Sting Debuts New Material with Studer Vista 5 SR

Sting recently performed two intimate concerts at the Durham Cathedral in northeast England, marking the first time he has played selections from his upcoming album, If On a Winter's Night... Sting recorded the performances live for DVD release; Audio-Rent Clair provided the sound system for the event, which included a Studer Vista 5 SR digital console for front-of-house mixing.

Completed in 1133 AD, the historic Durham Cathedral is known as one of the finest examples of Norman architecture in the world and is a major tourist attraction within the northeast England region. Each year, more than 600,000 people visit the cathedral, which is also well known for its appearances in some of the Harry Potter films.

The performances featured an unconventional setup of Sting with a 16-piece string section, multiple percussionists, a brass section, and backing vocals, as well as a large selection of traditional English instruments such as the Welsh harp, lutes, and Northumbrian pipes. Rehearsals took place over a two-week period in the chapter house adjacent to the main cathedral.

Howard Page, Clair's senior director of engineering, mixed the performances, utilizing the Vista 5 SR to overcome the challenges of a 62-input orchestra in a cathedral setting. "The transparency of the Studer Vista 5 SR was certainly a great help to achieve a breathtaking experience for the invited guests," Page said.

The compact Studer Vista 5 SR digital mixing console is a road-ready version of Studer's famous Vista 5 console and features Vistonics-based technology. The Vista 5 SR comes with preset configurations for front-of-house and monitor use. A stand-alone "config editor" tool allows the channel/bus structure to be customized, all of which can be saved for each particular show setup and instantly recalled from memory or a USB stick at a later date. The expandable I/O system allows the entire range of available Studer D21m Series I/O cards (including CobraNet and Aviom A-Net) to be added to the system. The MADI standard is used as optical snake link from stagebox to front-of-house rack, with the possibility to add a redundant snake for increased security. The Vista 5 SR also comes with numerous facilities to aid production, including Studer's proprietary VSP panning system, which can be used to great effect to control panning without level shifts, the company says.