
The show was operated by Sipho Hleza, resident sound technician for Ndlovu Youth Choir. With the production moving in only a week before the show opened to the public, everyone was working to a tight schedule.
We had many pre-production meetings leading up to the show, and from the get-go we agreed that this would need to be more of a collaborative effort behind the mixer than one would normally expect in the world of theatre. Time was a scarce commodity. Sipho, a former member of the choir, knew the repertoire of this group in his sleep and this was vital to us, says Fried Wilsenach, Splitbeam HOD Audio.
Veteran South African sound engineer Evert de Munnik was also included in the FOH team, having been involved in previous live and studio productions with the choir and with years of mixing experience under his belt.
Operating a show on SD7T was a first for both Sipho and Evert, continues Wilsenach. My role as Head of Audio included system design, programming the show, and facilitating the process in general. I was also the primary contact between the Director, Musical Director and the FOH team.
Splitbeam moved to using DiGiCo SD consoles at the beginning of 2019. As a theatre service provider and rental company based in South Africa, it was important for the team to make the shift when they did, not only extending their offering to international touring companies moving through their local venues, but also raising the bar in local theatre sound production.
In addition to the already impressive versatility and processing power the SD7 offers, the T extension software was added from the start and is now our default approach to sound design for theatre. African Pulse was the second large scale production we did from a supply and creative viewpoint, and it keeps getting better the more we dig beneath the surface, explains Wilsenach.
In terms of setup, all 34 members of the cast were mic'd with DPA 4066 lavalier microphones on Sennheiser radio systems. This was fed into a DiGiCo SD Rack populated with 24bit analogue input and output cards. The PA was patched from two AES output cards to the LMS, while four stereo pairs and one mono stage foldback, as well as all backstage run of show feeds, came from analogue output cards.
A Q-lab multi-track playback system was controlled from FOH, patched to the surface inputs, also sending timecode to the lighting and video departments, routed through the mixer. The entire show was designed around a left, centre, right, fill and LFE loudspeaker setup. All PA feeds were mixed via Groups to Matrix outputs. Here, in my opinion the SD7 really outshines all competitors in its class with a remarkable 32x32full processing matrix router, says Wilsenach.
Wilsenach further notes that using Dynamic EQ processors on output busses in this instance was particularly useful for the team. This really helps to even out inconsistencies in both level and frequency response between individual numbers. Setting up both programming and operation colour-coded Macros is super intuitive and easily accessible. he adds.
Additionally, Channel Sets really was the star of the show for Wilsenach that time. When I started programming the show offline, it took a while for me to determine and commit to the approach that I adopted in the end he says. In this production however, the cast switched singing roles in every song from lead to ensemble to narration etc. which meant that my Control Group Cues for ensemble members changed for every song. The Textension software affords one the ability to create 32 Channel Sets that would then be assigned to a Control Group. The logical layout on the Channel Group Cues page made programming this vital part of the system a breeze.
Another benefit that made the collaboration behind the console much easier was its four fader-banks and multiple layers, which helped to get the show's audio up to speed in a relatively short time.
We established a workflow as the rehearsals progressed, with Evert on the left bank tweaking individual channels, Sipho on the centre looking after cues and mixing the show on Control Groups with myself on the right bank tweaking Buss-processing and Matrix outputs. Odd as it may be, it certainly worked! exclaims Wilsenach.
With the live entertainment industry being one of hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting lockdown regulations, to be working in a theatre after more than a year of restrictions that prohibited us from practicing our trade felt good, notes Wilsenach.
With standing ovations from the audience and tangible excitement from the artists and crew alike, African Pulse - Celebrating the Ndlovu Youth Choir was an all-around success.
We all had a sense of real purpose again, concludes Wilsenach. This was going a to be a success no matter what. There was a real cohesion in the room and the creative process felt fully aligned. Getting started took a little longer and muscle memory was often missing, but it all came back before the opening night. It was a big job to pull off, but we did it thanks to the spirit of collaboration of everyone involved and in no small part thanks to our great technical equipment.
Following the success of the show in South Africa, the African Pulse - Celebrating the Ndlovu Youth Choir show is now set up to tour internationally and hopes to create further opportunities for the choir and for technicians in the future.
Press Contacts:
Maria Fiorellino at DiGiCo
Tel: +44 1372 845600
Email: maria@digiconsoles.com
Web: www.digico.biz
Sarah James at Gasoline Media
Tel: +44 1483 223333
Email: sarahj@gasolinemedia.com
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
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...
18/06/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...
18/06/2026
PTZOptics has unveiled new Visual Reasoning demonstrations at InfoComm 2026 (Boo...
18/06/2026
IBC2026 will take place at the RAI Amsterdam from September 11-14, bringing toge...
18/06/2026
InfoComm 2026 held its first-ever Media Day on June 17, providing journalists an...
18/06/2026
FOR-A America has announced a Trade Agreements Act (TAA)-compliant LED display solution combining Alfalite's Litepix LED displays and Brompton Technology...
18/06/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level have one major thing in common: the intensity and attention to detail ramps up dur...
18/06/2026
The International Federation of American Football (IFAF) and TMRW Sports have an...
18/06/2026
AJA Video Systems has unveiled Io Xpand, a Thunderbolt 5-enabled PCIe expansion ...
18/06/2026
ESPN has announced its coverage plans for the 30th anniversary of the WNBA's...
18/06/2026
FOX Sports' Big Noon Kickoff will broadcast live from Wembley Stadium in Lon...
18/06/2026
InfoComm 2026 opened on Wednesday at the Las Vegas Convention Center, bringing t...
18/06/2026
As media companies look to deliver more live, VOD, and snackable sports content ...
18/06/2026
Top L-R: Take Me Home, The Lake
Bottom L-R: TheyDream, Union County
Free Summer Screening Series Announced
Screenings for the Local Utah Community at...
18/06/2026
Improvements & new IR content
iamReverb Audio have just launched a free update that kits their convolution reverb plug-in out with some new features and int...
18/06/2026
Modelling suite gains improved captures, iOS support & more
Two notes Audio Engineering have just announced the launch of Genome 2.0, a significant update t...
18/06/2026
New AI assistance feature, video overhaul & more
VSL have just announced the launch of Vienna Ensemble Pro 8.1 and 8.1V, a pair of major updates to their ev...
18/06/2026
The average daily TV screen time in May was 3 hours and 36 minutes, marking a clear decrease of 15 minutes compared to April. This trend proved to be much stron...
18/06/2026
Integration embeds Gracenote content intelligence, including contextual segments...
18/06/2026
AJA Video Systems unveiled Io Xpand, a high-performance Thunderbolt 5-enabled PCIe expansion chassis for AJA KONA and Corvid video and audio I/O cards. As dema...
18/06/2026
New NVRT-driven workflow enables on-demand traffic mirroring and guided troubleshooting for AV teams, integrators, and support organizations ahead of InfoComm 2...
18/06/2026
At InfoComm 2026, Mavis announced a major update to Mavis Studio, its live production app for the iPad, with new features designed to make professional AV produ...
18/06/2026
Transaction Positions Harmonic as a Pure-Play Broadband Company
Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ: HLIT), the worldwide leader in virtualized broadband solutions, today a...
18/06/2026
ACT Entertainment and NETGEAR have announced a strategic partnership that establishes verified interoperability between NETGEAR Switches and key technologies fr...
18/06/2026
IBC2026 is set to bring the global media, entertainment and technology community together at the RAI Amsterdam from 11 14 September, enabling industry players f...
18/06/2026
Pliant Technologies is proud to introduce CrewCom Flex , the world's first frameless matrix intercom system and the only complete matrix IP-based intercom s...
18/06/2026
The XR Sports Alliance (XRSA) has announced that a new cohort of members has joined the strategic initiative: ActionStreamer, Antigravity, Creative Artists Agen...
18/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
18/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
18/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
18/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
18/06/2026
Linda May Han Oh Receives Guggenheim Fellowship The Berklee professor, bassist, and composer will use the fellowship to debut Dreams of Knowing, an interdisci...
18/06/2026
Techtel delivers Haivision live streaming system for TAFE NSW St Leonards, enabl...
18/06/2026
New study reveals 10 hidden data drainers costing Brits hundreds abroad - and the holiday hotspots where you could get rinsed the mostThursday 18 June 2026
The...
18/06/2026
Thursday 18 June 2026
How to watch the 2026/27 Scottish Premiership season on Sky Sports
Which matches are Sky Sports showing on the 2026/27 Scottish Premiers...
18/06/2026
Thursday 18 June 2026
Sky Sale: Latest deals now on, with discounts on iPhone Air & 2.5Gbps speeds
The latest deals have dropped from Sky Mobile, the award-wi...
18/06/2026
FOX Advertising and Toonstar Team to Create New Opportunities for Brands in Digi...
18/06/2026
Arqiva's Crawley Court and Chalfont Grove teleports re-certified at highest World Teleport Association standard
18 June 2026, Winchester, UK - Arqiva, the ...
18/06/2026
Apple today announced changes impacting iOS apps in Brazil that reflect a recent agreement with Brazil's competition regulator, the Conselho Administrativo ...
18/06/2026
Play favorite titles from popular game libraries, keep progress synced and jump ...
18/06/2026
The digital era gave the advertising and marketing industry speed; the AI era is giving it autonomous operations.
For companies building next-generation techn...
17/06/2026
EVS has announced it has received the EcoVadis Gold Medal for sustainability performance, ranking among the top 5% of companies globally in the Technology/Mid-S...
17/06/2026
Chyron has released Weather 2.4, an update to its weather suite for broadcasters and meteorologists. The release focuses on enhancements to the DataFlow module,...
17/06/2026
VSiN, The Sports Betting Network, has announced the launch of Best Bets TV, a free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channel. The 24/7 channel is currently avail...
17/06/2026
DAZN's Team Whistle and Snap Inc. have announced a creator program centered ...
17/06/2026
LiveU is providing video transmission technology for broadcasters, production companies, and public safety agencies across North America's busy Summer of So...
17/06/2026
The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) has announced that Laurens Grant and Jacob Ullman have joined its Board of Directors. Chief of Staf...