines with high quality performance and power, and the XM4180 amplifiers, designed and manufactured for the most demanding live applications, provide four channels of 180W on 8 Ohms and are able to ensure compatibility with various types of installations and sound control systems.
Federico Farina of Backstage concludes, “Our software development department also designed a control interface which handles to the job of opening and closing the microphones during the game and sending them to the broadcast control room on a single channel, as well as switching the luminous mic rings on the wall on and off. This interface enables us to form groups of microphones to be opened together, as well as storing and recalling the scenes. Each individual microphone can be recalled in various ways – via mouse, touchscreen or numerical keyboard, the last of which is the fastest, most practical method.”
The show debuted in Holland with the title “Eén tegen Honderd ” in 2000 and is now screened successfully in all five continents. From Australia to the United States, Germany to Bulgaria, through to Vietnam and Honk Hong, no less than 22 countries worldwide play “1 vs 100”.
A leading audio contractor for the television broadcast sector, Backstage PA recently celebrated twenty years in the trade, during which its partners (Pino Di Costanzo, a veteran on the music show production scene, and Daniele Mascheroni, a digital audio “wizard”) have set up steady long-lasting relationships, such as that with Canale 5, but have also worked on important project for Italian state broadcaster RAI.
Since purchasing its first digital mixer in 1990, Backstage has had a constantly increasing stock of Yamaha products, as Mascheroni explains: “At present, we have nine PM1D systems, five PM5D and about twenty DM2000, as well as approximately fifty of the various Digital Mixing Engines.”
Di Costanzo adds, “As well as specializing in the audio aspects of television productions, we also have a mobile studio, designed as a pre-control room for television productions, but also used for important live multi-track recordings and post-production work, thanks to its Yamaha PM1D digital mixing system, ideal for this type of work.”
