DiGiCo has released details of how its Quantum 7 console was used for a free concert, held back in January, at St Mary’s Church, Luton. Harmony of The Worlds, conducted by David Murphy, was a free concert created and composed by Satya Hinduja to explore the connection between music and human wellness. The arrangement of Hinduja’s composition, ‘Essence, 136.10Hz – The Earth’s Primal Frequency’, with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6, was designed to “immerse listeners within the Earth’s resonance and embody the annual journey of the Earth around the sun through sound”.
Mark Rogers, sound designer and engineer, began working with Southby Productions on the project in November 2022, when the composition was already complex. “It was over a hundred tracks of pre-recorded material, sample sounds and electronic sounds, playing off of Logic Pro. So, when we added in the orchestra and choir on top of this, it became a bit of a challenge,” Rogers recalled.
“When we were looking, I remember having a discussion with Chris Jones [of Southby Productions] about what desks we would use,” Rogers continued. “I know DiGiCo consoles really well and I like them, so I was happy to use them. Originally, we were looking at a Quantum 338, but we rapidly came to the conclusion that this was just not going to be big enough for the scale of the operation. I think we ended up with 74 auxes on the console, which not many consoles are capable of. When Chris said there was a budget for a Quantum 7, I said ‘yes, please!’ I can’t imagine how we could have done it otherwise, frankly it made the job possible.”
The concert featured the 24 singers of Synergy Vocals positioned around the Church, intertwined with an orchestra, loudspeakers, and the audience themselves. “Because we had about 180 sources of sound, this is where the Quantum 7 came into its own,” Rogers explained. “It was pretty much a singer, a loudspeaker, a singer, a loudspeaker, all the way around. We decided the practical solution was to have some of the pre-recorded tracks sub-mixed in Logic, which would send feeds into the desk inputs, which would then feed into the auxiliary buses.”
The Harmony of The Worlds free concert took place on Saturday 7th January 2023 at St Mary’s Church, Luton, UK.
