Bringing all of those elements together required careful planning from the outset. “With a stadium production like this, you have to think about the infrastructure very early on,” explains Dan Lewis, Director at Urban Audio Productions. “Everything needs to be linked together reliably, but you also need to leave room for redundancy and the inevitable changes that come once the show hits the road.”

Given the distances involved in connecting each location, fibre formed the backbone of the system. Once the production team selected DiGiCo consoles in monitor world tied into an Optocore router, Lewis specified a new fibre infrastructure based on HMA Junior Quad connectors, allowing the additional fibre pair to carry other network protocols while maintaining compatibility with the existing Optocore network.

“Once we’d settled on the DiGiCo setup tied into an Optocore router, I knew we’d need a new fibre backbone,” Lewis explains. “We specified HMA Junior Quad connectors so we could use the additional fibre pair to carry other network protocols while still maintaining compatibility with the Duo-based Optocore network.”

The custom fibre assemblies were manufactured by VDC Trading to Urban Audio’s specifications and delivered in time to meet the production’s build and prep schedule. “Fortunately, we had the foresight to plan this well in advance,” says Lewis. “VDC were able to manufacture exactly what we needed within the timeframe, which made the whole process straightforward.”

Among the bespoke features incorporated into the fibre system were right-angled HMA connectors designed specifically for the console engine links on the DiGiCo Quantum 852 systems. “It’s a small detail, but having right-angled connectors on the console engine links makes a real difference when you’re working in the back of a busy console dogbox,” Lewis notes. “It’s those little quality-of-life improvements that touring engineers really appreciate.”

In addition to the fibre infrastructure, the production also utilised approximately 500 metres of Van Damme Black Series 12-pair analogue multicore cable. Purchased from VDC and terminated by Urban Audio’s in-house wire shop, the cabling formed part of a custom-built 128-channel split and line system used across the stage. “We’ve used Van Damme Black Series touring cable for years,” Lewis says. “It’s compact, robust and easy to work with. That kind of reliability is exactly what you need when you’re building systems for major touring productions.”

As with many touring builds, last-minute additions and modifications were also part of the process - something Lewis says VDC’s extensive stockholding helped accommodate. “Like any large production, there are always last-minute tweaks,” he adds. “VDC are great for that - their stock levels on connectors and components mean you can usually get what you need quickly when the inevitable last-minute requests come in.”

Cameron Clark, Business Development Manager at VDC Trading concludes: “It’s been a pleasure working with Urban Audio Productions throughout this project. With fibre playing such a central role in touring infrastructure, we’re really proud that Van Damme cabling helped support a production as big and iconic as Oasis Live ’25.”