Studer Vista 5 SR Console Helps Carrie Underwood’s North American Tour Bring Country To The Continent

Leading sound company Clair is providing live sound reinforcement for Carrie Underwood’s current North American tour, with a Studer Vista 5 SR digital console handling front-of-house duties. A previous winner of American Idol, Underwood is one of country music’s biggest stars and recently earned Entertainer of the Year honors from the Academy of Country Music for the second year in a row--the only woman to ever accomplish that feat.

Underwood’s current production is elaborate, to say the least, with 12 tractor-trailer trucks alone transporting the tour’s equipment. When it comes to mixing each show, however, front-of-house engineer Randy Lane says his responsibilities are relatively straightforward, though challenging all the same. “I like to make sure that Carrie’s vocal is the focal point, but I’m also trying to make sure that what the band plays on stage is conveyed accurately to the audience,” he says. “She has a top-notch band with her and I’m trying to capture exactly what they play and just stay out of the way.”

As is often the case, Lane’s familiarity with the Studer Vista family of consoles is rooted in broadcast. “A lot of television studios in Los Angeles use Vista 8 consoles and I had listened to some of those,” he says. “I was very impressed with how creative you could be without having to rely on plug-ins. Just having the front end of the console sounding right is a huge step.”

In addition, Lane notes that while the Vista 5 SR has reinforced his opinion of Vista consoles, it has also made him a convert in other ways. “Honestly, before using the Vista 5SR, I still preferred analog consoles, because I never felt that the microphone preamp and EQ stages of digital consoles were of as high quality,” Lane says. “The Vista 5 SR has totally changed my view on that.”

With unrivaled technology supporting a massive collection of talent, Carrie Underwood’s tour has been an overwhelming success to date. “The crowds have been fantastic,” Lane adds. “The first few shows were in smaller venues and in the fall, the tour plans to move to the larger arenas.

“Carrie is absolutely one of the best vocalists I’ve worked with,” Lane adds. “She comes in for every sound check completely prepared. Every day at rehearsal, she was 100 percent ready for what she was doing with each song. It’s an absolute pleasure to see that level of professionalism and it certainly doesn’t hurt that she can belt it out.”

Lane also credits his colleagues for the tour’s success, including: Bret Stec, Audio Crew Chief; Ben Rothstein, Audio Technician; and Ariel Gendler, Audio Technician.

For more information on Clair, please visit www.clairglobal.com

Studer is a unit of Harman International Industries, Incorporated (www.harman.com). Harman International designs, manufactures and markets a wide range of audio and infotainment products for the automotive, consumer and professional markets, and maintains a strong presence in the Americas, Europe and Asia, employing more than 11,000 people worldwide. The Harman International family of brands includes AKG®, Becker®, BSS®, Crown®, dbx®, DigiTech®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon®, Mark Levinson®, Revel®, Soundcraft® and Studer®. Harman International’s stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “NYSE: HAR.”

Artist Photo Credit: Richard Simon

Sting Debuts New Material With Studer Vista 5 SR

Sting recently performed two intimate concerts at the Durham Cathedral in northeast England, marking the first time the legendary musician played selections from his upcoming album, “If On a Winter’s Night…” Sting recorded the performances live for DVD release and audio supplier Audio-Rent Clair provided the sound system for the event, which included a Studer Vista 5 SR digital console for front-of-house mixing.

Completed in 1133 AD, the historic Durham Cathedral is known as one of the finest examples of Norman architecture in the world and is a major tourist attraction within the northeast England region. Each year, more than 600,000 people visit the Cathedral, which is also well known for some of the Harry Potter films.

Sting’s performances featured an unconventional setup of Sting with a 16-piece string section, multiple percussionists, a brass section and backing vocals, as well as a large selection of traditional English instruments such as the Welsh harp, lutes and Northumbrian pipes. Rehearsals took place over a 2-week period in the “Chapter House” adjacent to the main cathedral.

Howard Page, Clair Senior Director of Engineering, mixed the performances, utilizing the Vista 5 SR to overcome the challenges of a 62-input orchestra in a cathedral setting. “The transparency of the Studer Vista 5 SR was certainly a great help to achieve a breathtaking experience for the invited guests,” Page said.

The compact Studer Vista 5 SR digital mixing console is a road-ready version of Studer's famous Vista 5 console and combines award-winning Vistonics™-based technology with a highly cost-effective price. The Vista 5 SR comes with preset configurations for front-of-house and monitor use. A stand-alone Config Editor tool allows the channel/bus structure to be customized, all of which can be saved for each particular show setup and instantly recalled from memory or a USB stick at a later date. The expandable I/O system allows the entire range of available Studer D21m Series I/O cards (including CobraNet and Aviom A-Net) to be added to the system. The MADI standard is used as optical snake link from stagebox to FOH rack, with the possibility to add a redundant snake for increased security. The Vista 5 SR also comes with numerous facilities to aid production, including Studer’s proprietary VSP panning system, which can be used to great effect to control panning without level shifts.

Studer is a unit of Harman International Industries, Incorporated (www.harman.com). Harman International designs, manufactures and markets a wide range of audio and infotainment products for the automotive, consumer and professional markets, and maintains a strong presence in the Americas, Europe and Asia, employing more than 11,000 people worldwide. The Harman International family of brands includes AKG®, Audioaccess®, Becker®, BSS®, Crown®, dbx®, DigiTech®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon®, Mark Levinson®, Revel®, QNX®, Soundcraft® and Studer®. Harman International’s stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “NYSE: HAR.”

Green Day’s 21st Century Breakdown Tour Stays Intact With Studer Vista 5 SR

Green Day’s ongoing world tour in support of its latest album, 21st Century Breakdown, has its monitors mixed on the compact yet powerful Studer Vista 5 SR digital mixing console. It was the first and only choice for monitor mixer Beau Alexander, who has worked with the multi-platinum Green Day since 2004s American Idiot world tour.

Alexander, who has also mixed for artists including Tool, Hootie and The Blowfish and My Chemical Romance, says the Vista 5 is an excellent fit with the Green Day tour. “What makes it a great fit for Green Day is the number of outputs it has,” he explains. “When we started the 21st Century Breakdown record cycle, I didn't know if we were going to be using in-ears or wedges for monitoring, so I had to set the desk up for both, and when I did that I was using somewhere around 40 outputs, which the Vista 5 can easily handle.”  Alexander is currently running 71 inputs along with 30 outputs (Green Day ultimately chose to work with in-ear monitoring).

But while Alexander initially chose the Vista 5 for its large input capacity, he quickly discovered how its advanced feature set and powerful performance characteristics worked in his and the band’s favor. “Now that I have it on tour there are so many more reasons to use the Studer over any other digital desk,” he says. “The Vista 5’s ease of use has made life simple. You can set it up to have all your master faders and VCAs all on a single page. And the Contribute function is amazing--being able to see everything that is going to the mix and being able to adjust on the same page with out having to first find the strip, then the aux, makes it incredibly convenient. The footprint of the console also helps us out tremendously because it frees up so much space for other equipment. And last but definitely not least, the board sounds great. It’s incredible. It’s the only digital board on the market that is giving analog a run for its money.”

The compact Studer Vista 5 digital live broadcast and production console combines award-winning Vistonics™-based technology with a highly cost-effective price. The Vista 5 is the first Vista console to be produced with PCB assemblies from Soundcraft Studer‘s new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in the UK. While using a new SCore Live DSP engine, the tabletop-mounted Vista 5 follows the same operational principles and uses the same Vistonics screens as the Vista 6, 7 and 8.

Artist Photo Credit: Julia Stryj

Square Brussels Gets Hip To Studer Consoles

Square Brussels, a new event space in the Belgian capital, recently purchased Studer Vista 5 and Vista 5 SR consoles as part of the sound reinforcement system for its auditorium. Belgium-based company Play, based in Nazareth, installed the consoles, which were purchased through Studer’s Belgian representative HeynenNV.

Square Brussels offers 13,500 square meters of meeting rooms, exhibition space and a state-of-the-art auditorium. The venue is in the heart of Brussels, offering breathtaking views of the city skyline and is located only 300 meters from the Royal Palace and next to the Museum of Arts and the Royal Library. Square Brussels is very sleek in its design and is perfectly integrated in the surrounding park with its plane trees. Old wall paintings from world masters have been restored and adorn the walls, while cutting-edge lighting, interior design, and top-class audio/video equipment all contribute to a warm, serene, inspiring and stimulating environment.

With its comfortable leather seats and modern design, Square Brussels’ large auditorium calls for the best and most versatile mixing consoles on the market today. In the end, ease of use multiple interfaces and scalability were the primary factors in choosing the Studer Vista 5 and Vista 5 SR consoles.

“The Studer Vista 5 and Vista 5 SR with its Vistonics™ interface are highly intuitive and very easy to use, which is perfect because during a live performance, the operator should be totally concerned with making the sound perfect as opposed to worrying about which button he is pressing," says Jos Jorissen, Managing Director for Heynen, which also supplied all HD video encoding and video over IP distribution equipment for the digital signage system.

For information on Square Brussels, please visit www.square-brussels.com <http://www.square-brussels.com>

For more information on Heynen Belgium, please visit www.heynen.be <http://www.heynen.be>

For more information on Play, please visit www.playbiz.be <http://www.playbiz.be>

Studer Vista 5 SR’s Mix French Opera Singer At Chateau De Versailles

When French opera singer Roberto Alagna performed a one-off spectacular at the Chateau de Versailles recently, supported by the 90-piece Orchestre de Paris (conducted by Michel Plasson), Studer Vista 5 SR digital consoles handled both the house and monitor mixes.

The concert, performed in front of 7,000 people, was held in the middle of La Fontaine de Neptune basin — on a concert stage especially set up for two months in the summer, specifically to stage spectacular events of this nature.

The sound reinforcement system was provided by French distributors, DV2 while the two Vista consoles were loaned by Audiopole, the French Studer distributor.

FOH sound engineer; Jean-Marc Aringoli, was already familiar with the Studer topography having used the Vista 8 for several years to mix ambitious live musical spectaculars for television such as Les Victoires de la Musique at the Paris Zenith.

He wanted to test the Vista 5 at a major outdoor event, believing the quality and innovative features and connectivity of the top-of-the-range Studer platform would best serve a traditional event such as this. A presentation by Audiopole’s Jean-Luc Gerard reinforced that belief.

After consideration it was decided to use one Vista 5 at FOH and one on monitors (for Alex Maggi), knowing that this would create an improved workflow.

A total of 80 mic inputs were divided between the two desks, with the FOH and monitor Local Racks respectively linked to the Stagebox via 150-metre MADI optical fibre snake. The show was digitally multitracked using a Tascam X48.

Stated Jean-Marc: "We achieved an excellent audio quality over the 150-metre fibre cable, with transparent mic preamps. This was perfectly set up for a classical music event of this type where you want to retain the dynamic of the signal — despite working in an outdoor environment, and with a very large number of microphones.”

Use of Studer’s Virtual Surround Panning (VSP) — the onboard DSP which is also used to calculate appropriate frequency and time-based changes as a sound is panned — was a further bonus.

“The EQ’s are very efficient,” continued Jean-Marc. “We had delays on all inputs to compensate for the distance and the VSP, with stereo pan simulation, was astonishing — you can now have a real stereo image for the entire audience.

Despite his extensive experience, Alex Maggi, was using the Vista 5 for the first time — but was no less enthusiastic about the Vista 5 SR. "This is an excellent console, offering huge possibilities. The control surface is easy to learn and the strip setup allows an impressive customisation of the surface. I really look forward to using it over a longer period."

Both men were unequivocal in their praise for this console. “It was the perfect choice for this event," they agreed.

Studer is a unit of Harman International Industries, Incorporated (www.harman.com). Harman International designs, manufactures and markets a wide range of audio and infotainment products for the automotive, consumer and professional markets, and maintains a strong presence in the Americas, Europe and Asia, employing more than 11,000 people worldwide. The Harman International family of brands includes AKG®, Audioaccess®, Becker®, BSS®, Crown®, dbx®, DigiTech®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon®, Mark Levinson®, Revel®, QNX®, Soundcraft® and Studer®. Harman International’s stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “NYSE: HAR.”

Studer Vista 5 SR Digital Consoles From CLAIR Line Up At FOH And Monitor Positions At NFL Live Kickoff Concert As Studer Vista 5 Completes Winning Tea

In an increasingly common instance of Studer Vista 5 SR live sound consoles being deployed by leading sound engineers at Front Of House and monitor position for the same event, Keith Urban’s FOH engineer Steve Law and monitor engineer Jason Spence both manned Studer Vista 5 SR consoles at the recent NFL Live Kickoff concert in New York City’s Columbus Circle as part of CLAIR’s support package for the award-winning country music artist. The event was broadcast nationally on NBC and the NFL Network with onsite broadcast support by Metrovision, whose OB truck featured a specially-configured Studer Vista 5 console with mixing by John Bates, Audio Engineer and support by Mike Christopher, Truck Technician. The concert was hosted by Deion Sanders and featured live performances by Usher and Natasha Bedingfield in addition to Keith Urban, with guest appearances by New York City Mayor, Michael Bloomberg and NFL greats Lawrence Taylor and Warren Sapp.

Traffic at this usually busy junction in the heart of New York City was suspended for the day as Firehouse Productions and CLAIR collaborated to transform the streetscape into an impressive temporary outdoor concert venue. New York-based Firehouse Productions, who provided stage and control electronics gear, fielded a team led by senior engineer Mark Dittmar. Firehouse supported the main stage with JBL VERTEC VT4889 full-size line array elements in towering arrays on either side of the stage, while Mike Wolf, CLAIR’s corporate services manager, led a team onsite that relied on the company’s own proprietary JBL-loaded i-3 and i-4 line array enclosures for extended audience-area coverage and delay tower positions.

According to Jason Spence the Studer Vista 5 SR couples sonic integrity and user-intuitiveness allowing him to sound great and work fast and effectively on the fly in demanding concert stage monitoring environments: “Sonically the console sounds stunning,” Spence explained. “Hands down, it is one of the best sounding consoles I’ve ever mixed on — even from my studio experience. It’s the most intuitive digital console control surface on the market. You get a very analog feel with the ‘inline’ design of the channel strips. It’s just a matter of grabbing a knob on any given channel on the control surface and adjusting. No diggings through page after page or guessing which virtual knob you need to grab to adjust a parameter.”

“We had 61 inputs for the concert, playing 8 songs over about 45 minutes,” Spence adds. “And because we brought in our tour’s preprogrammed Vista 5 SR’s, we were able to interface with the local production via analogue splits or digital splits right off the desk.”

Working at front-of-house with Keith Urban, Steve Law is equally about the sound, interface and general versatility. An early adopter of the Vista 5 SR, Law helped Studer finesse the design and featurset of the Vista 5 SR. “I have always been one for taking risks on new technology to give it a run and see what it will do,” Law said. “I was one of the very first guys to take out a DiGiCo D5 but the Vista 5 SR is something even better: it sounds great and makes my job easier. The preamps are great, the signal path is great, and there’s no latency
so that by the time the audio signal gets to the speakers, what you’re putting in is what’s coming out. There are so many consoles that don’t do that, especially lower-dollar digital consoles that host a ton of external plug-ins to try and compensate and you end up losing everything!”

Law is clearly an acolyte of analog sound coupled with digital versatility: “You have to figure that the Vista system’s digital format can support almost 1700 inputs, yet the sound is thick and full. And it’s not just the frequency response, it’s also the perceived depth and width of the sound. Digital consoles in general have suffered from sounding overly-precise, but the overall Studer sound is analog. The phase integration between input and output gives it a dimension of width that sounds amazing.”

“The Vistonics user interface is the best in the market today,” notes Law. “There’s nothing worse than hunting through a menu of operations while trying to keep up with the artists. Instead, with the Vista 5 SR, it’s so good to have real knobs right beside S each function, which makes the console more hands-on and more tactile” Law enthuses. “More fingers and ears: isn’t that how music is supposed to be?

Firehouse Productions can be reached at: www.firehouseproductions.com/index-02.html

CLAIR can be reach at: www.clairglobal.com/

Billy Joel's "Last Play @ Shea" Relies On Studer Vista 5SR

Studer Vista 5SR Console - Australia Plays Broadway

Billy Joel’s Historic ‘Last Play At Shea’ Concert Relies On Studer Vista 5SR Console For Front Of House And Monitor Mix

Clair Showco Delivers Great Sound For Billy Joel Featuring Surprise Guests Sir Paul McCartney, Tony Bennett, Garth Brooks, Steven Tyler and Roger Daltrey

Billy Joel is truly an entertainer as his ‘Last Play At Shea’ marked the end of an era of historic concerts at Shea Stadium on Friday, July 18th. With a star-studded lineup of musicians making guest appearances throughout the evening including Tony Bennett, Garth Brooks, Steven Tyler and Roger Daltrey, Billy Joel performed the last concert at the stadium. With the help of former Beatles member Sir Paul McCartney (who played with The Beatles the first concert at the stadium on August 15, 1965), Billy Joel closed the show by accompanying McCartney on piano with a surprise version of ‘Let It Be.’

Joel’s world tour began in January 2006 and has been touring ever since. The 2008 segment kicked off in Philadelphia, PA on January 26th, making stops in California, Colorado, Wisconsin, Ohio, Quebec, Louisiana, Connecticut, Virginia and finishing up with two shows in Flushing, NY at Shea Stadium. Joel resumes the second leg of his world tour with dates in Japan, Australia and New Zealand beginning in November. Sound reinforcement for the tour was supplied by Pennsylvania based company Clair Showco, which has had a long relationship with Billy Joel; in fact, many of the tour’s key personnel have worked with Joel for multiple tours, including FOH Engineer Brian Ruggles and Production Manager Bobby Thrasher, who have worked with Joel for over 33 and 27 years respectively, as well as Monitor Engineer Mike Pirich, who has been with Joel for the past 10 years.

When looking for a sound console for both FOH and the monitor positions, Clair Showco turned to the Studer Vista 5 SR for its portability, ease of use and sound quality.

“The Vista 5 SR is capable of handling a lot of inputs,” said Ruggles. “We’ve tried different digital desks before but I wasn’t really thrilled at the way they sounded – until this one came along. The Vista 5 SR is by far the best sounding digital desk I’ve heard because it’s closest to the sound of an analog desk.”

Pirich noted, “Using the Vistonics interface makes it really easy to see where you are. As far as digital desks go, this is by far the easiest to get comfortable with before a show and to prove it, I only spent a few hours with the Vista 5 SR before we did a show.”

Pirich added, “As far as quality, it sounds spectacular! It’s got lots of gain and no distortion. We have 30 faders in total consisting of three banks of 10 but are in no way limited by the number of inputs and outputs we can handle. We’ve just pushed 100 inputs feeding 18 stereo mixes and 22 mono mixes but really have more available inputs and outputs than we ever hope to use.

Joel’s Keyboardist, David Rosenthal truly relies on the sound quality that he receives in his in-ear mix and with each song, a different monitor mix may be needed. As one of the band members, Rosenthal heavily relies on Pirich and the Vista 5 SR.

“What we hear is critical to how we perform,” said Rosenthal. “If what we hear sounds good, it is inspiring to us and the crowd gets a better performance. The great thing about working with this console is it’s easy to recall settings for each song – that way, we get our own mix dialed in exactly as we need it for each particular song.”

Rosenthal noted, “I’m a big fan of Studer products, from this console to the 2-inch recording products I’ve used so many times in the past.”

Production Manager Bobby Thrasher was extremely pleased with how much easier the Studer consoles make his job. “It’s small, it’s lightweight, it’s portable and not like the 6,000 pounds I used to have to carry around or fly around,” said Thrasher. “We’ve spent more money on shipping than those rentals were worth. With gas prices the way they are, it’s actually cheaper to own a Studer.”

Billy Joel’s first show at Shea Stadium on Wednesday, July 16th was originally tagged as the ‘Last Play At Shea.’ However, after the first show sold out so quickly, Joel added a second show and due to the schedule of the Mets, Friday was the date provided. During Wednesday’s concert, celebrity guests included Tony Bennett, John Mayer, John Mellencamp and Don Henley. With this appearance at Shea Stadium, Billy Joel became the only artist to perform at the three major stadiums in the New York area: Giants Stadium, Yankee Stadium and now Shea Stadium.

Crown Macro-Tech 3600VZ amplifiers and Clair Showco’s custom JBL-loaded S4 loudspeakers were used for sound reinforcement during the Billy Joel tour. The Studer Vista 5SR is enabled with the Harman Pro Onboard HiQnet™ control protocol.

Clair Showco can be reached at www.clairshowco.com.

Harman HiQnet™ is the world's first connectivity and control protocol that integrates all product categories in the signal chain for professional audio systems of all types, size, and applications. Harman HiQnet no longer requires the user to manage multiple disparate operating systems or be responsible for programming individual signal processors, speaker controllers, wireless microphone systems, and mixing consoles. HiQnet was developed by engineers from across the Harman Pro Group and is coordinated by the System Development and Integration Group (SDIG), a team of dedicated systems specialists based in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Studer is a unit of Harman International Industries, Incorporated (www.harman.com).
Harman International designs, manufactures and markets a wide range of audio and infotainment products for the automotive, consumer and professional markets, and maintains a strong presence in the Americas, Europe and Asia, employing more than 11,000 people worldwide. The Harman International family of brands includes AKG®, Audioaccess®, Becker®, BSS®, Crown®, dbx®, DigiTech®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon®, Mark Levinson®, Revel®, QNX®, Soundcraft® and Studer®. Harman International’s stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “NYSE: HAR.”

Clair Showco Provides Studer Vista 5 SR Digital Audio Console For Country Music Star Keith Urban Nationwide Tour

Showcasing the quality, ease of use and reliability of the Studer Vista 5 SR console, Clair Showco of Lititz, PA, recently provided the audio system for country music star Keith Urban’s U.S.-based tour. The multi-city tour featured Studer Vista 5 SR digital audio consoles in use for both FOH and monitor mixing applications.

Taking both the Australian and U.S. country music scenes by storm, the New Zealand born Urban heavily relies on the sound quality of the Vista 5 SR while on tour. The Studer Vista 5 SR was chosen by his mixing engineers who went through a vigorous evaluation process prior to the selection of the console but chose the Studer after it met all required criteria: Sound quality, flexibility/ease-of-use and reliability.

FOH Engineer Steve Law and Monitor Mixing Engineer Jason Spence evaluated numerous brands of sound consoles before the tour. Spence noted he had never felt as comfortable with a new desk as he did during the week he was trying out the Studer Vista 5 SR.

"When choosing a console, I have three criteria," said Spence. "It has to sound good to the artist on stage! If it doesn't, there's not much point in continuing. Second, I have to be able to get around it quickly. With the 'inline design' of the input and output strips, the Vista 5 SR feels very 'analog.' I'm able to have control and access to all the parameters at my fingertips. There are not multiple pages to plow through to gain control of any particular feature. Lastly, it needs to be reliable and not crash. It seems that with other brands, I could get one, maybe two of my criteria met; however with the Studer, I got all three!"

Howard Page, Director of Engineering for Clair Showco, was excited about including the Vista 5 SR on the tour for both front of house and monitor mixing duties due to its ease of use. “We had originally fallen in love with the Vista 8 at the AES Convention,” said Page. “We suggested that Studer create a console dedicated to the live touring market. The Vista 5 SR is one of the most stunning consoles we’ve ever heard. Other competing consoles are incredibly large and awkward, whereas the Vista 5 SR has a small footprint and only takes us five minutes to set up. And most significantly, we find that people who get on the Vista 5 SR for the first time respond extremely positively, for both house and monitor applications. That is key for us.”

Additionally, Crown Macro-Tech 3600 amps and a Lexicon M480L Reverb Effects Processor were in use as part of Clair Showco’s custom JBL-loaded loudspeaker system for the Keith Urban tour.

Clair Showco can be reached at www.clairshowco.com.

Studer is a unit of Harman International Industries, Incorporated (www.harman.com). Harman International designs, manufactures and markets a wide range of audio and infotainment products for the automotive, consumer and professional markets, and maintains a strong presence in the Americas, Europe and Asia, employing more than 11,000 people worldwide. The Harman International family of brands includes AKG®, Audioaccess®, Becker®, BSS®, Crown®, dbx®, DigiTech®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon®, Mark Levinson®, Revel®, QNX®, Soundcraft® and Studer®. Harman International’s stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “NYSE: HAR.”

Taking No Chances: Celine Dion Tours World With Two Studer Vista 5SR Consoles

She's one of the best-selling recording artists in history, but she hasn't toured since 1999. Following a record-breaking 5-year engagement at the Colosseum at Caesar’s Palace, Las Vegas, Celine Dion is back on the road with her 'Taking Chances' production tour, the first major artist to carry two Studer Vista 5SR digital audio consoles to handle front-of-house and monitor mixing.

Dion’s world tour kicked off in South Africa on Valentine’s Day 2008 and is due to run until the end of January 2009. Audio for the tour is being supplied by Canadian PA company Solotech, which has had a long relationship with Celine Dion; in fact, most of the tour’s key personnel have worked with Dion for nearly 20 years, including tour manager Denis Savage, front-of-house engineer Frankie Desjardins and monitor engineer Charles Ethier.

Frankie Desjardins took over front-of-house duties last year, replacing Denis Savage who has stepped up to become tour/production manager. Together with Charles Ethier, they began the search for the tour’s control systems while Celine Dion was performing in Las Vegas, determined to find one model that could be used for both front-of-house and for monitoring.

“The priority was to find a small desk,” says Desjardins. “We needed something compact to carry all over the world, which would work in testing environments like the humidity of an outdoor show in Kuala Lumpur. And we wanted the same console on monitors. This makes it much easier to train people, especially our support techs, and it means that if we want to switch engineers, there is no problem.”

After spending so many years at front-of-house, Denis Savage knew exactly what he was looking for. The critical test involved recording a Dion show and playing it back. “We were very picky – we set the bar very high!” says Desjardins. “The Vista was one of the best-sounding consoles, and it had a very small footprint and weighed just 30 kilos.”

Desjardins is using 96-100 channels for the show, mixing groups and input VCAs. “The Vista 5SR is really different from other consoles. You have to use it to get used to it, but that only took me about a week. Now I find it very fast to use, very powerful and overall a straightforward tool. I’m confident that it was the best choice for this tour. If there are any compromises to be made, we just remind ourselves of the amazing footprint of the desk!”

Because the ‘Taking Chances’ show is staged in-the-round, monitor engineer Charles Ethier typically sets up his ‘office’ in a remote location. In London, for example, there were some 300 feet of cable between the stage and monitorland. “At first, it was a bit of shock! It is totally another world. Of course I have audience mics to give me an idea of what’s going on, but I miss feeling the SPL, the resonance of the room on my body.”

Ethier presides over a very clean stage. All performers are using in-ear monitors and wireless mics, requiring some 60 frequencies between them. The complexity of output routing, more than 120 buss out to handle the 24 stereo in-ear mixes and 12 click tracks, was a big test for Studer’s new Vista 5SR design. “I sent my spec to Studer, and they sent me Jamie Dunn who stayed with us for 3 days.”

The free configurability of the Studer Vista 5SR DSP engine allowed Ethier to custom design the channel/bus architecture of the console to solve a number of key requirements for his monitor application. The first of these was the very large number of stereo in-ear mixes that he needed to provide – 24 in total. “The ‘Contribution’ feature of the desk allows me to handle this number of complex mixes quickly and easily, without compromise and with great speed and comfort, even though the console’s control surface footprint is small.”


Ethier didn’t want to hear the click tracks in his mixes, preferring to inject them ‘downstream’. The flexibility of the DSP allowed him to configure 24 additional stereo Matrix busses, with a single Aux (Monitor mix) feeding to each one. The click tracks could then be fed into the appropriate Matrix busses, without interfering with Ethier’s monitoring. The matrix channels also allowed for additional EQ processing, giving 8 band parametric EQ in total for each monitor path. The powerful DSP Configuration Tool is available as standard with all Vista 5SR systems.

Studer is a unit of Harman International Industries, Incorporated (www.harman.com).
Harman International designs, manufactures and markets a wide range of audio and infotainment products for the automotive, consumer and professional markets, and maintains a strong presence in the Americas, Europe and Asia, employing more than 11,000 people worldwide. The Harman International family of brands includes AKG®, Audioaccess®, Becker®, BSS®, Crown®, dbx®, DigiTech®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon®, Mark Levinson®, Revel®, QNX®, Soundcraft® and Studer®. Harman International’s stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “NYSE: HAR.”

Pic Captions: 9530: Monitor eng - Charles Ethier; 9578: Frankie Desjardins (FOH) and Mario St Onge (systems); 9655: Frankie Desjardins in rehearsal. All pics taken at the O2 Arena.