The classical music production “Schloss in Flammen’ (Castle In Flames) held at
Mannheim Castle was recently mixed on an Allen&Heath dLive C Class C3500 provided
by Auditiv from Kassel/Germany.
“Schloss in Flammen’ – a classical music highlight in the festival season in Germany –
is a mixture of classical music and synchronised fireworks. The orchestra and solo
singers from the National Theatre of Mannheim perform arias and other parts of
various famous operas.
“The big challenge of this production is that we have nearly no time for rehearsals and
soundcheck,’ explains FOH engineer Rolf Dressler. “This is where the easy handling
and flexibility of the dLive shines, and it got even better with firmware 1.4 and 1.5
and new features like DCA spill and the improved scene management. I also love the
sound, the compact size and the low latency of the dLive – that’s why I mixed over
100 concerts and events last year on dLive.’
As an open-air event lacks the familiar acoustics of a concert hall, Dressler uses
dLive’s internal FX library to simulate them. “The reverb programs of dLive sound
convincing and natural,” says Dressler. “I’m using six different reverbs for high and
low strings, woodwind and brass instruments, percussion and vocals.’
Even very dynamic signals like high forte voices with headsets can be handled easily
by the dLive FX. “Normal compressors don’t help here anymore,” explains Dressler.
“But the frequency dependent multiband dynamics of dLive let me tame such difficult
signals with ease.’
For many of the classical instruments, Dressler is relying on microphones from Audio-
Technica. “For violins, violas and woodwind, we use AT4021, for cello and basses
Pro35 and percussion condenser microphones like AT4021 and AT2013.’
