TV Nova Completes Trio Of Studer Vista Installs

Czech Commercial TV station, TV Nova, has been a prominent customer of AudiTech, Studer’s Prague-based distributor, since its first broadcast in 1994.

Now celebrating 15 years of highly successful operation it has grown to become by far the most important member of the CME Group, achieving market leader status with revenues and profits making it the biggest private TV station in the Czech Republic.

During this time Nova has also continually strived to pioneer new advanced technologies, with the help of AudiTech serving as a competence centre. With fibre optics and Ethernet networks progressively penetrating studio environments, these new technologies are implemented, tested and used by AudiTech on a daily basis.

“Whenever a new Studer model or innovative solution is introduced, TV Nova will be the first customer we approach,” says AudiTech director, Libor Havlicek. “The station’s young team — both technical support and sound engineer personnel — are always willing to invest their efforts.”

It was this open-mindedness that drove the sale of the first Vista 6 (Serial No. 0002) six years ago. This oldest broadcast and production console remains in use on News Center 2 (on the paid-for Nova Sport channel). Configured 80-In/80-Out, 46 channels, 27 busses, its primary use is live on-air application and recording.

The flagship of TV Nova is the Vista 8, delivered as a part of a turnkey solution to News Center 1 by TLS studio house (with commissioning and after-sales support handled locally). This system comprises 160-In/138-Out, 98 channels, 48 busses and ten shared processes. The ‘8’ is used for live news in prime time on the main TV Nova channel, live morning show and many other news-related production tasks.

However, the latest member of the Vista family to join the TV Nova family is the Vista 5. This was recently commissioned for use in the new Production Center, which is mainly used for recording MTV programmes linked to a ProTools workstation via MADI. It boasts an impressive SCore matrix, configured 282-In/192-Out (including 64-channel MADI), 88 channels, 46 busses and 13 shared processes. Its remote location (800 metres away in another complex) with optical fibre connectivity in place, opens up plans for resource sharing via Studer’s RELINK system in the New Year.

Says Libor Havlicek, “All consoles typically use many external sources: all matrix in/outs are already being used (and several layers), and further expansion is now being considered. Projects are always ongoing, with the result that many personally-configured snapshots are used by sound engineers who alternate in the same environment. As a result, the RELINK approach is certainly being considered, making a swap of the older D19m by D21m technology a must.”

Added TV Nova Chief Sound Engineer, Jiri Stekr, "After six years of experience with three Vista models we can confirm that all our colleagues have been able to operate the consoles, and use a substantial part of their features, very quickly. We are very happy with the system philosophy, where intuitive operation is the key word.”

Czech Television Broadcasts FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in HD with Studer Vista 8

Czech Television’s HD OB Van was in operation during the entire FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Liberec, Czech Republic, between February 18th and March 1st, to the great satisfaction of the sound engineers. The only threat to the event was the possibility of no snow, which would have been a nightmare for the organizing committee, but finally 120 cm of snowfall over the period of the event meant that all the connecting cables from the truck to the remote stageboxes almost became a fixed installation until the early summer!

Higher temperatures and a thaw over the last 2 days finally allowed the crew of the HD Van to leave Liberec. "Over 50 hours of live broadcast was made on the Vista 8, an integral part of Czech Television’s first HD OB Van. All the standard features of this digital system, in particular the user-friendly intuitive operation, very good sound quality and overall system robustness passed the demanding test of this sports event under severe weather conditions.” The events were watched by nearly 200,000 spectators over the 2 week period.

“This comprehensive live application confirmed that the Studer Vista is able to meet our demanding expectations," reported Mr. Milan Gazdik, Senior Engineer of Audioengineering, Czech TV Prague and a member of the EBU Production Management Committee.

Soundcraft Announces Lower-Priced Si2 Addition To Si Series Digital Console Family

Digital consoles seem to be freely flowing from the Soundcraft Studer team these days, as a new member of the Si Series is announced. The Soundcraft Si2 is a smaller partner to the Si3, launched only in September last year, and is bound to appeal to those wanting a compact and highly-featured digital console at a competitive price.

The Si2 comes in a smaller footprint than its bigger brother, and has 48 mic inputs mapped on 24 faders (the Si3 has 64 inputs), but this is where the differences end. The Si2, like the Si3, has four dedicated Stereo Line channels, four dedicated FX Returns from the four stereo Lexicon FX processors, 8 balanced insert sends and 8 balanced insert returns. Si2 is complete with 24 Group/Aux busses available at all times, 8 matrix busses and a full complement of monitor talkback and main bus outputs. One of the most unique and compelling features of the Si series is that every input and output has its own dedicated input (output) socket on the back of the console.

Like the Si3, the Si2 uses a combination of rotary encoders and OLED screens on every channel so the engineer mixes at source, without recourse to a central screen; an interface welcomed by many engineers since the console’s launch last year. Four assignable on-board lexicon effect engines supplement 4 stereo inputs to provide a really powerful mix package in a width of 1.4m for a UK list price of £17,950.

This package will be highly suited for installations where a smaller footprint is critical, such as theaters, houses of worship and smaller tour sound systems.

With all input and output connections and power supply on board, the Si2 can simply drop in where an existing analog console sits, utilizing existing copper cable snakes and splitter systems.

For more information and to find out what the reviewers are saying, visit www.soundcraftdigital.com.

Soundcraft Broadcast Sales Buoyant Despite Market Conditions

Soundcraft Studer reports that sales of its analog Broadcast mixing consoles remain particularly strong, despite the economic conditions and even the transition to digital.

Sales of the long-established RM100, RM105, Series 10, Series 15 on-air desks and the production-orientated B400, B800 and BB100 desks are as strong as ever, proving that the market puts a lot of faith in choosing the right, reliable and proven products for use in its facilities.

Recent sales in the Broadcast sector have been made to City College Coventry, where 5 of the Series 10 desks have been installed in the technology suites for Media courses, and to Satellite Information Services Live who purchased 3 of the BB100 production mixers, with other analogue consoles sales to RAI and Radio Italia in Italy, TRT in Turkey and ERT in Egypt.
The company has also recently announced that many models will now be readily available from stock in standard configurations, which helps reduce delivery times for time-critical installations.

“We found that people are less willing to wait for custom-configured desks nowadays, (which we still do to order) but that most configurations used pretty-well identical modules. So we chose to stock what we consider to be the most popular configurations so that delivery times are minimized,” reports VP of Sales, Adrian Curtis.
The standard configurations typically include a mix of Mono, Stereo and Telco input modules, master module, VU meters and a timer.

“We had expected that digital consoles would make more of an impact in the simpler on-air end, but there is definitely still a very active analog sector, particularly in some OB applications where budgets and space are often tight” says Curtis. “Being able to offer fast deliveries on these consoles has definitely been well received by our customers.”

“Having said that, the Soundcraft® Vi Series of digital consoles, particularly the compact Soundcraft Vi4, has found favor in studios and the larger OB trucks recently, notable installations include Denmark’s TV2 OB truck, RAI in Italy, SWR in Germany, VRT in Belgium, TVE in Spain, and Russia’s RUR TV and RTR. The 72-input capacity of the Vi4, coupled with the broadcast-friendly remote stagebox and Vistonics II user interface, offers a great package for many applications requiring digital solutions. In these low-light environments, having the illuminated Soundcraft FaderGlow™ and Vistonics screens are a major advantage for operators.”

The Vi Series also has optional interface cards which make it particularly useful in HD trucks, such as an SDI de-embedder/embedder card, and a Dolby D/E decoder card, which help to save cost, space and weight. Other broadcast-specific functions include a high bus count for cleanfeed outputs, and configurable GPIO connections for fader starts, signalling etc.
Full details at www.soundcraft.com

Studer and Soundcraft Mixers Featured Heavily at Beijing 2008 Olympic Games

Mixers from both Studer and Soundcraft appear at numerous events and broadcast facilities at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Digital consoles from both Harman companies have been chosen and purchased by local Chinese broadcasters as well as worldwide companies who are installing or providing facilities at the events. The increased attention to HD broadcasting and surround has been one of the reasons Studer consoles particularly have been bought by numerous Broadcasters for their games coverage.

By far the largest consumer of Studer consoles for the games is China’s premier Broadcaster, CCTV (China Central Television). Their English-speaking International channel, CCTV-9, is using a Studer Vista 7 in its on-air studio, while the main studios of CCTV have been equipped with four Vista 5’s and five OnAir 3000’s. Quindao Radio has purchased an OnAir 3000 for the games, and Hong Kong’s TVB has purchased a total of five Vista 5’s, three for its studio for the games and two for OB vans.

Studer Vista consoles are particularly popular in OB vehicles because of their compact size, weight, simple user interface and functionality (including surround management and integral Dolby E and SDI decoding capabilities), and local broadcasters Guangdong TV, Beijing TV and Shanghai Media Group all feature Vista 8’s in their trucks. The Shanghai Media Group also fitted a dedicated 5.1 audio truck with a Vista 5. CCTV’s HD OB van is equipped with a Vista 8 and an OnAir 3000, while TJTV’s HD truck is now equipped with a Vista 8. HLJTV’s HD van comes with both a Vista 5 and an OnAir 3000, BTV’s HD truck is fitted with a Vista 8 and an OnAir 3000. Jinan TV and Dalian TV are sending HD trucks, both fitted with Vista 5 consoles.

From outside China, Spain’s TVE is constructing its own studio in Beijing, where three Studer Vista 5’s handle all the mixing tasks, as will the Vista 5 in the studio of Hungary’s MTV. Danmarks Radio’s facilities include a Studer OnAir 3000 (the corporation operates some 90+ Studer OnAir mixers in Copenhagen), and an OnAir 3000 will be at the heart of Brazil’s TV Bandeirantes’ system, while OB vehicles from France (SFP and VCF) and Norway (NRK’s HD-1) will run with Studer D950’s, Vista 5’s and Vista 8’s. Finally, the OnAir 3000 infrastructure of the Swiss SRG Media Services (MSC) will also be in Beijing, feeding all the radio programs of SRG, 13 networks in all.

For the opening and closing ceremonies, Soundcraft Vi6™ digital consoles are part of a large Harman-based system, while a Soundcraft Vi6 is at the heart of the system in the National Aquatics Centre. Two Soundcraft Vi4™’s are installed at the National Olympic Conference Centre, and numerous Soundcraft analogue mixers ranging from CompAct mixers up to MH4’s are installed in Olympic venues such as the Fengtai Softball Field, Chang Ping Indoor Stadium, Olympic Sports Centre Gymnasium, Beijing Foreign Language University Stadium, Ditan Park Indoor Stadium, Shanghai 80k Stadium, Hong Kong Equestrian Venues and the Honk Kong Olympic House Conference Room.

Studer and Soundcraft are units of Harman International Industries, Incorporated (www.harman.com). Harman International designs, manufactures and markets a wide range of audio and infotainment products for the automotive, consumer and professional markets, and maintains a strong presence in the Americas, Europe and Asia, employing more than 11,000 people worldwide. The Harman International family of brands includes AKG®, Audioaccess®, Becker®, BSS®, Crown®, dbx®, DigiTech®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon®, Mark Levinson®, Revel®, QNX®, Soundcraft® and Studer®. Harman International’s stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “NYSE: HAR.”

AKG Launches New Perception Series Professional Condenser Microphone

FRANKFURT, Germany – March 12, 2008 – AKG today announced the introduction of the new Perception Series of professional condenser microphones at the 2008 Musikmesse in Frankfurt, Germany. Designed for a wide range of applications used by ambitious hobby musicians as well as professional studios, the four new models included in the product launch provide superb audio quality and performance at a competitive price.

The new AKG Perception Series includes the P 120, P 170, P 220 and P 420 – each offering a 20 dB attenuation pad and a low cut filter for an even wider range of miking capabilities including vocals, brass instruments, electric guitar amps and drums across multiple market applications of studio recording, live sound and broadcast. Designed and engineered in Vienna, Austria, the entire Perception line offers AKG’s signature sound quality captured in a rugged precision-tooled zinc/aluminum alloy body with a dent-resistant stainless steel grille screen.

Perception P 120 is a general-purpose recording mic with a wide, extended frequency response. The 2/3-inch diaphragm condenser microphone offers users outstanding quality, performance and value, making it an ideal studio microphone for home recording and project studio use.

Perception P 170 is a 1/2-inch diaphragm condenser microphone with a cardioid polar pattern. Designed for acoustic instruments, drums and percussion, the small diaphragm true condenser microphone delivers high quality AKG sound in both live and studio applications.

Perception P 220 is a true one-inch diaphragm condenser microphone for studio recording and live sound applications on vocals, percussion, guitar, bass amps and acoustic instruments. The P 220 includes a switchable bass roll-off and a pre-attenuation pad, making it an ideal microphone for sources with high sound pressure levels up to 155 dB.

Perception P 420 is a multi-pattern large-diaphragm condenser microphone for professional studio recording of grand piano, woodwind and brass instruments as well as drums and percussion. Offering high sensitivity and 155 dB maximum SPL, the P 420 delivers a warm transparent sound quality in a selection of cardioid, omni-directional or figure-eight pickup patterns.

“AKG’s Perception microphones have built a strong following among musicians and engineers,” explained Thomas Stubics, Product Manager, AKG Acoustics. “Building on this prestigious reputation, we are proud to introduce the new line of Perception microphones with new features and outstanding value for the money.”

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