ITB Berlin 2024 opening ceremony: Sonic experiences with d&b Soundscape.
The opening ceremony of ITB Berlin 2024 on March 4 at the CityCube set new standards both visually and sonically. Over 3,000 guests enjoyed an impressive event, which featured spectacular images of the official ITB host country Oman on a panoramic LED wall measuring 105 x 8 meters, accompanied by an immersive sonic landscape using d&b Soundscape in a 180-degree system configuration.
The Sultanate of Oman showcased its splendor and diversity under the headline “Beauty has an Address.” In addition to golden sand dunes and green oases, the destination renowned for being particularly hospitable attracts visitors with its high peaks, imposing caves, rugged cliffs, and miles of sandy beaches, which are ideal for tourist activities of all kinds – it is a multifaceted and highly contrasting natural paradise.
TSE AG under the direction of Adrian Carlin was once again responsible for the event’s technical equipment. Alexander Lewin was in charge of designing and operating the PA system in his role as system technician, while Holger Schwark (live music), Jonathan Wolff (speech), and Ron Hoffmann (monitor) were responsible for the mixing.
“The ITB opening ceremony is an ambitious event with many prominent international figures from politics and society in attendance – after all, it is the World’s Leading Travel Trade Show,” said TSE CEO Marcel Fery. “TSE AG has been managing this ceremony for more than a decade and was once again responsible for the entire technology in 2024, including sound, lighting, video, rigging, stage, and interpreting technology.”
For the fusion of sound and images, TSE AG opted to use d&b Soundscape with a DS100 Signal Engine at its core, running the En-Scene (object positioning) and En-Space (in-line room emulation) software modules. The result was a very natural sound experience with significantly improved localization.
A total of 64 d&b T10 two-way loudspeakers were distributed across eight line arrays above the stage at the CityCube. These were supplemented by ten cardioid-dispersion d&b V-SUB high-performance subwoofers. Behind the LED wall, four d&b SL-GSUBs faithfully reproduced the ultra-low frequencies. Six d&b Y7Ps and two d&b V7Ps, among others, were used for monitoring onstage. The loudspeakers were powered by 28 d&b D80 four-channel high-performance amplifiers.
The delay line consisted of systems from the d&b SL-Series, including 24 x XSL8 and 12 x XSL12 loudspeakers in arrays each containing six units. ArrayProcessing in combination with careful alignment of the systems ensured that the delay line covered the auditorium right down to the final row of seats without generating any interference in the form of direct reflections off the rear wall of the hall.
In d&b Soundscape, the delay line was set up as a function group, enabling the DS100 Signal Engine to automatically calculate the appropriate times. Thanks to d&b Soundscape, a similar sound experience was created for everyone at the CityCube, regardless of where they were sitting.
“One particular challenge involved optimally distributing the stereo sound from the video feeds to the eight front positions and six delay positions,” explained Schwark. “As an object-based process, d&b Soundscape is ideal for placing mono signals as objects in the space and creating perfect sound illusions – this works fantastically well and in exactly the same way as natural sound propagation would work.”
