Photo: The Floresta stage at Waking Life, equipped with a d&b audiotechnik system. Credit Aneta Urbonaite
One device, multiple roles: DirectOut PRODIGY.MP at Waking Life
Fernando Rodrigues (Nando), a Sound Engineer and System Engineer with a background in d&b audiotechnik, has managed audio production for multiple stages at Waking Life since 2019.
During a conversation about which console to integrate into his workflow, his close friend and fellow sound engineer Georges Abiaad made one suggestion that changed its direction entirely: “Why not use the PRODIGY.MP as a mixer?”
That unconventional suggestion became the starting point for Nando’s approach to festival audio production, and ultimately for the two PRODIGY.MP systems he uses today.
Waking Life is a music and arts festival in Crato, Portugal. Operating as a non-profit, it merges underground culture and immersive art with a year-round commitment to ecological regeneration and zero-waste practices.
Waking Life features two main electronic stages, Floresta and Outro Lado, each with demanding technical requirements. Floresta operates almost continuously, pausing for only four to five hours each day to reset the area and carry out sound checks. Outro Lado runs non-stop for 24 hours, leaving virtually no margin for technical errors, as any issue is immediately noticeable to thousands of dancers.
Waking Life’s Floresta stage represents a demanding technical setup, built around a high-end d&b audiotechnik system with KSL array modules and SL-SUBS, that is deployed across the front of the stage directly beneath the DJ table. Running a stage like this for days on end, with DJ changeovers happening constantly, calls for an audio chain that is both flexible and highly reliable.
Backstage at the Floresta stage, showing one of the two PRODIGY.MP rigs alongside the PA and DJ monitor amplifiers. Credit Nando
As production evolved, Nando identified new technical requirements for the Waking Life environment: the need for a compact, integrated system capable of handling both mixing and PA drive processing, while reducing the number of separate devices and single points of failure.
Heavy dust, continuous operation, multiple signal formats and the growing need for equipment with redundant power supplies made it essential to rethink the entire workflow.
Managing up to eight channels per DJ kit, spanning digital, analogue, monitoring and recording feeds, meant building a solution around the specific requirements of the production.
Close-up of one of the two PRODIGY.MP rigs. The screens show globcon, Waves SuperRack and Rational Acoustics Smaart®. Credit P. Guedes
Thanks to Georges’s idea, Nando built the signal chains for both Waking Life stages around a dedicated PRODIGY.MP unit. Each unit acted as the master clock for its respective system, operating at 96 kHz, and took on three distinct roles across the stage’s audio path, from the DJ booth to the loudspeakers.
The first role in each setup was as a stagebox: every DJ console connected directly to the respective PRODIGY.MP, with redundant feeds provided in both analogue and AES3 formats. The dedicated SRCs on the AES4.SRC.IO modules kept both systems independent from the DJ consoles’ clocks.
Once the signals arrived, each PRODIGY.MP switched into its second role as the mixing console. Nando configured both units together with globcon software to behave as full mixers, using a Stream Deck Plus integration as the physical control surface in place of traditional faders.
The PRODIGY.MP units also managed the PA processing, using Waves plugins hosted on a dedicated external computer for each configuration and connected through the respective SoundGrid module (SG.SRC.IO). This enabled Nando to apply “subtle dynamic EQ directly on the matrix outputs,” keeping both PAs consistently controlled and balanced while preserving the integrity of the artists’ mixes.
Nando also created a GPIO-triggered fail-safe for each configuration using custom Quick Recall snapshots on the respective PRODIGY.MP. One snapshot bypasses the Waves plugin host, while the second re-engages it once the system is stable.
Backstage at the Outro Lado stage, showing one of the two PRODIGY.MP rigs alongside the PA and DJ monitor amplifiers. Credit Nando
After processing, the signals were distributed to the respective amplifiers in both analogue and AES3 formats, ensuring redundancy across the respective PA outputs and DJ monitors.
Both PRODIGY.MP units were also fitted with the dual-network DANTE.MILAN.SRC.IO module, providing recording and future connectivity options. Dante allowed Fernando to route the console feeds from each configuration to a dedicated computer running Dante Virtual Soundcard (DVS) and Reaper for Waking Life’s internal archives, while the Milan interfaces kept both systems ready for use with Milan-ready PA systems in other production environments.
Taken together, these three functions — stagebox, mixing console, and PA processor — show how each PRODIGY.MP unit replaced what would traditionally require several separate devices, each handling only one part of the chain.
Nando operating one of the two PRODIGY.MP rigs. The screens show globcon, Waves SuperRack and Rational Acoustics Smaart®. Credit P. Guedes
Reflecting on the setups, Nando points to both the reliability and the flexibility the PRODIGY.MP units brought to the stages:
“The PRODIGY.MP’s versatility and reliability were the main reasons behind my choice. With DirectOut’s support in configuring globcon and integrating the Stream Deck Plus, I was able to use it beyond its conventional applications as a fully customized digital mixing console. Its processing, routing, redundancy and clocking capabilities allow me to adapt the system to the specific requirements of every production.”
“For me, as a system engineer, the PRODIGY.MP is by far one of the most important pieces of equipment in any professional toolkit. It is not simply an optional piece of equipment; it has become a mandatory part of my workflow. This is also why I decided to invest in two units.”
“I am grateful to Georges Abi Aad for the original idea and to Chadi El Masri and the 7Hertz team. Chadi was instrumental in helping me select the right cards and configure the system, giving me the confidence to build the entire setup around DirectOut solutions.”
Fernando Rodrigues (Nando) with the two PRODIGY.MP rigs. Credit P. Guedes
Three festival editions, two at Waking Life and one at Boom Festival, were completed with zero technical failures. Since then, the PRODIGY.MP has continued to prove its flexibility across very different productions, from switching automatically between QLab systems at high-profile corporate events to supporting large-scale concerts and festivals with top international A-list artists.
What began as an unconventional idea for electronic music festivals has become a reliable, adaptable platform for a wide range of professional audio applications.
Find out more about the DirectOut PRODIGY Series
About DirectOut GmbH
DirectOut is a global leader in the development of professional audio connectivity, networking, and bridging solutions. Founded with a mission to bridge the gaps between different audio standards, the company provides mission-critical infrastructure for Broadcast, Studio, Live, and Installed Sound professional audio markets.
With its innovative Audio Solution Model (ASM™) and the PRODIGY Series, followed by the introduction of MAVEN and ACE Smart Audio Platforms, DirectOut has evolved from a hardware manufacturer into a strategic provider of integrated, softwareenhanced audio workflows. Known for its uncompromising reliability and German engineering, DirectOut enables seamless interoperability across the most demanding professional audio environments worldwide.
For more information, visit www.directout.eu.