India - Mahashivratri is a celebration that reaches far beyond religion. It is the largest and most significant celebration on India’s spiritual calendar. The festival celebrates the Grace of Shiva, who is considered the Adi Guru or the First Guru, from whom the Yogic tradition originates.
On the darkest night of the year, a massive celebration with around 200,000 attendees, took place at the Isha Yoga Centre, Coimbatore. The night was hosted by Indian guru and founder of the Isha Foundation, Sadhguru. In a first for India, the event utilised two KLANG:konductors to control 128 channels of audio for 22 immersive IEM mixes.
The Isha Yoga Centre Coimbatore welcomes people of all faiths, from all corners of the globe to experience the spiritually uplifting Mahashivratri Festival. The night of celebration is experienced by many millions of people across India through the livestream and television and its reach is vast. This event is one of the biggest and also attracts a wide audience globally, live streamed online and broadcast to big screens in places like New York’s Time Square. Overnight, a diverse mix of music, dance and cultural performances, along with spiritual discourses and powerful meditations by Sadhguru, keep devotees awake and on their feet.
A large audio team, headed up by Electrocraft’s Dave Drego, ensured everything was heard and the artists could perform at their best. Prasanna Kumar Nagabattula (Notchfiltr) of SonicVibe Solutions served as production engineer and designer, with Vivek Cheruku taking care of the broadcast mix. The team found that there were numerous benefits to using a KLANG system, but as Notchfiltr explains, empowering the artists to control and manage their own mixes gave them a greater sense of autonomy and confidence over the long night of performing.
“Vivek and I evaluated the logistics of managing over 128 audio channels. We used 24 IEMs and 12 wedges for the 12-hour continuous performance and four days of on-stage rehearsals,” he recalls. “Given the complexity of handling such a vast number of channels, I could not envision a more effective solution for IEMs than KLANG. As both a musician and engineer, it was essential for me to be able to hear both myself and the other performers simultaneously for an extended duration, without experiencing ear fatigue. KLANG provided the ideal platform to achieve this balance.”
Devotees believe that there is a huge upsurge of energy on this night and by remaining upright and awake, participants benefit both physically and spiritually. The event aims to reach as many people as possible and keeping the audience engaged for 12 hours overnight is a huge creative challenge; every moment of the festival had to be captivating. Cheruku highlights how KLANG supported each artist with detailed IEM mixes that enhanced their 12-hour overnight performance.
“Considering the number of instruments the musicians needed to hear in their IEMS, the spatial feature seemed like a very good way to perfect a mix,” Cheruku expands. “The 12-hour program requires a high level of involvement and energy from all of our crew, as we had a huge PA and a very large stage. Due to the long hours, minimizing ear fatigue for the artist was essential. The engineers were able to support the artists who were not confident using the system on stage with iPads during rehearsals. They could then manage their mixes via their tablets or phones. It streamlined rehearsals, making them very easy to handle and quick, too.”
For Mahashivratri, the team deployed two KLANG:konductors operating in a cascaded setup. The first KLANG:Konductor with two DMI-MADI cards, was connected to a DiGiCo Quantum 5, the second integrating one DMI-MADI and one DMI-OPTO card via the DiGiCo Quantum 338 Pulse. This marked the first time KLANG had been used in this configuration in India. So, to ensure the system was optimally configured, the team sought expert support from KLANG’s Phil Kamp to make sure everything ran smoothly from the start.
“Phil has been incredibly supportive from day one, even when I've felt like a bit of a novice,” Notchfiltr says. “Since I'm using two KLANG:konductors in a cascading setup with console integration in India for the first time, I required assistance to navigate this process. I had fantastic support from Satyam and Piyush from Hitech AVL, in addition to the constant support from Dave at Electrocraft.”
“It was a huge show with an enormous team handling audio. Monitor engineer Anu Charan managed more than 24 IEMs plus 12 wedge and side-fill mixes. Using KLANG made this much simpler,” Cheruku concludes. “The 12-hour program required four days of on-stage rehearsals, with continuous sound checks, so the minimal ear fatigue provided by the KLANG immersive mixes was really important. Even though it was the first time the equipment was used in this way, it was a very positive experience for all involved.”