Scott Willsallen, director of Auditoria Pty Ltd (Australia), was Audio Director and Designer for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympic and Paralympic games at Sochi's 40,000-seat Fisht Olympic Stadium, at which DiGiCo consoles played a major part.
Scott was engaged initially by the Ceremonies Staging Agency for the first stage of planning work, then CSA engaged Five Currents to deliver the Olympic Ceremonies and World Wide Shows to deliver the Paralympics, who engaged him for the delivery stage.
The bid for tenders to provide the ceremonies' audio equipment and a 34-member team of specialists who installed and managed the impressive set-up (with nine containers of equipment) was won by Agor of L'Aquila (Italy), who is no newcomer to Olympic events, having supplied equipment, logistic support and technical staff for Turin's 2006 Olympic and Paralympic Games' opening and closing ceremonies.
Scott explains, The console network at Sochi was quite similar to London 2012. FOH, monitors and main broadcast each had a pair of mirrored SD7 consoles, one of which was connected to the Optocore network via MADI, the other to DiGiCo SD Racks, also via MADI. Using MADI as the connectivity for all consoles makes mirroring the SD7s really easy and ensures 100% fail-safety not only on the mixing systems, but also the signal transport networks.
The FOH consoles (helmed by Richard Sharratt) were on Level 5, at the northern end of the show control rooms. The monitor consoles (manned by Umberto Polidori of Agor ) were located adjacent to the patch room, on level 3 back of house, and the broadcast facility (in the capable hands of Andy Rose) was located next door to the Olympic Broadcast Service (OBS) OB trucks in their compound. Griff Hewis on the other hand manned a pair of mirrored SD11 consoles (also connected to the network) and looked after the atmos sub-mix; the 5.1 audio was mixed with stereo crowd mixes to obtain the sonic environment of the venue. Justin Arthur (Auditoria) configured the consoles' audio and data networking whilst Agor 's Senior System Engineer at both ceremonies was industry veteran Daniele Tramontani. Audio Consultant Bobby Aitken worked with Scott to EQ the Olympics' system along with Richard Sharratt who was EQing stems received from the music department.
In addition to the main consoles, seven SD11 surfaces consoles were also deployed and used as a monitoring interface for the replay team, patch engineer and RF engineer.
There are always challenges to overcome in order to accomplish such a large event so smoothly, Scott reports, One big issue faced was the transportation of the broadcast audio facility, which was unable to be freighted directly from Rome to Sochi, so we had a very brief period to dismantle the truck, pack the equipment for air freight and build the facility into portable cabins, which were acoustically treated on-site while the equipment was being pushed through customs. This was accomplished in just three days - a great job by all concerned! .
As well as London 2012, Scott had in fact already spec'd DiGiCo consoles on other large projects in the past, such as Doha 2011 Arab Games Ceremonies, 2011 and 2003 Rugby World Cup Ceremonies and the Athens 2011 Special Olympic Games Ceremonies, and has no doubts regarding the reasons he found them particular suited to use on such events, highlighting, Their integration of MADI and Optocore, as well as their reliability, wide availability, wide industry acceptance and the unparalleled support offered by DiGiCo UK.
Agor , founded in 1990 by brothers Wolfango and Vittorio DeAmicis, has worked with DiGiCo from the manufacturer's outset. The rental firm's first D5 was actually delivered directly to one of the annual Pavarotti and Friends charity shows in the late tenor's home town and immediately put to work with a star-studded cast.
Agor has the country's largest stock of DiGiCo consoles, including six D5, a D1, four SD11, two SD10, an SD9, four SD8 and nine SD7, deployed on tours by top Italian artists and increasingly frequently on high profile international events.
Press Contacts:
David Webster at DiGiCo
Tel: +44 1372 845600
Email:webby@digiconsoles.com
Web: www.digico.org
Sarah James at Gasoline Media
Tel: +44 1372 471472
Email: info@gasolinemedia.com
Web: www.gasolinemedia.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/sarah_gasoline
IMAGE 1:SD7s FOH By Day
IMAGE 2:Richard Sharratt @ FOH
IMAGE 3: Andy Rose Broadcast
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...
12/06/2026
YES Network and The Gotham Sports App will air seven Athletes Unlimited Softball...
12/06/2026
The United Football League will host its FAST Innovation Suite at the 2026 United Bowl presented by Credit One Bank on Saturday, June 13 at 3:00 p.m. ET at Audi...
12/06/2026
PTZOptics and LayerJot will present live demonstrations at InfoComm 2026 showing how natural-language AI prompting, robotic camera control, and on-device comput...
12/06/2026
MultiDyne Video and Fiber Optic Systems will exhibit at InfoComm 2026, featuring...
12/06/2026
Ateme has announced that Eurovision Services is using Ateme's software-based frame-rate conversion technology for international live event workflows. The de...
12/06/2026
Bitmovin and Simplestream have announced a partnership with Xperi to simplify the launch of OTT streaming services on TiVo OS smart TVs and devices. The collabo...
12/06/2026
Net Insight has announced that a multinational technology company is deploying a...
12/06/2026
MLB Players Inc., the business arm of the MLB Players Association, has announced a partnership with Athletes First to develop and sell brand partnerships across...
12/06/2026
Guntermann and Drunck (G&D) and VuWall have announced the CommandKeyboard-Advanc...
12/06/2026
Comcast Smart Solutions announces a new smart technology deployment with Major L...
12/06/2026
Elevation Worship completed the initial leg of its Elevation Nights 2026 tour ...
12/06/2026
AJA Video Systems has announced KONA IP25 support for Colorfront Transkoder and ...
12/06/2026
Audinate Group Limited (ASX: AD8) will exhibit at InfoComm 2026 (Booth C7321, Ce...
12/06/2026
Pac-12 Commissioner Teresa Gould has announced the appointment of Scott Adametz as Chief Technology Officer. The Pac-12 describes the hire as the first CTO appo...
12/06/2026
Grass Valley has announced AMPP Edge Live, a production system combining Grass Valley hardware, NVIDIA Blackwell GPU acceleration, and AMPP OS in a single platf...
12/06/2026
At one time a trailblazer with the launch of the Longhorn Network, the Universit...
12/06/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...
12/06/2026
Chyron has announced PAINT 10.4, an update to its illustrated replay and sports ...
12/06/2026
SVP, Production Mark Gross: With the new schedule, with not having every Sunday night, it's given us an opportunity to take a step back and reimagine what ...
12/06/2026
For Televisa Technical Engineering Manager Roberto N nez Ibarra and the small team of 12 technicians and two production personnel at the IBC things are already ...
12/06/2026
Simple Steps to Better Acoustics - Taming The Small Room
Most of us mix in spare rooms and small spaces, where the acoustics fight us at every turn. At Gear...
12/06/2026
Latest addition expands vintage-inspired effects palette
Meris' Ottobit pedal range draws its inspiration from vintage gaming consoles, and the latest a...
12/06/2026
Soundbox-based chamber strings series expanded
Sonora Cinematic have just announced the launch of the second instalment in their Soundbox-based chamber stri...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
AJA Announces KONA IP25 Integration with Colorfront Software
Brie Clayton June 12, 2026
0 Comments
Collaboration enables uncompressed SMPTE ST 2110 I/O ...
12/06/2026
URSA Cine 12K LF Used to Create Visuals for STUTS' K-Arena Concert
Brie Clayton June 12, 2026
0 Comments
Organic visuals projected on a giant scre...
12/06/2026
MTI FILM Acquires Mango New Edit, Expanding its Global Post-Production Services ...
12/06/2026
AI Point Tracking Speeds Up Complex VFX Tracks in Mocha Pro
Jessie Electa Petrov June 12, 2026
0 Comments
The 2026.5 release adds automatic point trac...
12/06/2026
Bitmovin, a provider of video streaming solutions, has partnered with Simplestream, a provider of OTT and broadcast solutions, and technology provider Xperi, to...
12/06/2026
Leostream Corporation, creator of the world-leading Leostream Remote Desktop Access Platform, today announced Jigsaw24, a leading B2B IT solutions provider wit...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
How Aussie indie games and screen are levelling up with IP 11 June 2026
Ari Harrison, Pro Jank Footy
Head of Games Joey Egger and Ari Harrison of Umbrella sha...
12/06/2026
AgentPerf from Artificial Analysis, the industry's first agentic AI benchmark, gives developers, enterprises and infrastructure providers a clear way to com...
12/06/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Unveils First-Look Images from Villaflor, Santiago Mitre's New Film
Entertainment
12 June 2026
GlobalArgentina
Link copied to ...
12/06/2026
Back to All News
Cross the Boundaries of the Real World into the Spirit Realm i...
12/06/2026
With John Daro, DI Colourist at Warner Bros. Water Tower Color Tuesday 23 June, 10am-1pm or 3-6pm
Restar Corporation
Tokyo
Register here
John Daro is the ...
12/06/2026
Meet The Grumpy Onion Ireland's newest online sensation, all he wants is to ...
12/06/2026
RT stays Up All Night with brand new daily 2026 FIFA World Cup Vodcast
Adding to the fun around 2026 FIFA World Cup tournament, RT has launched a brand new d...
12/06/2026
A fentanyl countermeasure that adapts to combat future black-market drugs Scripps Research scientists developed a vaccine that teaches the immune system to rapi...
11/06/2026
The immense size of the tourney and its Atlantic-spanning operation also disting...
Scott Willsallen, director of Auditoria Pty Ltd (Australia), was Audio Director and Designer for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympic and Paralympic games at Sochi's 40,000-seat Fisht Olympic Stadium, at which DiGiCo consoles played a major part.
