The first competitions were held in Avicii Arena in Stockholm before the production moved to Friends Arena. All programs were hosted by Oscar Zia and Farah Abadi.
For many years, Creative Technology has delivered technology, project management and technical personnel for the production. The technical setup of audio, light and video accompanied the competitors from start to finish.
In addition to the 80 square meter LED screen at the back of the stage, the video delivery included a 57 sqm LED floor, 470 meters of ROE sticks, disquise media servers, fiber systems, projectors and screens.
The prep work started already in November when the video crew started working on things like calculations and pixel maps drawings, as well as establishing collaborations with various partners in the production. Much of the technology was pre-built in advance, connected and tested.
– We built the entire cable truss at our warehouse in Kungälv and put all the cables on top of it to ensure that the lengths and drops were correct. When you get on-site, you want everything to fit, said Lasse Mossberg, project manager at Creative Technology.
In addition to the competition video equipment, Creative Technology also provided SVT Press with monitors and audio systems in the press room.
To facilitate the spectacular light rig, 550 movable light fixtures were set up, and together with trusses, motors and other rigging equipment, this was all transported in no less than 11 trailers. The infrastructure was partially based on five 72-channel and eight 24-channel PDUs, all from StageSmarts. In the move from Avicii Arena to Friends Arena, CT also delivered 350 hoists and 150 channels of Kinesys hoist control.
This year we had the pleasure of working with the newly purchased L-acoustics K1 system, which added an enhanced sound experience for the audience on site. For the first two broadcasts in Friends arena, a main K1 PA was built, and for the grand final additional K1 were added for delay and outfill. All-in-all, more than 90 L-acoustic K1 and 48 L-acoustic K2 were delivered together with a 38-channel Shure Axient microphone system, a DigiCo SD7 Quantum, 8 Luminex fiber switches and more.
– This was the first time we put our entire new K1 system into full operation and the result was fantastic. In addition, by efficiently distributing the various network protocols, we were able to reduce both construction time and unnecessarily complicated technical solutions. This is the future, and we are equipped for it, said Fredrik Kjellin, technical coordinator at Creative Technology.
Photo credit: Creative Technology
