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 ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
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...
22/07/2026
Among other tweaks to coverage, the broadcaster added announce positions in the ...
22/07/2026
The Australian Sports Technologies Network (ASTN) has reported a sharp acceleration in Australia's sportstech sector, with revenue growth rising from 10% in...
22/07/2026
From a retrofitted broadcast bus to packed Match Day Live! events, Bennett detai...
22/07/2026
TMRW Sports has named Brendan Donohue as President, Flag Football, where he will lead the company's professional flag football business in partnership with ...
22/07/2026
Stephen Arnold Music (SAM) designed and produced soundtracks for nine projection...
22/07/2026
Harmonic has announced a $25,000 donation to Global Empowerment Mission (GEM) fo...
22/07/2026
Telemundo has announced it has acquired from UC3 exclusive U.S. Spanish-language...
22/07/2026
The Rest Is Football, hosted by Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer, and Micah Richards, ...
22/07/2026
Sports Studio has announced a partnership with TheSoul Group to distribute Free ...
22/07/2026
Daktronics has concluded its 2026 High School Video Summit, a two-day hybrid event combining virtual sessions with hands-on host school visits across the countr...
22/07/2026
FOR-A America will exhibit at the MMCA Show in Pensacola, Florida (July 21-24), marking the company's first appearance at the house of worship AV event. FOR...
22/07/2026
The New York Yankees have selected Lumen Technologies (NYSE: LUMN) to connect Ya...
22/07/2026
Calrec will exhibit at IBC 2026 (Stand 8.C47) with demonstrations of its IP-native audio ecosystem built around the Argo console range, and will announce two ne...
22/07/2026
Solid State Logic has announced the appointment of Algam EKO as its distributor for SSL large format consoles in Italy, covering the Live, Broadcast, and Studio...
22/07/2026
FloSports has announced the launch of the FloSports Channel, a free ad-supported streaming channel premiering on Prime Video in the U.S. on July 21. The channel...
22/07/2026
Banana Ball TV (BTV), the broadcast operation of the Savannah Bananas, has insta...
22/07/2026
SiriusXM and Audacy have announced an agreement bringing 42 Audacy sports, news, and talk stations from 29 U.S. markets to SiriusXM. Twenty-three Audacy sports ...
22/07/2026
The collaboration produced more than 500 short-form videos across four cities th...
22/07/2026
At 2,600 sq. ft., the new home of digital content houses a main studio, podcast space, and an auxiliary control room
NFL franchises are accelerating their prod...
22/07/2026
Library now available in Engine Player
Another of Eduardo Tarilonte's popular sample libraries has just been moved over to Engine Audio's Engine Pla...
22/07/2026
All-in-one mic & DSP interface overhauled
Cloudvocal have just refreshed the design of their all-in-one mic, audio interface and DSP processor, introducing ...
22/07/2026
The final boss of the lost dual-op-amp circuit
Electro-Harmonix have just introduced the Deluxe Big Muff Pi 2, which they say offers their latest take on t...
22/07/2026
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......
22/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/07/2026
Proven managed IP solution helps broadcasters confidently navigate the future of broadcast distribution
LTN announces it has completed successful satellite-to-...
22/07/2026
Today, Chaos announced V-Ray 7, update 4, eliminating the need for asset conversions and tool switching, which slow down media and entertainment pipelines. Arti...
22/07/2026
An AI playground for the Project Indigo camera app
Marc Levoy July 22, 2026
0 Comments
At left is the user interface of our Playground, running on an ...
22/07/2026
Custom Consoles announces the completion of a large technical furniture project for Radio T l vision Suisse (RTS) at the networks recently inaugurated productio...
22/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/07/2026
Culver City, CA, July 21, 2026 3D streaming infrastructure provider Miris today announced glTF intake, including the binary .glb form, to its spatial streamin...
22/07/2026
Documentary Lo Invisible Captured with Blackmagic PYXIS 6K
Brie Clayton July 21, 2026
0 Comments
Camera's versatile design allowed filmmakers to c...
22/07/2026
AAF Bridge converts AAF and XML Timelines to Ableton Live - and back
Jerome Gardier July 21, 2026
0 Comments
A two-way converter for macOS and Windows...
22/07/2026
From Class to Concert: Explore a Student-Led Production of David Bowies Work Thr...
22/07/2026
A poisoned spy, a secret war, and a small English city contaminated by a deadly chemical weapon. Available on Sky Documentaries from 4 AugustWednesday 22 July 2...
22/07/2026
Audio at Parity: Comscore Launches Transcript-Level Targeting and Measurement wi...
22/07/2026
Arvato Systems and Lobster Enter into a Partnership and Combine the Integration Platform and Managed Services
Flexible integration solutions for cloud, hybrid...
22/07/2026
RT REPORTS NET SURPLUS OF 22.5 MILLION IN 2025...
22/07/2026
In the Opinion of the Censor airs Monday 27 July at 9.35pm on RT One and RT Player
In the Opinion of the Censor looks at how films for theatrical release wer...
22/07/2026
Before a healthcare robot can be useful in the real world, it has to learn how the physical world pushes back. Anatomy varies. Instruments bend, press, slip and...
21/07/2026
New research involving a cross-section of Mongolias independent media landscape finds enthusiasm for AI as a tool to improve efficiency, sustainability and resi...
21/07/2026
With winners Spain having already paraded the World Cup trophy through Madrid in front of millions of fans and the dust now settling on an epic tournament of th...
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.
