(13/02/2015) Rhapsody in Rock is an annual series of live shows which combines classical and rock music, performed by a symphony orchestra alongside its founder - Swedish pianist Robert Wells - a contemporary band and vocalists. In March the production heads out on the second leg of its 25th anniversary tour, where three Yamaha CL5 digital mixing consoles will again provide their own Rock solid performance.
A former child prodigy, the classically-trained Wells founded Rhapsody in Rock in 1989. Performing everything from Liszt to AC/DC. It has played to nearly two million people in the USA, Russia, China, the UK, Scandinavia and Germany.
The 25th anniversary tour is playing multiple dates throughout Scandinavia and features a fully redundant Dante network with three Yamaha CL5 consoles, one providing the main front of house mix, manned by Thomas Malbeck, one submixing the orchestra (Mattias Nilsson) and the third on monitors (Bj rn Vilhjalmsson).
With four Rio3224-D units feeding the 128 channel setup, eight stereo mixes are routed from the orchestral submixer to the FOH and monitor consoles via Dante.
The orchestra is all close miked, with the rock musicians using a standard setup of drum and backline microphones, DI'd bass and Wells either using a miked grand piano or a Yamaha electric piano, plus two synths. Vocals are handled by six microphones, plus talkback mics for Wells and the orchestra's conductor. In addition, four backing tracks add a choir to one song, via Dante Virtual Soundcard.
Audio equipment is supplied by Bor s-based Musiklagret, a long-time user of Yamaha digital consoles. When the CL5 was launched, the company bought a pair, with accompanying Rio3224-Ds.
We were keen to use CL5s on the tour but, when it became obvious we needed three consoles, all the others we could have used from Musiklagret were busy, says Bj rn. They looked at buying other brands, but realised it would have been more expensive and much more work getting the system together - besides the fact that both they and we were all happy with the CL5s.
Musiklagret wisely chose to invest in another CL5 and further Rio3224-Ds, which meant what could have been a complex system for the Rhapsody in Rock tour was surprisingly straightforward to put together.
Part of the reason for choosing the CL5 system was the many advantages of having all channels and routing in same network, says Bj rn. With touring such a big setup, it is important to minimise setup times for consoles and racks, because there is lot of other work to do. The CL5s are nice desks in every way and made for a very fast setup.
Part of the set up is an array of Nexo PS10 and PS8 monitors, with only the additional vocalists using in-ear monitors.
The musicians are used to using wedges at moderate volumes, so the leakage is not a problem. I have mixed a lot of monitor gigs with fewer people that are so much harder to do, both getting enough volume from the wedges and problems with leakage. The Nexo monitors definitely help in that regard, says Bj rn.
At front of house, the biggest challenge of mixing a show this size is to get a tight overall sound, so the audience can hear the different instruments, he continues. Thomas has been Rhapsody in Rock's FOH engineer for many years and he knows every trick in the book - from miking, setting up and trimming the PA to mixing the show. He emphasises the timbre from each instrument which is most relevant to the ear, diminishing with EQ what will become lost in the mix anyway and tightly controlling the low end.
All audio processing for the show is done with the CL5's onboard facilities, including the input channel dynamics, EQs, reverbs and multiband compressors.
We all really like the desk, it is remarkably good for its price, says Bj rn. Thomas likes the size, it's compact but easy to work on and has so many features - it's a very powerful package. And he uses the dimmable mutes all the time, which no other console has. Mattias loves the Premium Rack and Yamaha's standard way of thinking - if you know the M7CL or LS9, you will know the CL.
For me, I love the CL5's compactness, its layout and patching. The Dante network saves lot of work patching every gig and it saves all the AD/DA conversions - even the Nexo monitor amps are connected via Dante, so one DA/AD is saved for the Nexo digital controllers.
In addition, we all love the StageMix app. It's so useful for monitors because it's a big stage and the set makes it hard to see everyone from monitor world. StageMix allows me to be on stage at soundchecks, listening to the monitors where they are and having much closer contact with the musicians. Even Robert loves it, because he doesn't have to shout to me - I'm right there.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
13/05/2026
New Adobe Premiere Color Grading Mode Accelerated on NVIDIA GPUs
Joel Pennington May 13, 2026
0 Comments
New NVIDIA RTX-accelerated features streamlin...
13/05/2026
Grass Valley announced that dB Broadcast has delivered new IP-based outside broadcast (OB) trucks for Cloudbass, featuring Grass Valley LDX 100 Series cameras a...
13/05/2026
Ikegami will exhibit the latest additions to its wide range of broadcast production cameras, control units, viewfinders and monitors on stand 5D3-1 at Broadcast...
13/05/2026
FISE, working with the founding members of the XR Sports Alliance (XRSA), Accedo, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and HBS, have collaborated to develop an immersive...
13/05/2026
Canon Unveils New EOS R6 V Full-Frame EOS Camera and RF20-50mm F4 L IS USM PZ Bu...
13/05/2026
Boston Conservatory at Berklee Honors Beth Morrison and Moses Pendleton at Comme...
13/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/05/2026
Creative software developer Foundry today announced the latest developments on Nuke Stage. A purpose-built application for end-to-end virtual production and in-...
13/05/2026
A definitive portrait of one of Ireland's most influential musicians
New TV documentary airs Monday 18 May on RT One and RT Player at 9.35pm
Watch the...
13/05/2026
Agentic AI is changing the way users get work done. Following the success of OpenClaw, the community is embracing new open source agentic frameworks. The latest...
13/05/2026
Reinforcement-learning agents - AI systems that learn by trial and error - can c...
12/05/2026
Beyond the Hype: A Strategic Post-Hoc Analysis of NAB 2026 If NAB Show 2026 had an underlying theme, it was a quiet, industry-wide pivot from the high-energy sp...
12/05/2026
Guntermann and Drunck (G&D), a Panoptec Technologies Group company, and CT Square, led by Chandresh Shah, have announced a joint venture to distribute G&D and V...
12/05/2026
With 30 days until the start of the FIFA World Cup 2026, Telemundo, the exclusive Spanish-language home of the tournament in the United States, has announced th...
12/05/2026
The NHL has announced the return of Stanley Pup for its third consecutive year, a 90-minute special featuring adoptable rescue dogs competing on a miniature rin...
12/05/2026
NBCUniversal presented its 2026 Upfront to advertisers at Radio City Music Hall, detailing upcoming programming across NBC, Peacock, Bravo, and Versant properti...
12/05/2026
FOX Sports has announced funding for the Fandom and Social Connection Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School's Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Publ...
12/05/2026
TNDV and Live Media, both divisions of Live Media Group, supported live broadcast coverage around NCAA Final Four weekend in Indianapolis, including the March M...
12/05/2026
The European Football Alliance (EFA) has announced a content distribution agreement with Fubo Sports Network, the free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channel ...
12/05/2026
For the first time, Spanish-speaking fans in the U.S. will have two separate tel...
12/05/2026
CP Communications led a comprehensive spectrum management initiative on behalf of Churchill Downs during Kentucky Derby week, coordinating RF assets across the ...
12/05/2026
LiveU has announced a strategic partnership with DRONERESPONDERS, a 501(c)3 non-...
12/05/2026
Open Broadcast Systems has announced that BMC TV, a specialist in IP transport of broadcast content, has selected the Open Broadcast Systems 5G Flyaway solution...
12/05/2026
NEP Europe, part of NEP Group, has announced it will deliver broadcast solutions...
12/05/2026
Grass Valley has announced continued collaboration with Ravensbourne University ...
12/05/2026
Stats Perform has announced the launch of Opta Pulse, an AI-assisted video creation and distribution platform for leagues, rights holders, and broadcasters. The...
12/05/2026
FOX Sports has announced a collaboration with Sesame Workshop to integrate Sesame Street characters into FOX Sports' FIFA World Cup 2026 programming. Conten...
12/05/2026
To date, NHL Productions has produced 19 broadcasts with commentary in American Sign Language
NHL in ASL (American Sign Language) may be just one show, but the...
12/05/2026
Google's Brian Albert: creators, athletes, highlights, nostalgia, second-scr...
12/05/2026
A still from Past Lives by Celine Song, an official selection of the Premieres program at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. (Courtesy of Sundance Institute | p...
12/05/2026
Spotify is where fans and artists come together, turning discovery into somethin...
12/05/2026
Features patented Marco-MMC clocking technology
Black Lion Audio's latest release combines the company's expertise in clocking with their renowned p...
12/05/2026
New Track Panel, sequencer upgrades & more
Following their recent public beta release, Reason Studios have announced the full release of Reason 14. With the...
12/05/2026
One month to go! SBS reveals expansive FIFA World Cup 2026 lineup beyond the pi...
12/05/2026
Rohde & Schwarz presents its advanced solutions for power electronics testing at...
12/05/2026
aconnic AG (ISIN: DE000A0LBKW6), Munich, has developed a modified fund raising p...
12/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/05/2026
Tyrell Corporation, specialists in high-end live sports and entertainment broadcasts, was tasked with delivering compelling broadcast coverage of premier equest...
12/05/2026
Registration is now open for IBC2026 as the global media, entertainment and technology community prepares to converge on the RAI Amsterdam from 11 14 September ...
12/05/2026
Ross Video, a global leader in live video production technology, will present its latest innovations and integrated production workflows at BroadcastAsia 2026, ...
12/05/2026
500 selected leaders from around the world across start-ups, corporates, and venture capital. Over 50bn in assets under management among attending investors, a...
(13/02/2015) Rhapsody in Rock is an annual series of live shows which combines classical and rock music, performed by a symphony orchestra alongside its founder - Swedish pianist Robert Wells - a contemporary band and vocalists. In March the production heads out on the second leg of its 25th anniversary tour, where three Yamaha CL5 digital mixing consoles will again provide their own Rock solid performance.
