52 SOUND & COMMUNICATION
A planetarium equipped with
Zeiss-Großplanetarium in Berlin for the Peter Schilling show. A Kling & Freitag speaker system and Midas mixing console are used to bring the show to life. The event is an immersive 90-minute multimedia concert experience in 360°, live with Peter Schilling and his band. It explores new ways of combining music and astronomy with elaborate full-dome visualisations and a 3D sound design specially adapted to the dome. “Everyone is talking about immersive audio but, in live settings, it is usually nothing more than an enhanced front sound system,” says Ammermann. “In a planetarium, there are entirely different possibilities, but also challenges.” Ammermann explains that when the opportunity to demonstrate immersive audio to Peter Schilling arose, he was immediately hooked. “That was a good three years and one full Dolby Atmos release ago. Whether we’d implement this in the planetarium for a live event was not something we needed to discuss – only the how. Fortunately, the director of the Zeiss-Großplanetarium in Berlin and producer of the show, Tim Florian Horn, also didn’t need convincing.” In terms of the possibilities for spatial audio, Ammermann says the location is a dream. “A planetarium equipped with an immersive speaker system, like the one in Berlin’s Prenzlauer Berg, offers truly diverse possibilities for distributing and moving audio objects freely throughout the space around the audience. But this only makes sense if it’s plausible in terms of entertaining an audience. A bass drum in the top channel certainly wouldn’t be part of that.” The main challenge for Chris Prochnow, who mixes all of Peter Schilling’s shows, was how to strike the right balance: positioning the band with high resolution at the front while also taking advantage of the new possibilities. “Using our Spatial
Audio Designer Processor (SAD-P), which was inserted directly in between the console and loudspeaker system, Chris was able to perform his usual sound processing at the console and position the signals (objects) accordingly in the space,” adds Ammermann. “In doing so, he took advantage of the opportunity to create a very transparent yet compact overall sound, featuring enveloping reverbs and keyboards, as well as various dynamic elements,” he continues. “The trajectories of the live inputs were pre-programmed directly in the SAD-P and could be triggered on cue. Acoustically, a planetarium is a nightmare, so Chris had to make sensible compromises, which ultimately produced an exciting yet solid sound result.” The first two concerts, which took place last October, sold out, as were the two in March. Tickets for the May concerts are also gone. “As happy as I am about the significantly improved sound quality of immersive ‘standard sound systems’, immersive sound for live applications can certainly be more, especially without pointlessly rotating audio signals just because it’s possible.” FESTIVAL SCALE While planetariums offer purpose- built environments for fully immersive sound, many of the same principles are being utilised across other large-scale an immersive sound speaker system offers diverse possibilities for distributing and moving audio objects
The Berlin Peter Schilling show (pictured) used a Kling & Freitag speaker system and a Midas mixing console
live events. Even in more conventional outdoor festival settings, where stereo and front-facing systems still dominate, manufacturers are exploring ways to improve spatial clarity, coverage and audience engagement. Music festivals, such as Coachella, rely on high-scale immersive tech for power and to keep up with audience demands and expectations. The 2026 edition, for example, featured The Bunker: a 17,000 sq ft, subterranean, air-conditioned space, which housed Radiohead’s Kid
Sphere (right) all lit up at night; the Zeiss-Großplanetarium’s set-up (above)
Powered by FlippingBook