Portugal - This summer, as the finale to their 15 Years tour, Portuguese speaking band Calema prepared for the largest ever show from a band with Portuguese origins. DiGiCo Quantum 338s at the front-of-house position and two DiGiCo SD5s at monitors were deployed, supplied by Auditiv Audiovisuals.
Calema comprises brothers António Mendes Ferreira and Fradique Mendes Ferreira, who were born on the African island of São Tomé and Príncipe. The band’s name roughly translates to ‘special wave’, which refers to the treasures brought to the island by the tide. The pair relocated to Portugal to pursue their musical careers and their recent show at Lisbon’s Estádio da Luz was their biggest stadium show yet.
“The Calema concert was a true spectacle,” says Joao Escada, co-owner with Daniel Bekerman of Auditiv Audiovisuals. “We wanted to provide the most robust system we could, so mirroring the consoles was a key feature of the system design and worked flawlessly from the very start.”
Auditiv Audiovisuals supplied equipment, crew and support for the show. At the front- of-house position was Rodrigo Maciel, with Escada personally supporting Tiago Mendes at the monitor position. Bekerman performed the role of recording engineer via a separate system using the DiGiCo SD10 console. As Escada continues, for such a high-profile performance, quality sound is a must, so a completely redundant system was a top priority.
“We made two identical Optocore loops at the front-of-house position, with two DiGiCo Quantum 338s fed by two passive splitters with 56 channels each. We used two 32-bit SD-Racks in each loop and the 56 stage outputs were switched by Radial units, he says. “We also had Optocore units for recording, with the DiGiCo SD10 console in the loop.”
Auditiv has delivered robust solutions for live concerts, TV and studio work for more than 25 years and they were early adopters of DiGiCo consoles, starting with the D-Series in the early 2000s. Auditiv has continually expanded its inventory and currently owns a wide range of DiGiCo consoles. As an experienced sound engineer, Escada knows that having a powerful and flexible system to support him during high-pressure concerts is the only way to achieve flawless sound.
“By staying in the DiGiCo world, we could have two independent and autonomous systems where the only connection point was the mirror on the desks,” Escada recalls. “Operators could switch systems immediately, if required, without worrying about whether the other system has exactly the same settings.”
Maciel agrees that a DiGiCo environment is a strong and robust solution, capable of delivering stadium sized results. “DiGiCo has always been my first choice,” he explains. “The console has the flexibility to customise completely to my way of working, giving me security and, above all else, great sound. On a project of this size, it was the only option that could deliver everything I needed.”
The band embarks on their Voyage Tour this autumn, with dates across the world starting with London’s The O2.