Lawo surround sound at Rugby World Cup
Published: ASIA
NEW ZEALAND: Auckland-based On Site Broadcasting (OSB) has equipped its HD vehicles with Lawo mc²66 mixing consoles in preparation for the 2011 Rugby World Cup, which commences at Eden Park, Auckland, on September 9th. OSB has spent four years preparing for the event, which will see Sky Network TV broadcast a total of 48 matches in full HD with 5.1 surround sound.
OSB’s four HD vehicles, supplemented by two flyaway units also equipped with Lawo consoles, will cover the 12 venues for the Rugby World Cup, ranging from Whangarei in the north of the country to Invercargill in the south. ‘Everything audio at this World Cup is Lawo,’ confirmed OSB founder Ray Standidge. ‘Our guys have been using the Lawo products for several years now and we’re very comfortable with the technology and the level of support Lawo give us.’
Although the Lawo consoles boast technical specifications that include up to 276 inputs, 48 sub groups, 32 aux sends and 96 track busses, all of OSB’s audio facilities will be identical during the matches, and will use the same configuration for each console so that the operators can seamlessly move between them.
Rene Bullinga from Protel, Lawo’s distributor in New Zealand elaborated on this: ‘The whole audio network is carried on a single fibre optic cable, and OSB will gain advantage by using the same spec for each of their mobile units,’ he explained. ‘Although the flyaway kits are using mc²56 consoles – that are more compact and therefore more flexible for situations where space is at a premium – all the units are using the same combination of cores and I/O and Dallis.’
OSB’s configuration is a mc²66 (or mc²56) console with a router, supported by two Dallis units for accessing machines, with EVS playback units in the outside broadcast vehicle. Another Dallis stagebox will be used in the field, and a fourth placed in the commentary box to handle commentary feeds and intercom returns.
The OSB OBVs use VSM Control as their management system, reportedly benefitting from its direct interface with the Lawo equipment. ‘Not only do you get great flexibility in the system, allowing very quick changes from one set-up or operator to another, but you don’t have to have an audio layer on the vision router,’ furthered Mr Bullinga.
‘These are highly-specced matches and, even though we are used to it, this eight-week tournament will require a lot of back-up,’ said Mr Standidge. ‘Protel is holding critical spares here in New Zealand because of the importance of the event, and we have no doubt that the systems will deliver sonically and in terms of reliability,’ he concluded.