The Universal Forum of Cultures in Barcelona, was the site of Toyota’s European Regional Dealer Managers Conference 2005, an event produced by Jack Morton Worldwide. UK sound production company Delta Audio provided the sound for the event, with DiGiCo D5 Live consoles providing their mixing solutions.
Known locally as the Forum, the building has walls built from coral-like blue concrete and water flowing from a giant reservoir on the roof to cool it in summer, and is a spectacular architectural addition to the Spanish city’s seafront.
"[Toyota’s European Regional Dealer Managers Conference] is a conference and party for 5,000 Toyota car dealers and managers from around Europe, held over two days," explains Jim Lambert, Delta Audio’s sound designer for the event. "This year’s conference venue was the Forum, with the associated party held in the adjoining Barcelona International Convention Center."
The conference was a mixture of live music, corporate presentations–including the launch of the new Toyota Formula One car–and a 50-strong dance troupe. "We used our own D5 112EX, operated by Simon Honywill, for this area with approximately 80 input channels, including playback from two 24-channel multi track machines," explains Lambert. The party included a dinner and one-hour gala concert by Whitney Houston and her band, followed by a supporting dance act called Zig Zag.
"The PA was our own L’Acoustics V-Dosc system and we had two DiGiCo D5 Lives, one on monitors and one at front of house," says Lambert. "These were specified by Whitney’s American crew, who flew in their front of house and monitor engineers for the two concerts. Although both were new to the console, they were keen to use it on this major event." Sound project manager for this section of the event was Delta’s Steve Lutley.