Barbara Schöneberger is undoubtedly one of the most famous faces of the German television landscape. As a presenter, actress and since 2006 also as a singer, she excites all who listen and watch her. In May 2018 Schöneberger released her fourth album Eine Frau gibt Auskunft” (“A Woman Gives Information“), which she recently presented in ten live shows in German halls.
The Event-Net GmbH from Halle (Saale) has been working for the singer since 2008 and has been a technical service provider for all tours and various individual shows. The team headed by managing director Kay Schöttner and technical department manager Mathias “Hein” Schroeter was also responsible for the complete technology, the stage management and part of the tour management at the A Woman Gives Information tour.
In 2004 Event-Net was one of the first users in Germany to invest in sound systems of the Dutch premium manufacturer Alcons Audio. Since then, stock of Alcons LR14 and LR16 including BF362 subwoofers has been built in Halle. Thus, on all previous tours of Barbara Schöneberger Alcons systems were already on board.
For the 2019 tour, however, they resorted to the larger LR18 pro-ribbon line-array systems, which could easily be rented from Alcons’ global rental network “The Ribbon Network” in central Germany. For the main-PA 24 Alcons LR18 were used, LR14 systems covered the side-PA.
Alcons RR12 point-source array elements were used as stacking variants for the front fills and, if required, as main PA for the parquet areas. Depending on the location, the BF362 subs were adapted to local requirements through different modes (endfire/cardioid). All systems were powered and controlled by Sentinel10 amplified loudspeaker controllers.
“With Alcons, all requirements for different venues as well as different music styles with many moderating elements can and could be fulfilled very well”, said Kay Schöttner from his rich experience. “The pro-ribbon drivers from Alcons Audio always guarantee a very good speech intelligibility down to the last rows, even on ranks and balconies, with an extremely homogeneous coverage.
“I am not aware of any comparable system which, in this compactness, delivers such a resolution with corresponding performance. One should not forget that we were limited to one trailer for the entire production. All line-arrays were transported in cases to make efficient use of the available truckspace. Handling and rigging of the systems were effortless.
“The first consideration in the run up to the 2019 tour was to use Event Net’s own LR16 system. “Given the option to use the new LR18 instead, we rejected that idea. The LR18 systems were provided by ils medientechnik GmbH from Leipzig. Since we did not have our RR12 in stock at this time, Uwe Biesgen from Creativsound in Berlin provided us with his systems”, Schöttner continued.
Kay Schöttner can only say positive things about the growing Ribbon Network: “In central Germany, there are now a number of companies that use systems from Alcons Audio. We have been trying to live this platform idea for quite some time, and we are getting better and better.
“Event-Net GmbH is a relatively small rental company. Our partner companies in the Ribbon Network are also, at least in central Germany, small and medium-sized rental and technical companies, mostly specialized in different areas. Accordingly, the requirements for the systems differ.
“In the future, we and the above-mentioned partner companies will not only make investment decisions based on our own needs, but also on the availability of the corresponding technology in the network of our partners in Central Germany. The Ribbon Network works and that’s great!”
Uwe Biesgen from Creativsound accompanied the Schöneberger tour as a sound engineer and supervised the FoH. The other audio equipment, as well as the sound staff – PA system engineer Hendrik Pfeiffer, monitor technician Henning Dittmann and technical production manager Mathias “Hein” Schroeter – were provided by Event-Net GmbH. Kay Schöttner himself was on tour as the tour manager.