18 minute read
Wacken World Wide
Following the cancellation of this year’s Wacken Open Air, festival organisers create a livestream capturing the vibe of one of the world’s biggest metal festivals. With metalheads around the world enjoying performances from the likes of Sabaton, Blind Guardian and Heaven Shall Burn, TPi’s Stew Hume gets among those in the virtual mosh pit.
Wacken Open Air has been on my festival bucket list for a long time, and 2020 was going to be the year I finally ticked it off. However, like everything during this ill-fated year, the festival had to be put on pause on account of COVID-19. Like many music festivals across the globe, Wacken Open Air organisers were keen to ensure that revellers were still able to get a taste of a festival this summer, embarking on a path which resulted in one of the largest streamed festival events of the year.
The annual metal festival is certainly not the first event to take their annual gathering to the digital realm, with multiple festivals such as Glastonbury and Boomtown Fair playing re-runs of performances, while others have had artists record live shows from across the globe. Wacken opted to take the concept one step beyond.
Ta king place on 29 July – 1 August the event was streamed live by MagentaMusik 360 and MagentaTV. As well as broadcasting recordings from prior incarnations of the event along with original content provided by performing artists, the festival created a 3D space that perfectly mirrored the famed two-stage setup, with a virtual crowd and bands taking to a virtual xR stage akin to Wacken’s signature metal aesthetic. After all, how many other streamed shows have you seen with a full pyro setup with a virtual tank bursting through the set? With 11 million views across the weekend, Wacken World Wide clearly resonated with the metal community.
Ra phael Grohe-Zürn of VEEDEL.mediale.inszenierung oversaw the technical elements of this show. Speaking to TPi days after the livestream, he recounted his introduction to the project. “This started for us after a James Blunt concert in Hamburg,” he chuckled, noting the disparity in genres. Like many artists, Blunt’s Hamburg show had to be closed off to fans due to the rising tide of COVID-19. “We were providing a 360° streaming service for our client, Live Nation Brand Partnerships and Media. In the proceeding days, we kept speaking to Live Nation about what we could do in the coming months to keep events happening.”
One such event was Wacken, which organisers were keen to provide fans with an alterative to the physical event. Helping Grohe-Zürn in the project and overseeing the vision of the event was Lighting Designer, Bertil Mark of Stop Making Sense, who produced much of the visual content.
“I met up with Raph at Easter; we’d been watching a few other performances and streamed shows that had already happened,” Mark stated. “It was a time when new concepts were popping up each week and new creative avenues were being explored. The one thing we wanted to keep at the forefront of this show was the spirit of Wacken and providing a great show for their loyal fanbase.”
SETTING THE VIRTUAL STAGE For the live performances, the Wacken World Wide team created an LEDladen stage with an overhead lighting rig to form a fully functional xR studio space. PRG – a company with a storied history with the festival – provided the audio, lighting, video, broadcast and flightpack PPU. “We have worked on Wacken for the past 18 years,” began PRG’s Johannes Wahl, Director of Music and Theatre in Germany.
The method of xR has been a concept that PRG has experimented with since the global lockdown – most recently with Katy Perry during her Daisies performance at PRG’s LA Studio. “Before coming up with a plan for Wacken, we spoke to our colleagues in America to take all the lessons
learned from that performance and take them over for the festival,” stated Wahl, who pointed out the difference between creating a setup for one performance and a festival line up with seven bands.
“From the beginning of the project, both the festival organisers as well as Raphael and his team wanted to create a true festival feel,” Wahl explained. “We even had a loading dock, although it was quite amusing how most bands were arriving and loading out of cars compared to the usual sight of multiple trucks,” he laughed.
The LED both on the floor and the rear wall resembled a very similar setup to that used for Katy Perry’s LED shoot in the PRG offices in LA, comprising two elements. The first was a rear curved LED wall made up of ROE Visual Black Onyx and measuring 5m high. The LED floor on the other hand came straight out of PRG Projects’ inventory. The Domino is a modular LED floor that can be joined together seamlessly. The surface was frosted to eliminate reflections that might impact on the virtual landscape.
“O ur Domino project was created for the French band Phoenix, who were looking for a LED floor solution that was quick to deploy for their festival run,” said Wahl. “Although the speed of deployment was not necessary, the fact that it’s a touring product made it ideal for this show.”
The video team put their faith in Brompton processors to colour correct the LED products, allowing them to be easily adjusted for xR use.
“To create a seamless xR experience, we brought in Egripment, who provided two mechanically tracked camera cranes delivering absolute tracking data based on the TrackMen protocol – which provided sensor based 3D tracking solutions for the two crane cameras used on the set,”
Grohe-Zürn commented. “TrackMen‘s Protocol includes all lens data information based on their Superior lens calibration, often named as best in class and it works within your media servers – in our case the Ventuz servers,” he added, explaining how the interaction between the camera and servers helped create a seamless, virtual world for the band to play in.
He went on to explain the reason for the server choice. “The speed this all came together was very quick and all of us really know the Ventuz system, so it was the ideal choice.”
Ventuz, advantageously, is also based in Hamburg where the festival was being filmed, meaning some of the team were able to be on site while building up to the show. Wahl explained: “We needed to create and interface via ArtNet to connect the servers to the lighting desk, which was made a lot easier having the Ventuz team on site.”
VISUAL AESTHETIC At the centre of the visual world was an MA Lighting grandMA2. Mark explained the process of how each performance took place and centred around this console. “The grandMA2 speaks a lot of different protocol languages,” explained the LD. “This was essential as we were connecting so many other machines to the desk. Throughout the project, we had all the VR specialists behind us getting very excited as we were allowing all the worlds – audio, lighting and video – to have live simulations.”
According to Mark, the desk was very much the “master control station,” as it was launching all the effects for the rear LED and sound effects. As for the lighting fixtures chosen by Mark, LED was the theme. “In total, we only
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had 35 fixtures – all LED due to the heat,” he stated. There were a number of GLP fixtures utilised, including a pair of GLP impression X4 Bar 10s, 10 impression X4 Bar 20s, seven GLP JDC-1S, 21 impression S350s and 11 impression X4s – provided by PRG.
The LD went on to explain what it was like for the bands’ lighting directors coming into the space for the first time. “I think there were one or two that were rather confused with the setup,” he explained. “We were surrounded by monitors and screens while sitting just in front of the main performance area. I had to remind any LD coming in to make sure they were working to the actual live performances rather than the video screen – if you looked at the video screens which showed the xR feed, due to latency, you would be behind in timing.”
With two mandatory LDs on site at all times – one working on key lighting and the other working on the overall design – Mark commented: “What was useful from the design standpoint was that we were just in front of the stage, so we were able to lock into the live drums as well as feel the heat from the flames.”
Which brought TPi nicely on the subject of the pyrotechnic element of the show – well, it wouldn’t be Wacken without fire… “There were a number of different companies that came in to provide pyro, which varied from band to band,” he explained, adding that even special effects were able to benefit from the MA Lighting grandMA2 central control. Pyro technicians were able to send a DMX line to the grandMA2 which, in turn, would also
trigger the virtual flames that would be seen in the virtual world alongside the real-life flames.
“I’ll admit, I was a bit uneasy with the flames,” stated Grohe-Zürn. “Not only for the worry about having fire in the confines of so much expensive technology, but that the flames were so bright that in those moments when they fired, it revealed the whole LED setup. Upon reflection, I must admit that we needed those effects, which really added to the show’s aesthetic.”
AUDIO BACKBONE While listening back to the festival, one thing that would have jumped out to many was that although the bands were performing in a studio, the audio sounded as if it had been recorded live, in the open air. Not only that, throughout the show there were a number of times where the sound of the audience would react to proceedings – yet more ways the streaming alternative was able to recreate the Wacken Open Air vibe.
“We went into a lot of minute detail on the audio front,” smiled Wahl, revealing that during Kreator’s set, the audience sound was a recording of the crowd during the German thrash metal band’s 2019 performance at the festival. “It’s something that most people will not notice, but it was a great detail to include.”
The mastermind behind the audio offering of this virtual reinvention was Peter Brandt. Having overseen the broadcast sound for the Faster main stage during the past five years, Brandt was more than familiar with the
organisers and the music of Wacken Open Air and was eager to collaborate Voßkühler, Project Manager at Riedel Communications. “It opens exciting on this virtual alternative. opportunities for a wide variety of distributed production applications.”
Th is was far from a simple streamed show, with the entire mix being Br andt added: “Although my core business is live recording on site mastered remotely from New York. “The stereo mix – the plan is to really try to move away from was sent to New York, to our partners at Valhalla using recording trucks on site at festivals,” he studio – owned by the band Manowar – to Ronald commented. “The world is changing and that is Prent, our Engineer, who mastered the sound and why I’ve been looking more into the possibility of added the ambient sounds in a perfect acoustic remote mixing and mastering. We now would prefer environment and gave feedback for the mixes,” to use a studio with proper treatment rather than explained Brandt. a truck. It’s a more effective way to work and it is a
“I had to explain to a lot of people that the much greener option.” audio was not being sent over to America,” stated Brandt hadn’t really gone public until now with Brandt, explaining how Prent was effectively mixing this new workflow, however, Wacken World Wide remotely despite the audio existing in Germany. “We went into a lot of minute presented an opportunity to show how the remote This meant that if there was a connection issue, the show would continue to play. detail on the audio front… setup works. As f or in the live studio, the audio setup was
In tegral to this setup was Riedel It’s something that most will not too dissimilar to that of a standard festival Communications, which partnered with Remote Recording Network and Live Nation to establish not notice, but it was a great control package, with a Yamaha CL5 for both FOH and monitors. The package was also provided by this first-of-its-kind transatlantic remote mastering detail to include.” PRG, which also supplied a basic IEM package and workflow. “Working with our partners at Remote Recording Network, we are redefining the Johannes Wahl, Director of Music wedges. A number of bands brought their own engineers to mix the show, with a few being aided possibilities for live audio production,” said Carsten and Theatre, PRG by the onsite PRG audio team. “The engineers’ mix
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for the room was then used as a reference for the mastering,” commented Brandt. “Although it was an empty studio, without an audience, I was keen for the bands to feel like they were on stage,” he added. “We deployed a PA so they got the feel of the speakers and the low end.”
Not only that, but the audio team also had audience mics set up in the studio to capture the room, which was then mixed with the band’s direct mix to portray a comprehensive ‘live’ audio mix. “When you use artificial reverb to try and capture that sound, it just sounds strange,” noted Brandt. “It’s an old procedure that you would carry out at any live show – many audience mics capture that feel of the room so there was no reason not to do the same for a streamed show. People might feel that if it’s a livestream you don’t need a PA, but in my opinion, it doesn’t sound great – especially when artists are talking between songs – it sounds as if they are in a booth.”
Brandt closed by stating how he thinks that Wacken’s efforts in the streaming world will certainly trigger others to push this concept further. “I admire that Wacken went all out for this project. Even if live events return in the near future, I think this virtual medium will remain. As an industry, we must keep developing and improving technologies and our skillsets with these style of events,” he continued. “It’s also great to give some of our industry some work during this trying time.”
technology in the live events sphere? “I really see this as a separate art form to a traditional live event,” stated Mark. “Not all bands or artists are going to enjoy this type of space, but there are huge opportunities to tell different types of stories with music. It’s not a replacement but something else entirely.”
Grohe-Zürn agreed, but caveated that there can only be a future if the price of this type of show comes down. “It just isn’t viable to do these types of shows as a one-off project,” he explained. “If there was a building that could be utilised by different projects over weeks or months, the prices would certainly drop.”
Yo u can still experience highlights from the festival via Wacken’s official website – to tide over any metal heads out there until we can jump back into the pit safely. TPi Photos: Danny Jungslund and Melinda Helena Clabes www.wacken.com www.magenta-musik-360.de www.livenation.de www.veedel.media www.prg.com/uk/en www.bertilmark.com www.remoterecording.net www.gripment.com www.trackmen.de
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