Coldplay releases new album with live performances via streaming with mixing from Lawo's mc²56 console

The Citadel of Amman (Jordan) and the Natural History Museum in London have hosted the presentation of Coldplay's new album, which will not have a presentation tour due to its environmental commitment.

Last Friday, November 22, Coldplay He performed two of the songs in the Citadel of Amman (Jordan), Sunrise y Sunset, which marked a milestone in the band's history, which were broadcast live on YouTube to allow the world to celebrate the release of the band's new album, Everyday Life.

Following Coldplay's bold decision not to tour to coincide with the release of Everyday Life For environmental reasons, the band presented a spectacular alternative to achieve maximum impact. “We wanted to choose a place in the middle of the world where we normally don't play,” the vocalist told the BBC. Chris Martin.

A few days before the Amman performances, Coldplay announced another live performance they held earlier this week at the London Natural History Museum. Select songs from this performance are available on radio and social media, and proceeds will be donated to an environmental charity.

As always, what seemed easy at show time was the result of intense preparations involving the best people in the industry.

Tony Smith, Coldplay's audio designer in charge of FOH technology, contacted Toby Alington, broadcast sound engineer, to find a solution for Amman's broadcast mix. In turn, Toby approached Dirk Sykora to discuss a console-based solution Theirs through SR Films. Toby mixed the two sets live in Amman with the help of Coldplay's Rik Simpson (producer, sound engineer) and Dan Green (FOH engineer).

Both the band and the technical team had arrived in Amman a week before 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 machines and mixed live on the console for stereo broadcast.

The band rehearsed the new material in a theater in central Amman to allow the technical team to connect all the technical dots, program the console and adjust countless parameters to perfection. After rehearsals and live recordings in the theater, the team moved to the concert venue.

A magical project

"It certainly wasn't a filmed event to be played back. We really needed those 192 audio channels, and we also installed a series of ambient microphones around the Citadel to capture the live 'atmosphere' of Amman at sunrise and sunset. The whole project was magical, everything fell perfectly into place," says Toby Alington.

Lawo's Dirk Sykora agrees: “The Coldplay concerts in Amman are one of the best moments of my professional career.”

After two magnificent shows whose impact was felt on a global scale, the band and their team flew to London for the live concert 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 a mobile unit. Floating Earth, once again with a Lawo mc²56 console based on the settings that Dirk Sykora had prepared and saved in Amman and which were subsequently transferred to the console on the mobile unit.

Rik Simpson, producer and sound engineer for Coldplay, and Toby Alington, live audio mixing engineer in both Amman and London, were very satisfied with the equipment supplied by Dutch company SR Films and the impeccable sound quality of Lawo's mc²56 console. Toby Alington has stated that "this console works the way my brain works. And it sounds great."

With advances in IP-based remote production, streaming and cutting-edge workflows, Lawo has helped the band reduce their carbon footprint.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wysCoAm2Yo