It was a moment where technology, culture, and pioneering spirit converged: On 31 May 2025, Johann Strauss II’s Blue Danube Waltz was performed at Vienna’s Museum of Applied Arts (MAK) and transmitted live towards the Voyager 1 spacecraft more than 15 billion miles from Earth. It was the centrepiece of the Waltz into Space initiative, ,marking both the 200th birthday of the Waltz King and the 50th of the European Space Agency.
The Blue Danube Waltz gained renewed global popularity in the 20th century through Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, where it was offered a juxtaposition to the futuristic space story. The audio production for Waltz into Space fell to Vienna-based studio tonzauber, a full-service provider of acoustic music sound productions led by Georg Burdicek, who employed a mobile production studio centred on a Lawo audio production console.
‘Our goal was to deliver audio at the highest standard – not only for the audience in the hall and global streams, but symbolically, for the universe,’ Burdicek says. ‘Being the first team to send music into space via a Lawo console is a special distinction for me.’
A Lawo mc²36 MkII with A__UHD Core handled routing and real-time mixing of all audio signals. With its 384 DSP channels at 96kHz, support for 864 I/O paths, and native ST2110, AES67 and Ravenna, the desk proved a match to the complex live production, which included a Dolby Atmos mix, multiple broadcast feeds and multitrack recording.
‘In terms of sonic performance, I’m very happy with Lawo,’ Burdicek says. ‘The desk has no coloration – it gives me exactly what I feed into it and responds exactly as I expect. That’s crucial when you’re not necessarily mixing for outer space, but for the inner depth of sound.’
But the main technical challenge wasn’t the orchestra, it was the room: ‘It’s not a concert hall, it’s an exhibition space with a glass ceiling and hard surfaces,’ Burdicek explains. ‘Acoustically, that’s a nightmare. We had to compensate with a lot of know-how and the right tools.’
The 40-piece orchestra, conducted by the Vienna Symphony’s new chief conductor Petr Popelka, was recorded using 28 Schoeps condenser microphones, chosen for their high fidelity and low visual impact – an essential consideration for the video team. To achieve a coherent and immersive result despite the difficult acoustic environment, the tonzauber crew relied heavily on the Waves integration within the Lawo console: ‘Multiband compression, dynamic EQs – we used every tool available to shape a mix that wasn’t just audible, but emotionally resonant.’
The production’s complexity demanded advanced signal distribution. Using Ravenna AoIP technology, the team was able to route all elements – from on-site commentary to playout and surround streams. ‘The network infrastructure made things vastly easier,’ Burdicek confirms. ‘There’s no way we could’ve handled this with traditional point-to-point routing.’
Also contributing to the fluid workflow was the mc²36 MkII’s user interface, featuring colour-coded faders and freely assignable layers. ‘And don’t forget: this was a live event with worldwide attention,’ Burdicek says. ‘In the end, we successfully transmitted a concert signal in real time to an ESA [European Space Agency] ground station in Spain – a facility normally used to communicate with deep space missions.’
From ESA’s DSA 2 ground station in Cebreros, the signal was beamed into deep space at the speed of light. Within 23 hours, the Blue Danube Waltz was projected to overtake Voyager 1– a symbolic gesture of recognition, as the piece had not been included on the original Golden Record that accompanied the 1977 probe.
‘To be able to say that I’ve mixed a programme for the universe – that’s something truly special,’ Burdicek adds with a smile.
The Waltz into Space project resonated worldwide – with events not only in Vienna, but also in New York’s Bryant Park and at the ESA antenna site in Cebreros. In his speech, ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher underscored the deeper meaning behind the project: ‘Our technology is capable of transmitting not just scientific data, but also human art across vast distances. Music – like space – connects all of humanity.’
With Waltz into Space, a timeless piece of music became an interstellar ambassador – carried by precision audio engineering and forward-looking network technology. Once again, the Lawo mc²36 MkII proved its reliability and performance for high-profile live productions under extraordinary conditions.
‘We tried to craft a sound from an acoustically challenging room that wasn’t just pleasing, but emotionally powerful – maybe even for aliens,’ Burdicek concludes. ‘And I think we pulled it off.’
More: www.lawo.com