Lawo has revealed the details behind a project to transmit the Blue Danube Waltz into space.
Forming the centrepiece of a joint celebration to commemorate both the 200th birthday of composer Johan Strauss and the 50th anniversary of the European Space Agency (ESA), a performance of the Blue Danube Waltz at Vienna’s Museum of Applied Arts (MAK) was transmitted towards Voyager 1 as it continues its journey through space.
Audio production of the project, Waltz into Space, was handled by Austrian studio, tonzauber, which deployed an OB truck running around Lawo technology.
Central routing and real-time mixing of all audio signals was accomplished with a Lawo mc²36 MkII with integrated A__UHD Core. Featuring 384 DSP channels at 96 kHz, support for 864 I/O paths, and native compatibility with ST2110, AES67, and RAVENNA, the desk handled the complex live production, which included a Dolby Atmos mix, multiple broadcast feeds and simultaneous multitrack recording, said Lawo.
Commenting on the occasion, ttonzauber’s Georg Burdicek said, “Our goal was to deliver audio at the highest standard – not only for the audience in the hall and global streams, but symbolically, for the universe. Being the first team to send music into space via a Lawo console is a special distinction for me.”
The orchestra’s performance was recorded using 28 Schoeps condenser microphones and the Waves integration within the Lawo console provided the tonzauber crew with the ability to overcome the difficulties of the acoustic environment.
RAVENNA AoIP technology allowed the team to flexibly route all elements of the performance – from commentary to playout and surround streams with the mc²36 MkII’s intuitive user interface, featuring colour-coded faders and freely assignable layers also helping streamline the workflow.
The signal from the convert was transmitted in real-time to ESA’s DSA2 ground station in Cebreros, Spain, from where it was beamed into space, expected to overtake Voyager 1 which is currently more than 24 billion km (15 billion miles) from Earth.
“We tried to craft a sound from an acoustically challenging room that wasn’t just pleasing, but emotionally powerful – maybe even for aliens,” said Burdicek. “And I think we pulled it off.”
