Quartet of dLive and Avantis systems power Canta Comigo 2022

Now in its fourth season, Brazilian reality TV show Canta Comigo sees up and coming singers face off in front of ‘The 100’, a judging panel of one hundred music experts and performers from across the country, with a prize of R$300,000 at stake.

For the 2022 run, Sao Paulo based AV company R4 Som Profissional were once again called on by production company Endemol Shine to manage all aspects of the live and broadcast sound for the show, with support from Allen & Heath do Brazil. “We needed to provide a system with a high channel count, ultra-low latency, flexible analogue and digital I/O capabilities, and obviously rock-solid stability” explains Cleiton Silva of R4 Som Profissional. “For us it made sense to use a combination of Allen & Heath dLive and Avantis mixers as they meet all the criteria required for this demanding production.”

For the presenter, performers and track playback, a 36-fader dLive S7000 control surface is partnered with a DM64 MixRack fitted with a Dante card for connection to Shure Axient Digital wireless devices. Thanks to dLive’s integration with Shure wireless devices, native monitoring, and control of the Axient system is possible from the dLive control surface. A gigaACE card is fitted to the S7000 which feeds an Avantis handling the PGM mix, and a superMADI card feeds a DiGiCo SD9 which is used for IEM mixing. The Avantis is paired with a GX4816 remote expander to allow breakout to the video unit. Additionally, a pair of Allen & Heath’s ME-1 Personal Monitor Mixers are used for monitoring purposes. Multitrack recording is handled via a Waves card fitted in the S7000.

Built around the 96kHz XCVI FPGA processing core, all dLive MixRacks provide 128 input channels and a configurable 64 bus architecture for maximum flexibility, with a choice of seven Surface sizes for hands-on control. The S7000 is the largest Surface in the dLive range with 216 assignable fader strips, via 6 layers of 36 faders, and dual 12” touchscreens which seamlessly integrate with the surrounding hardware controls.

Utilising the same XCVI technology as dLive, Avantis offers 64 input channels and 42 configurable mix busses with dual 15.6” full-HD touchscreens delivering a fast and intuitive workflow. As with dLive, the system latency is a class-leading 0.7ms from input to output.

For the hundred strong panel of judges, each equipped with a microphone, another dLive S7000 and DM64 combination is deployed with additional analogue I/O provided via DX32 and DX168 remote expanders for a total of 112 XLR inputs. A Waves card fitted to the S7000 enables 128 channels of recording of the ‘The 100’, with an Avantis mixer also connected to the Waves network for monitoring purposes. Additionally, a superMADI card fitted to the S7000 facilitates connection to a DiGiCo SD8 handling the PGM mix of the judging panel.

“Every time we use Allen & Heath mixers we are impressed with the quality and robustness” concludes Roberto Ramos of R4 Som Profissional. “We will be adding even more to our inventory soon.”