[mjriley]

Watching eurovision semi-final at the minute & am intrigued by the lack of microphones on the instruments, woman playing violin with no visible mic or cable going to beltpack + complete drum kit with not a single visible mic.

Is it all mimed or is it all really discretely miced?

Everything else appears to be RF heaven / hell.

[Shez]

I seem to recall there are very specific rules about what the acts can have on the mic front. I think it's something like a maximum of six vocal mics and that's it. Live instruments would be a nightmare to contend with with only 30s changeovers between acts.

[toby]

Genuinely feel sorry for who ever did the frequencys for that!

[Shez]

In the larger scheme of things, it's not all that complicated on the RF front. Six vocal mics, presenter mics, backups for the above, IEMs (another six mixes, say), talkback for the presenters. Yes there'll be other stuff going on too but it's nothing compared to what they'll be up to at the olympics...

[mackerr]

toby, on 24 May 2012 - 08:45 PM, said:

Genuinely feel sorry for who ever did the frequencys for that!

My good friend Pete Erskine is the RF coordinator for the Eurovision Song Contest. I'll see if I can get him to post some info here. He is usually pretty forth coming with information on his gigs. He has an outstanding website with information about high end production intercom at HERE, and a guide to RF frequency coordination HERE.

Mac

[NeilW]

All the RF is from Sennheiser again, saw this press release the other day:

http://en-de.sennhei...r-the-25th-time

N.

[peterskine]

Thank you, Mac for the Plug. Here at the ESC I work for Riedel Communications. They are supplying all comms using Artist, 650+ radios, video and control transport via a massive Mediornet, all in venue video monitors using DVB-T Digital transmitter, and accreditation access control systems.

Although I am the Frequency Coordinator, it's more like a manager. Sennheiser and Toneheads, the audio company, select their freqs and I keep track of all theirs and everyone else's freqs. I get Ministry of Communication licenses for them and try to keep pirates from using rogue mics. All total there are 454 frequencies, including radios, Data, camera, mics and ears. No press is allowed to have wireless and will loose accreditation if they are caught using.

Here is what I know. In the competition, all Vocals are live, all music on track. For other non competition musical acts there may be miced instruments. There are 110 Mic frequencies and 40 in ear. Every performer has an assigned mic and ear mix so no mics need to be switched during the show. Performer Micing is extremely organized. Cue sheets have pictures of each performer and info about their mic and ears. Performers cue up to an A2 Work area, get miced and then wait in a space for the rest of their act. Once they have their ears in they can go to an offstage studio and listen to their track and set the mix for their monitors - this info is replicated in the show monitor mixers.

In my work, this is RF Heaven -- All in control and with the support of security and the producers.

BTW, They get 35 seconds to change between acts. during that time, laser spike marks are projected from the roof for their set pieces, instruments, amps, drum risers, etc and singer start positions. Also all spots set their initial aim.

[NeilW]

peterskine, on 25 May 2012 - 10:32 AM, said:

All total there are 454 frequencies, including radios, Data, camera, mics and ears.

Hi Pete,

I have read your excellent guide to frequency co-ordination. How different is it when you are co-ordinating 100's of frequencies? Are there any specific tools, hardware or software, that you are using?

Thanks,

Neil

[peterskine]

It's much as I have written in the rf Coord manual. I have followed this method in a 650 mic system with no issues. The coordination is for a medical software conference with two main show halls and dozens of breakout rooms each with 6 mics. Almost all breakout room mics could be recieved in the main halls so they had to all work together.

[Shez]

Things have changed a bit at Eurovision since the last article I read then

Welcome to the forum, Pete; I hope you'll stick around to share some of your expertise.

[nothingatall666]

peterskine, on 25 May 2012 - 10:32 AM, said:

Here is what I know. In the competition, all Vocals are live, all music on track. For other non competition musical acts there may be miced instruments. There are 110 Mic frequencies and 40 in ear. Every performer has an assigned mic and ear mix so no mics need to be switched during the show. Performer Micing is extremely organized. Cue sheets have pictures of each performer and info about their mic and ears. Performers cue up to an A2 Work area, get miced and then wait in a space for the rest of their act. Once they have their ears in they can go to an offstage studio and listen to their track and set the mix for their monitors - this info is replicated in the show monitor mixers.

Surely in an age with digital mixing and recalling, each performer having their own mic and frequency is slightly OTT?


There was me thinking the whole thing looked mimed (perhaps the OB feeds weren't completely in sync when I watched)..
IMO They really should have at least put a jack in the electric guitars.. nothing more awkward than a close up of someone effectively playing air guitar..

[DrummerJonny]

Thanks for popping by Pete,

As I suspected, and you have confirmed, all acts perform to a backing track. However, on reading Sennheisers equipment list as linked to above, I noted they have 21 e908's on the kit list. Would you be able to shed any light on their use? They specify them as "instrument microphones", so it got me wondering. Were these used for the non competition acts?

Damn curiosity getting the better of me at 5am...

[Brian]

nothingatall666, on 29 May 2012 - 02:04 AM, said:

Surely in an age with digital mixing and recalling, each performer having their own mic and frequency is slightly OTT?

Without this it would be impossible to sound check people before they went on stage. Also, can you imagine the logistics of swapping mics amongst performers, many with quite complex costumes, with short turnarounds between acts and with the performers needing to be available to TV almost constantly.

[mackerr]

DrummerJonny, on 29 May 2012 - 03:47 AM, said:

Thanks for popping by Pete,

As I suspected, and you have confirmed, all acts perform to a backing track. However, on reading Sennheisers equipment list as linked to above, I noted they have 21 e908's on the kit list. Would you be able to shed any light on their use? They specify them as "instrument microphones", so it got me wondering. Were these used for the non competition acts?

Damn curiosity getting the better of me at 5am...

It may be hard for Pete to reply, he is in transit back to New York from Baku, to pick up his UK work visa to head back to London for 3 months. I wonder what he will be doing there? ;-)

Mac

[revbobuk]

mackerr, on 29 May 2012 - 03:09 PM, said:

DrummerJonny, on 29 May 2012 - 03:47 AM, said:

Thanks for popping by Pete,

As I suspected, and you have confirmed, all acts perform to a backing track. However, on reading Sennheisers equipment list as linked to above, I noted they have 21 e908's on the kit list. Would you be able to shed any light on their use? They specify them as "instrument microphones", so it got me wondering. Were these used for the non competition acts?

Damn curiosity getting the better of me at 5am...

It may be hard for Pete to reply, he is in transit back to New York from Baku, to pick up his UK work visa to head back to London for 3 months. I wonder what he will be doing there? ;-)

Mac

Ah, but he won't be allowed to tell us, will he!