As New Years Eve celebrations go, they really don’t come any bigger than the festivities in London and Dubai. As stunning fireworks light up the night sky and millions attempt a verse of Auld Lang Syne, these iconic events are undoubtedly some of the most ambitious and spectacular shows the world has ever seen.
With over 25 years experience delivering live international events, Delta Sound was thrilled to welcome the New Year on both sides of the globe, having once again been appointed as lead audio and communications supplier to the London and Dubai New Years Eve extravaganzas.
The celebrations in London were orchestrated once again by award winning brand agency Jack Morton Worldwide alongside Vodafone and the Mayor of London office. Delta Sound enjoys a longstanding relationship with Jack Morton and 2014 marks the 10th anniversary that the companies have collaborated together on this show. With each event more ambitious than its predecessor, experience is of paramount importance. As such, two of Delta’s most experienced project managers; Davey Williamson and Phil Kidd were appointed to design and facilitate the audio and communications systems, with Davey managing his third show and Phil his tenth.
December the 31st is a challenging 24 hours for Delta. Whilst the company has vast experience dealing with the pressures and rigorous demands of international live events, delivering two of the world’s biggest shows on the most iconic night of the year presents several unique challenges. This project required complete dedication, skilled expertise and vast amounts of experience, not to mention months of precision planning. In London alone, an estimated 250,000 people lined the banks of the River Thames, alongside 13 million who tuned in to watch the live broadcast as the countdown to midnight began.
Featuring an innovative twist on the normal proceedings, revellers in London were treated to a multi-sensory display which dazzled the eyes, ears and mouth, as edible banana confetti, peach flavoured snow and orange bubbles descended over the crowd. Designed and created by contemporary food and flavour company; Bompas & Parr, the flavour fireworks and fruit mists accompanied the spectacular pyrotechnics display as Big Ben announced the beginning of 2014. The inventive combination of fireworks and flavour added a thoroughly creative element to the event, helping London to stand out amongst the many New Years Eve extravaganzas taking place around the world.
Never to be outdone however, Dubai hosted a celebration the size of which has never been seen before. With over a million people in attendance, revellers witnessed a record-breaking fireworks display which saw an incredible 500,000 fireworks triggered from 400 different locations which included the Burj Khalifa and the Palm Jumeirah. This event was particularly special for Delta Sound as it saw a very successful collaboration between its UK based communications department and its UAE based sister company: Delta Dubai. With Delta Dubaiproviding the complete audio solution, Delta’s UK based communications engineers; Phil Kidd, Denny Symes and Matt Maysey got to work installing a radio frequency for the whole of Downtown Dubai.
The most complex challenge derived from the sheer size of the location which spanned 59 miles of the Dubai coastline. To ensure that fast and reliable communications could take place between the various production and security teams, Phil and the team used an innovative way of supplying the entire city with complete radio coverage. Reaching nearly a kilometre into the Persian sky, the team climbed to the 148th floor of the Burj Khalifa which acted as the perfect location to install the main satellite for the trunked radio system. At such a great height, the radio frequency covered the whole of Downtown Dubai, allowing vital communications to take place amongst the events staff. On the ground level, Delta’s engineers supplied the production and stewarding teams with Motorola handheld radios and numerous Clear-Com digital matrix panels for show caller and production managers.
Far from the sun, sea and sand in Dubai, Delta’s audio engineers back in (a very drizzly) Central London were preparing for the city’s most extravagant New Years Eve show to date. Using L-ACOUSTICS loudspeaker line-arrays, Project Manager Davey Williamson and the engineers provided live sound coverage for the large spectator viewing gallery which stretched from Big Ben along the river Thames to Waterloo Bridge. In order to maintain complete control over the audio in this acoustically tricky environment, Davey opted to use a DiGiCo SD5 desk, particularly due to its large matrix auxiliary busses which could cater for the high number of outputs running at once. Operating directly opposite the London Eye, front-of-house engineer Paul Stannering was able to mix the live sound in full view of the extraordinary midnight fireworks display. Utilising the extensive headroom within the SD5, Paul mixed music playback, security messages, voice amplification and of course the all-important midnight track which was time-coded in perfect synchronisation with the fireworks.
December the 31st was a truly special night for Delta Sound. After a very successful 2013, simultaneously delivering two of the world’s most exciting and high-profile celebrations was a fitting way to close another year and welcome one anew.
Delta Sound was appointed to provide audio and communications services for the London 2013/ 2014 New Years Eve Fireworks Display by Jack Morton Worldwide.
Delta Sound was appointed to provide communications services to the Dubai 2013/ 2014 New Years Eve Fireworks Display by Emaar.