dLive was found in abundance again at this year’s Primo Maggio event in Rome, Italy. Broadcast live via the RAI national TV channel, the 29th edition of the annual event showcased eight hours of spectacular live performances from 31 major and emerging artists – including various national favourites such as Daniele Silvestri, Ghali and Subsonica – and attracted over 500,000 attendees.
Supplied by local production company ABC and supported by Allen & Heath’s Italian distributors, Exhibo S.p.A, the full set-up comprised eight dLive systems, five IP8 Controllers, an SQ, DX Remote Audio Expanders and additional Dante, SuperMADI and gigaACE cards.
As per past events, Primo Maggio featured its impressive rotating dual-stage setup – allowing for one act to line-check while another performed, minimising the changeover time between acts. Each stage had its own dLive S5000, IP8 remote controller and DM48 MixRack handling FOH duties, while an additional C1500 and DM32 handled all talk-backs, comms, video feeds and wireless mics for the RAI presenters.
Monitors mirrored a similar set-up to FOH, delivering over 40 IEM and wedge mixes with two dLive S7000’s (fitted with Dante for virtual soundcheck) and two DM64 MixRack’s for each side of the stage. A C3500 paired with a DM32 tackled the communication requirements between stage, the presenters and FOH, while an additional SQ-6 was used for combining outputs from the S7000’s into the shared sidefill monitors.
Two further S7000 surfaces, fitted with Dante, were deployed on broadcast duties and paired with two DM64 MixRacks (for each side of the stage), two IP8 controllers and an SSL console, which was used for combining signals to the on-air transmission.
Due to the sheer scale and complexity of the event, production takes 13 days from load in to load out, requiring dozens of technicians and two full days of back-to-back soundchecks. Roberto Marchesi (Pro Audio Manager at Exhibo) attributes part of the event’s huge success to the power and flexibility of dLive and its ability to quickly and easily handle multiple, complex situations.
“At Primo Maggio, the dLive systems weren’t there just as mixing consoles, they truly formed the core of the whole audio distribution system, thanks to their ample patching, tie-line and audio networking capabilities,” Marchesi comments. “Whether it was routing ambient microphones, digital splits, shout lines or video contributions, it was extremely easy to zoom into the I/O screen and patch it on the fly. It made the set-up and stage changes a breeze.”
Also supporting the event was Allen & Heath’s Head of Product, Nic Berretta, who adds, “I had extremely positive feedback from all the engineers involved in the event, including guest engineers mixing on dLive for the first time, with very little training and in a high-pressure situation. It was great to see how quickly they adapted to dLive, with several commenting on the usability, reliability, sound and how easy it was to create a great mix with minimal effort. The recent additions in dLive’s V1.8 firmware also proved to be a real game changer, particularly on monitors.”
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