All the technical secrets of the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö

The Eurovision Song Contest, which this year celebrates its 58th edition, has once again become a technological showcase in image and sound.

Still far from the unbeatable show that Baku (Azerbaijan) provided last year with the help of the main Central European audiovisual services companies, the Swedish SVT has opted on this occasion at the Malmö Arena for a more restrained scenography in which digital projection has replaced the abuse of LED in the 58th Eurovision Song Contest.

The use of LED has been reserved for the thousands of bracelets worn by those who attended the festival final (the Malmö Arena has capacity for 15,500 spectators). These bracelets, supplied by the Spanish company Parade and its PixMob technology, wirelessly received a control signal that allowed them to be turned on and off by sectors as well as changing color according to the country that was operating, achieving a very striking effect.

Uno de los aspectos que más ha llamado la atención en esta edición ha sido el cuidado grafismo desarrollado por Happy F&B y Forsman&Bodenfors. Estos estudios inundaron el festival con sus mariposas personalizadas en forma y color según cada país participante. El show comenzó, de hecho, con una simpática oruga recorriendo Europa desde Bakú (sede de la anterior edición) hasta Malmö ya convertida en una vistosa mariposa.

As far as scenography is concerned, the main stage was complemented by a circular set in the center, making a total of 207 meters in perimeter. The large background screen occupied an area of 43x8 meters.

To support all the stage equipment, 3.5 km have been necessary. of truss, and 600 anchoring points of a structure that weighed 159.6 tons, at the limit of the 160 that the Malmö Arena roof supports.

More than 40 kilometers of cable for audiovisual signals, and more than fifty for electrical energy, have made this production possible, which required a 6 megawatt generator farm (with a consumption of 3.5 megawatts and 3000L Ecopar per day).

On stage there were 56 fire effects machines, 6 powerful smoke generators and 4 fans (a classic at this festival). Throughout the show, 3,000 pyrotechnic effects, one hundred kilos of artificial snow and one hundred kilos of confetti were used.

Digital projection  

Without a doubt, digital projection has been the main protagonist, filling with light from the mapping on the Moldovan representative's dress to the entire background of the stage "painted" with images from more than 60 projectors Barco and three Encore control systems. A large number of these projectors used correspond to the latest high-brightness series from the Belgian manufacturer.

In total, 28 HDQ-2K40 projectors were used at Eurovision 2013, 13 of which were used for the spectacular rear as the main element of the scenery. The projected content came from Hippo Green servers, through the Barco Encore system along with five video processors and several DVI and 3G SDI matrices.

The patented BarcoLink technology has been responsible for ensuring robust signal distribution between the projectors and the respective image processors, allowing for easier installation and cost savings.

With 28 HDQ-2K40 projectors, Eurovision 2013 was the biggest show with HDQs to date. The festival's lighting designer, Fredrik Jönsson, said: "The HDQ-2K40 projector is by far the brightest projection equipment I have ever seen. I am particularly impressed by its 7 kW Xenon light source."

Malmö-based video designer Mikki Kunttu says, "The idea that light projection can be in an exposure situation is changing. It's usually difficult to get the projected image to appear brighter on stage with all the lighting going, so we used to lower the lights for video. Now it's the other way around. With the HDQ-2K40 we were going 100%."

The technical director of the Eurovision Song Contest, Melzig Ola, along these lines, states that he is satisfied "with now having a projection capable of competing with the ambient light on stage. Something we had been looking for for many years."

For years now, the song's big quote has served as a test bed for Barco's technology. In 2007, for example, its MiTRIX LED screen debuted, while this year it was the turn of the new HDQ-2K40 projector.

Lightning

Fredrik Jönsson, in charge of the lighting design, has deployed a total of 1,283 luminaires, 800 robotics and 14 tracking cannons in the Malmö Arena, among many other elements such as LED light “diamonds” suspended throughout the entire venue…

To program all this equipment, four weeks of virtual programming and another month of live tests were necessary on site using a dozen grandMA II consoles (six of them for back-up) from MA Lighting and more than 24,500 control channels.

Audio

To achieve crystal clear audio both for PA and for reference by the artists and the television broadcast itself, three XL 8 and two Pro9 consoles have been used. Midas.

In total, the venue had 210 speakers (Nexo Geo T and L-Acoustics dV-dosc, controlled through LAB LM 44 and LM 26 processors), while 16 in-ear systems with a hundred Sennheiser 2000 IEM receivers were used to monitor the performers.

In microphones, Eurovision has once again relied on Sennheiser, this time with 48 9000 series wireless handheld and headset microphones. Sennheiser worked closely with Markus Müller (MM Communications), who pre-configured and supplied the wireless systems. For the first time, 9000 Digital systems were used for the two semi-finals on May 14 and 16, as well as for the Grand Final on May 18. Jonas Næsby, RF Specialist at Sennheiser Nordic, was present at the Arena to provide expert support and get the RF equipment up and running.

About twenty sound engineers took care of even the smallest detail in the show.

In implementation, SVT chose to deploy 23 cameras, Sony the vast majority along with several cranes and a spider running around the deck of the Malmö Arena. All signals were under the supervision of two filmmakers.