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What you didn't know about the Eurovision 2013 stage

03 May 2013 at 13:09 CEST

The Eurovision Song Contest is one of the biggest and most technologically advanced television shows in the world and in Malmö this precedent is set to continue with broadcaster SVT creating a stage like no other and trying out new techniques and equipment.

The amount of work that goes on behind the scenes to bring a show of this magnitude and quality to your TV screens is simply astonishing. To demonstrate this we have compiled some facts about the stage in Malmö below. The finished stage was also recently presented to the press, so check out our gallery to see some impressions!

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So, when you are watching on the 14th, 16th and 18th of May, spare a thought for everyone involved in making the Eurovision Song Contest Europe's favourite TV show.

Sound

5 sound consoles 3 MIDAS XL 8 and 2 MIDAS Pro9

210 speakers, Nexo Geo T and L-Acoustics dV-dosc

All speakers are managed through LAB LM 44 & LM 26

48 hand and headmics, all are Sennheiser 9000 series

16 In Ear system with 100 receivers, Sennheiser 2000 IEM

2 Macbook Pro machines running Waves plug-ins

2 Macbook Pro machines running Cubase

4 operators for PA & monitor

20 sound engineers to run the show

Stage

220 square metre specially made stage surface for performances

The circumference of the centre Mainstage area is 38 metres

The perimeter of the stage is 207 metres

Each arch weighs 7 tons and measures 13 metres in height

The projection wall is 43 metres wide and 8 metres tall

Rigging

3500 metres of truss

600 rigging points

159.6 tons rigged in the roof, the maximum capacity of the roof is 160 tons

40 km of signal & camera cables

50 km of power cables

Power Supply

6 Megawatt generator farm

3.5 Megawatt generator power used per day

3000L Ecopar used per day

Pyrotechnics

32 Fireball machines

24 Fireflame machines

6 Heavy smoke machines

4 Wind machines

3000 Pyro effects used during the show

100 kg Snow

100 kg Confetti

Lighting

1283 lighting fixtures

800 moving lights

14 follow spots

4 weeks of virtual programming

4 weeks of live programming

2 lighting designers

4 lighting operators

12 grandMA II Light consoles, 6 live and 6 in back-up

24500 control channels

Video

28 Barco HDQ 40 projectors, the world’s largest video projector

2 Barco HDF W26 projectors

4 Barco FLM HD20 projectors

4 Barco FLM R22+ projectors

8 Barco SLM R12 projectors

1 Barco Encore Image processing system

14 Green Hippo Hippotizer Media Servers

350 square meters 3D video mapping surface as a back-drop

1 media content designer

4 digital content designers

2 video operators

23 cameras to capture the action from all angles

2 multi camera directors

Other Facts

Equipment needed 95 transport trucks to deliver (25 stage only)

6878 hotel nights

3 weeks for rigging all equipment

250 show crew

And did you know?

The 2013 Eurovision Song Contest will mark the show’s 58th year, making it one of the longest-running television programmes in the world. And it´s the fifth time Sweden hosts the Eurovision Song contest.