Bastille Day 2023: 5 Lawo mc² consoles to mix the Concert de Paris

Two mc²56 desks sharing a pair of redundant A__UHD Core units were used at front of house by Nadège Antonini for the orchestra and the overall PA mix, and by Stéphane Thouvenin for the soloist premix. A third mc²56 and an A__UHD Core audio engine took care of the stage monitoring in a two-operator configuration with two separate control surfaces to offer Tahar Boukhlifa and Charles Bouticourt maximum flexibility for the execution of this complex task.

A system of passive splitters allowed more than 140 microphone sources to be routed independently to a Lawo mc²66 console controlled by Laurent Fracchia for mixing radio and television audio in a Radio France mobile production unit.

In a France Televisions OB truck, Gregory Chevalier was in charge of audio production for the national TV broadcast and international clean feed—again with an mc²56 console.

"Each year, it is a real pleasure to work with this team of passionate perfectionists coordinated by Christophe Lukaszewski on the world’s largest classical music concert," said Joffrey Heyraud, Lawo’s Sales Director for Western Europe. "This year’s edition was particularly exciting as it was the first time that our new A__UHD Core processing engines and HOME resource management system were used for this event. This new technology allowed for a significant footprint reduction, thanks to the compact solution and DSP resource pooling between consoles".

The Concert de Paris takes place before the City of Paris’s traditional fireworks display on France’s National Day and remains one of the largest classical music events in the world. Around 100,000 spectators had the opportunity to attend performances by the Orchestre National de France, the Chœur and Maîtrise de Radio France, as well as internationally renowned opera singers and soloists. The event was followed by 3.26 million viewers on France 2 and many more listeners on the France Inter radio channel. It was broadcast live or recorded in many countries around the world via the Euroradio and Eurovision networks.