In Broadcast - December 2019 - 52

52

www.inbroadcast.com | Vol: 9 - Issue 11 | December 2019

InStudio

Coldplay's 'Everyday Life'
Live Debut in Amman

In a bold move Coldplay debuted new album Everyday Life with global
live-streamed performances and announced that, in a bid to reduce
its carbon footprint, the band was not going on tour...

C

oldplay performed two epochmaking 'Sunrise' and 'Sunset' sets
at Amman's Citadel, Jordan, both of
which were mixed on Lawo consoles
and streamed live on YouTube to allow
the world to celebrate the release of
the band's new album, Everyday Life.
Following Coldplay's decision not to
tour Everyday Life for environmental
reasons, the band came up with a
spectacular alternative for achieving
maximum impact: "We wanted to pick
somewhere in the middle of the world
where we normally don't get to play,"
Chris Martin, Coldplay's singer, told the
BBC.
A few days before the history-making
Amman performances, Coldplay's
management announced the addition
of a one-off live show on November
25th at London's Natural History
Museum. Selected songs of this
performance will be available on radio
and social media, and the proceeds
will be donated to an environmental
charity.
Amman Broadcast Sound Mix
As always, what looked easy at
show time was the result of intense
preparations involving the best people
in the industry.

Lawo mc²56 console
in Amman

Final prep at the Amman Citadel stage

(Producer, Sound Engineer) and Dan
Green (FOH engineer).
Both the band and the technical
crew had arrived in Amman one
week prior to the Sunrise and
Sunset performances. According to
Dirk Sykora, who configured and
programmed the Lawo mc²56 mixing
console used for the streaming events,
a total of 192 inputs were recorded
on three separate DAW machines and
mixed live on the console for stereo
broadcast.
The band rehearsed
the new material at a
theatre in downtown

Amman to allow the technical crew to
connect all the technical dots, program
the console and tweak countless
parameters to perfection.
After the rehearsals and live
recordings at the theatre, the gear
was carried uphill and set up in tents
close to the location where the band
performed its Sunrise and Sunset
concerts.
Live Performance
Despite assumptions to the contrary,
Coldplay's two Amman performances
were "proper" live gigs that were
also filmed and streamed, says Toby
Lawo mc²56 console
in London

Live show at London's Natural
History Museum

Tony Smith (Coldplay's Audio Designer,
FOH Tech and Crew Chief) liaised
with Toby Alington, broadcast sound
engineer extraordinaire, to find a
solution for the Amman broadcast mix.
Toby in turn approached Dirk Sykora
to discuss a Lawo console solution for
Jordan through SR Films. Toby mixed
the two sets live in Amman with the
help of Coldplay's trusted Rik Simpson

Alington: "It certainly wasn't an
event filmed to playback. We really
needed those 192 audio channels,
and additionally rigged an array of
ambience mics around the Citadel
to capture Amman's live 'atmos' at
dawn and dusk. The whole project
was magic - everything fell snugly into
place." Dirk Sykora of Lawo concurs:
"Coldplay's Sunrise and Sunset gigs
at Amman's Citadel are among the
absolute highlights of my professional
career."
After two superb shows whose impact
was felt on a global scale, the band
and its crew flew to London for the
live gig at the Natural History Museum.
With FOH mixed by Dan Green, the
performance was also recorded
and mixed by Toby Alington and Rik
Simpson using the Floating Earth
OB truck - again with a Lawo mc²56
console based on the settings Dirk
Sykora had prepared and saved in
Amman and later transferred to the
console in the OB truck.
Rik Simpson, Coldplay's producer and
sound engineer, and Toby Alington,
the live audio mixing engineer in both
Amman and London, were extremely
satisfied with the equipment supplied
by the Dutch company SR Films and
the pristine sound quality of Lawo's
mc²56 console. Toby Alington: "This
console works the way my brains
works. And it sounds superb."
Environmental Strategy
The WWF welcomed Coldplay's
initiative to postpone touring until a
more environment-conscious strategy
has been found. With the advances
of IP-based remote production,
streaming and cutting-edge workflows,
Lawo is more than willing to help the
band shrink its carbon footprint while
firmly remaining in the limelight.
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