Broadcast audio specialists Red TX was at London’s O2 Arena on September 29th, 2013, to capture the broadcast audio for Unity – A Concert For Stephen Lawrence.
Artists including Rita Ora, Beverley Knight and Jessie J were joined by Emeli Sande, Ellie Goulding and Ed Sheeran for the concert, which was held to mark the 20th anniversary of Stephen’s death in southeast London.
Red TX was commissioned to handle the broadcast audio by Paul Dugdale, who was directing the project on behalf of ACME TV. Dugdale previously worked with Red TX during the summer when the company recorded The Rolling Stones in Hyde Park.
For the Unity concert, which was broadcast on BBC 2, Red TX used its main Red 1 outside broadcast vehicle, with engineers Tim Summerhayes and Ollie Nesham at the controls.
“We knew the event was going to be challenging due to a tight schedule and the shear amount of artists and tracks involved,” Paul Dugdale says. “As a director, it’s such a blessing having someone like Tim involved, not only because I know he's great in those high pressure situations, but that you know the finished product will come out sounding amazing, too.”
Tim Summerhayes adds: “We recorded the concert as live because we had enough time to create snap shots during the sound check. We also had some time the following day to tidy up the audio before delivering it to The Farm where it was dubbed and made ready for broadcast on the evening of Tuesday October 1st. Although there were a large number of artists involved, it was a relatively straightforward project and we were all really pleased with the results.”
The concert was part of the SL20 Campaign, which is celebrating Stephen's life with a series of awareness-raising events through the year. Funds from the show will go to The Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust, which aims to create brighter futures for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
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About Red TX:
Red TX provides a comprehensive concert recording and broadcast service to the music and television industries. The company has state-of-the-art mobile recording facilities and can handle projects of any size or complexity. As well as recording audio for broadcast, the company also records live music events for subsequent release on CD or DVD. It is headed by Ian Dyckhoff and Tim Summerhayes, both of whom have extensive experience in delivering high-quality audio for broadcast. www.red-tx.com
