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The Abu Dhabi Experience

Abu Dhabi, or Aba Daba as it was affectionately known to the crew,was the second stop in the Middle East for Norwest Productions.  Following a highly successful Asian Games across the water in Qatar the 18th Gulf Cup organisers came straight to Norwest Productions to provide audio services for their ambitious Opening Ceremony.

Even though Norwest had six containers of audio equipment just across the water in Doha local customs laws proved to be an obstacle. Even the best project manager couldn’t quite get around the problem. Qatari Customs required the equipment in Doha to be shipped directly back to Australia and a new system had to be designed and freighted from Sydney to Abu Dhabi in a very short space of time.

The system wasn’t quite as big as the Doha rig. Norwest took advantage of the in house system consisting of installed EAW elements to provide most of the coverage for the grandstands.  Norwest provided consoles, replay and control systems to supplement the existing system together with all radio microphones and IEM’s for the performance. Norwest also provided all operators.

Tying into the house system with the help of the local technicians proved challenging with a lot of work being done to get the system up to Norwest standards. With long hours and some great assistance from Mr. Hassan and his crew a great result was eventually achieved.

For the Norwest experienced operating crew, fresh from the Asian Games, the show was no problem and all went to perfection. There was a little competition in the first part of the evening with some of the crowd bringing their own battery operated horn pa’s into the venue for their own pre game entertainment and team support. The conclusion of our time in the sun and sand of the desert was quite a sad experience leaving friends and surrogate families acquired over the last four months and having to go home back to our real jobs.  All the crew are now looking forward to the next one.

Abu Dhabi 18th Gulf Cup Crew consisted of:- Project Manager – Adrian Riddell Front of House Engineer – Ian Shapcott Monitor Engineer – Ewan McDonald Systems Engineer – Ian Cooper FOP Systems Engineer – Antonio Calvi RF Crew – Matt Ling RF Crew – Amy McDonald RF Crew – Kylie Sanz

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