Case Studies

Academy Awards Show Uses Aviom Personal Mixers

Supplying Monitors For a Split Stage

Located in Valencia, CA, ATK Audiotek is a leading sound company for the professional audio and broadcast industry. For years they have been using Aviom’s Pro16^® Personal Mixing system for both monitor mixing and communications at events such as the Academy Awards, the Neighborhood Inaugural Ball, and the Grammys, and on shows such as American Idol and Don’t Forget the Lyrics. This year Aviom made its second appearance at the Oscars.

The 2009 Academy Awards included an Aviom Pro16 monitor mixing system at the hub of the communication and monitoring setup. Communications between the broadcast crew, Musical Director Michael Giacchino, orchestra members, and the audio crew from ATK Audiotek was essential to support the show’s musical numbers.

“This year’s orchestra setup was different than in years past so it called for a slightly different monitoring and communications configuration,” says Andres Arango, staff engineer for Audiotek, a leading sound reinforcement provider for the professional audio and broadcast industry. “To achieve the look and feel of a Big Band from the ‘40s, the orchestra was situated on two risers on opposite sides of the stage. As a result, our monitor mixer, Michael Cooper, had to ensure that each riser was connected to the other as well as to the monitor console. Since the Aviom system is so flexible in how it can be set up, we were able to configure it so that each riser had its own A-16D A-Net^® Distributor to bring audio stems to each location from the mixing console.

Flexible Content Delivery

Each band member was fed audio stems from the music director as well as program elements from a live broadcast truck that was covering the event for the major networks. An on-air mix was also included so Giacchino could hear what the performance sounded like as well as communicate with the show’s director, Roger Goodman. The Aviom Personal Mixers allowed Giacchino and his band members to select which stems they would like to hear, helping to keep everyone on cue.

In addition to the Aviom gear, Giacchino used a Studio Technologies Model 233 Announcer’s Console as the main intercom interface for the ceremony. The Announcer Console’s output was fed into the Aviom Pro16 system along with mix stems from the main console for the band’s monitor system.

Each riser had its own A-16D A-Net Distributor, which provides eight parallel outputs so that each instrument section had an Aviom A-16II Personal Mixer, which was able to drive wireless connections through Tweecomm OB-1 headset boxes that offered level control and a headset connection. The two A-16Ds were connected to each other via Cat-5 cable and run to the console.

“Though Audiotek has used Aviom’s system as part of its monitoring and communications setup for many of the larger events we handle, this was the first time that Michael Cooper used the system,” Arango continues. “After having much success with it on the Academy Awards, he said he would want to use it from here on out for all future projects such as these.”