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Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics

Norwest Productions had its’ 3rd outing for an Olympic Games in February this year, and our first for a Winter Olympics. BC Place Stadium in Vancouver BC, Canada is an indoor stadium that seats approximately 55,000 people. The audio contract for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics was split into two tenders. One for the provision of the speaker systems and system amplification and the other encompassing control, signal distribution, monitors, performers, radio & IEM systems, time code distribution and broadcast feeds. Norwest Productions & Clair Global bid for both tenders. Clair came away with the speaker and amplification system while Norwest won the contract to supply and install the rest of the audio system. Together, Norwest Productions and Clair brought the highest level of expertise and experience to the project. The integration and cooperation between the crews was seamless. The assistance and support provided by each other gave the impression to the outsider of a single audio company at work.

In addition to Clair Global, Norwest Productions once again worked closely with another major event contractor from Sydney, The PA People, who looked after the communications for the event. Mutual cooperation between the comm's & audio contractors is essential in providing quality integration between the audio system & all facets of the communications responsibilities to allow show callers, segment directors and producers to talk to and receive feedback from cast and stage management through the IEM systems, two way radios and wired talkback. Once again this working relationship was highly successful. The load-in and set-up started in the first week of January, however Norwest’s commitment started months earlier in November of 2009. The producers required three pre-event rehearsal systems so Norwest sent equipment and an engineer to Vancouver to install the main rehearsal system three months prior to the opening ceremony.

The main system was made up of twelve RCF 322i speaker cabinets flown in a 60m x 40m hoecker, four channels of radio microphones, a Yamaha O1V console, and Lab Gruppen C68/4 amplifiers. The other systems were used for cast briefing and dance studio rehearsals. Each of the secondary rehearsal systems utilized small format consoles, two radio microphones and 4 x RCF 322i speaker cabinets. Once these systems were installed they were handed over to our local partner company in Vancouver, Rocky Mountain Sound. These guys were great, not only providing local support for us once we started the installation of the main Ceremony system but they also supplied three outstanding engineers to operate the main rehearsal system and monitor the two secondary systems.

Norwest had a crew of seven for the project. We also enlisted the assistance of four remarkable volunteers from the pool of Olympic Volunteers. Our phenomenal Winter Olympic crew included:
Project Manager – Andrew Rodd
Production Manager & Field of Play audio supervisor  – Andrew Marsh
Network designer & system engineer – Ian Cooper
Radio Systems & Spectrum Manager – Steve Caldwell
Monitor engineer – Ian Shapcott
IEM distribution – Amy McDonald
IEM distribution assistant – Josh Wildenberg
Three of our volunteers were crucial in the distribution of radio microphones and IEM systems for all the rehearsals and the opening and closing ceremonies. The fourth volunteer acted as assistant to Andrew Marsh and assisted the rest of the Norwest audio crew doing everything from stage set ups to system maintenance. The FOH engineer Chris Carlton, was independent to both audio contractors and engaged by the show producers, as was Steve Logan the Fairlight - replay system operator.

The Clair Brothers i-5 & i-3 speaker clusters coupled with flown subs and proprietary front fill cabinets driven from the Norwest control system provided a very smooth and responsive system that sound designer Bruce Jackson tuned to perfection. Two discreet signal distribution systems were used. The primary system was a multiple node digital network that relied heavily on Optocore and Dolby Lake equipment for transport and DA / AD conversion. The redundant back-up was an analogue system using XTA DS800 active mic/line isolated splits.  Thirty-four channels of radio systems were used to cater to the shows’ complex live performance requirements. The product of choice was the Shure UR series with a combination of Beta58A, Beta87 and KSM9 microphones and U1 beltpacks with DPA headsets. The network capabilities of the Shure system made them invaluable for frequency switching and individual tailoring of units on the fly. The ten IEM transmitters with double receivers were Sennheiser G2 systems. These were used exclusively for headline talent performers while a secondary IEM system using multiple receivers operated on four mixes and was used for main performers while mass cast members used FM receivers operating on their own four monitor mixes. Many of the DPA headsets used were modified to a Norwest Productions design and fitted with a second capsule on its own U1 transmitter pack to cater for capsule failure. Nearly all audio transmitters and IEM receivers were used multiple times by the large number of headline talent that made up the artist list for the two ceremonies. More RF info can be found here.

A combination of EAW, Nexo and D&B speaker cabinets were located strategically at all performance areas and protocol stages. Speeches were conveyed to the world via Rode and Schoeps microphones again with 3-fold redundancy. Digital, analogue and radio transmission used for each podium position. Two DiGiCo D5 V4 mixing systems were used on FOH. The first running the digital network the other controlling the analogue signal. The same applied to the monitor system although the console duties were handled by Yamaha PM1D 96 channel mix systems. The distribution systems were both tested & switched between randomly during the rehearsal period, after the system was commissioned and the second dress rehearsal was run completely on the analogue system without fault. In addition Norwest Productions also provided digital feeds of all audio channels to the 5.1 mix truck and the host broadcaster. The 5.1 mix truck was supplied by Le Studio Mobile from Montreal, under an agreement with one of Australia's premiere location digital recording companies, Figure 8 Audio. The best redundancy system is the one you never have to use but it's very comforting to know it's there because no matter how well planned and executed a design & sometimes despite the extraordinary work of the technicians and engineers things can go wrong. Thankfully we were, once again, blessed with a faultless performance that complimented the vision and expectations of the show's producers.

The sheer size of a venue like this always presents challenges for signal distribution. We had seven nodes on the Main Optocore Network and two other stand alone point to point networks also. These fibre networks were also backed up by copper cabling carrying analogue signals. The fibre side was entirely Optocore, while the copper system was predominantly twisted pair cabling split and line driven using XTA DS800s. The 110v Power for all on field nodes and amp racks could have been an issue for other suppliers but all our equipment had modern switch mode supplies, so this was not a concern. There were just lots of funny adaptors to build!

Andrew Marsh says "Cabling the three stages was a challenge. The two end stages were quite high off the ground with limited access and it was difficult attaching the cables to the underside. The centre stage lift required me to suspend myself underneath it, hanging above a deep pit in the ground while heaving wedges into shelves then bolting the shelves back into position, FUN. I had to crawl around in a dark tight cave amongst large motors and chains to install the cabling. There were also RF antennas and hardwired microphone lines underneath the stage lift which followed the same cable path back to our node. With the movement of the lift, it was imperative to get the management of the cable right the first time. For the closing ceremony I was looking after Neil Young and his equipment. This was on another stage lift called “Orpheus”. I had a very limited amount of time to set his wedges, guitar preamp, and Radio mic packs and then have it test all this with control before he flew up to stage level on the lift. I created a pulley system  to page the cable in and out of the lift as it went up and down so that I could concentrate on setting his equipment and making sure he (and control) was happy before he was flown up."

Despite long hours worked everyone did a good job of being alert and on top of their job. "Great team to work with and a good vibe. There is great skill and an amazing knowledge base with Steve, Shappy and Coops. Vancouver is an amazingly picturesque and friendly city. Lots of good restaurants, bars and nice people. Good shopping. Very lively during the games, the whole city was alive and full of people." comments Andrew Marsh.

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