NRK audio engineer Jon-Dag Skagmo
The Nobel Peace Prize Concert, which celebrates the award of the annual Nobel Peace Prize, was staged in Oslo, Norway’s Spektrum Arena on December 11, 2006 and recorded by Norway’s national broadcaster, NRK, for broadcast to more than 150 countries; it was watched by more than 500 million viewers.
Six thousand people and an international lineup of stars gathered to mark the award of the Prize to Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank. On stage were Lionel Richie, Wynonna, Simply Red, Rihanna, John Legend and, in a rare performance, Yusuf Islam, the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens. American soprano Renée Fleming joined actresses Sharon Stone and Anjelica Huston, who presented the show.
NRK brought three of its highest-specification OB vans into the Spektrum to handle the event’s TV production. All three trucks were equipped with Studer digital audio consoles, including the HD-1 truck, which has a 52-fader Vista 8.
With the 64-piece Norwegian Radio Orchestra (NRO) occupying the central section of the large stage, the left and right wings alternated with live performances, enabling smooth changeovers between guest artists accompanied by the Nobel Band, NRO string section or full orchestra.
Six Studer stageboxes, providing between 44 and 48 inputs and eight returns each, were positioned at the side of the stage handling a total of 264 inputs. Inputs from the artists on the two side stages were sent to Truck 1, NRK’s OBL12, which is equipped with a Studer D950 audio console. The orchestra was mixed by Truck 2, the TR-23, which has a 52-fader Vista 8 desk, and the mix was then sent onto Truck 1/OBL12. The finished stage mix was delivered to Truck 3, the HD-1, where NRK’s Jon-Dag Skagmo (pictured) added presenter and audience feeds to create the final mix on his Vista 8.
In terms of allocating the OB resources to different tasks, Skagmo explains, “it’s natural to have the final mix together with the video production (HD-1); we could swap the audio vans but the mix engineer, Øystein Halvorsen, is so accustomed to the D950, it is logical to give the orchestral mix to Morten Hermansen and Per Ravinaas on the Studer Vista 8.”
For more information, visit www.harmanpro.com, www.studer.ch and http://nobelpeaceprize.org.
