Streamed live to 11m fans worldwide, the world’s largest heavy metal festival moved online in a mixed-reality production by MagentaMusik 360. Its first-of-its-kind trans-Atlantic remote mastering workflow was the result of a collaboration between Live Nation, Remote Recording Network (RRN) and Riedel Communications.

The audio for Wacken World Wide was mixed in Hamburg and mastered at Valhalla Studios NY, with communications and signal configuration, transmission, and monitoring handled by Riedel’s Remote Operations Center (ROC).

‘This remote mastering workflow is incredible; we’ve never before had such cool broadcast sound at Wacken,’ says RRN Founder Peter Brandt, the award-winning producer and engineer who oversaw audio production for the event. ‘Because we were able to master in an acoustically calibrated room, we had perfect conditions for well-balanced sound.’

Audio for Wacken World Wide 2020 was delivered from the Live Nation stage in Hamburg to the Riedel ROC in Wuppertal, and then on to Valhalla Studios NY for mastering by Ronald Prent.

 In addition to serving as a communications and signal distribution hub, the Riedel ROC supplied extensive control and monitoring capabilities, as well as a secure server structure ensuring data security and a redundant system providing reliable signal transmission throughout the event.

Developed jointly by Riedel andRemote Recording Network, this new remote model has laid down a challenge for the production of high-quality, environmentally friendly, and cost-effective audio transmissions.

‘Working with our partners at RRN, we are redefining the possibilities for live audio production,’ says Riedel Project Manager, Carsten Voßkühler.

‘The groundbreaking remote workflow connecting creatives on both sides of the Atlantic helped to make Wacken World Wide 2020 a huge success, and it opens up exciting opportunities for a wide variety of distributed production applications. We look forward to working with RRN on many more great events.’