HARMAN Studer Vista 9 for Berlin Philharmonic’s Chamber Music Hall

BERLIN, Germany – Often referred to as the musical heart of the city, the Berlin Philharmonic (Berliner Philharmonie) has marked its 50th anniversary by installing a HARMAN Studer Vista 9 in its Chamber Music Hall.

This hall opened 24 years after the first concert had taken place in the venue’s Great Hall. Thanks to the excellent acoustics, today’s productions are performed in both auditoria, and live concert recordings and live broadcasts made for radio and television, Internet and cinema—stretching far beyond the borders of Germany.

Last month the Chamber Music Hall’s Studio 11 production room was equipped with a 42-fader Studer Vista 9, fitted with some 240 DSP channels, and operates at either 48 kHz or 96 kHz. The console was supplied by Studer’s German distributor, Audio Pro.

In addition to 80 analog and 24 digital inputs and outputs, the system is fitted with 512 additional audio channels in the form of optical MADI interfaces. “Over MADI, on the one hand we connect 64 channels to the digital workstation while the other MADI interfaces are used to connect to the Great Hall,” reported Mirsat Neziraj of the Berlin Philharmonic. Studio 11 production is not assigned exclusively to the Chamber Music Hall but is used, as appropriate, with the other studios—and as a mixing space for recordings or broadcasts from the Great Hall.

Used for the house’s own live program, the studio is also in high demand from record companies and broadcasters for their productions. It also services the Philharmonic’s ‘Digital Concert Hall’—an Internet platform that enables music fans all over the world to see and hear the Philharmonic's concerts, live or on demand. In addition, the venue recently started to transmit live concerts into over 100 cinemas across Europe—several times a year in 5.1 surround sound.

“The consistent and fast operating concept of the Studer Vista has impressed us from the start,” said Marco Buttgereit, a member of the audio team. “Because we often have guest sound engineers using our studios it is important that they are able to familiarise themselves quickly with the technology.”

In addition to chamber music concerts, jazz and world music performances are also promoted. For example, famous journalist and TV presenter Roger Willemsen has been hosting a series of concerts taking a musical journey through different cultures in fascinating regions of the world. These, too, are held in the Philharmonic’s Chamber Music Hall and mixed in the newly refurbished Studio 11 on the Studer Vista 9.

HARMAN (www.harman.com) designs, manufactures and markets a wide range of audio and infotainment solutions for the automotive, consumer and professional markets – supported by 15 leading brands, including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon® and Mark Levinson®. The Company is admired by audiophiles across multiple generations and supports leading professional entertainers and the venues where they perform. More than 25 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with HARMAN audio and infotainment systems. HARMAN has a workforce of 14,600 people across the Americas, Europe, and Asia and reported sales of $4.5 billion for the last twelve months ended September 30, 2013.