All of France marks the beginning of the modern French Nation each year on 14 July, with events taking place all over the country – but this year’s National Holiday was quite different due to the pandemic felt everywhere in the world. Lawo mixing consoles provided the highest possible audio quality for the traditional Concert de Paris taking place on the Champs du Mars at the foot of the Eiffel Tower – Lawo’s sixth successive year serving both the live and broadcast sound requirements.
The FOH consoles used were a 48-fader mc²56 production console for the orchestra mix, and an mc²36 all-in-one console for the soloists. A 48-fader mc²56 took over the monitor tasks in a setup with a 16-fader mc² extender that was used in order to allow social distancing between the two operators. Working over the Optocore fiber-optic network deployed by Radio France for the live sound system to connect the event’s mixing consoles and I/O systems, the Concert de Paris proved again to shift audio standards and operating efficiencies to a new level.
Separate preamp control for FOH and monitors and a split to the Lawo mc²66 console used for the broadcast mix in a Radio France OB vehicle enabled use of the on-air console’s own stageboxes and DALLIS mic preamps.
The Concert de Paris on 14 July is one of the largest classical music events held anywhere in the world with as many as 500,000 spectators on-site in pre-pandemic years and is followed by a traditional firework display. The show – featuring the Orchestre National de France and the Chœur de Radio France, along with internationally renowned soloists – was relayed to 2,84 million TV viewers in France and an estimated 10 million audience in Europe with the Lawo setup.