PAT supplies Special Broadcasting Services with Lawo and VSM
Published: ASIA
AUSTRALIA: Professional Audio Technology Pty Ltd recently supplied and configured 10 Lawo crystal On-Air consoles, three voice booth crystal frames, a Nova73 HD Core router and a large VSM system to Special Broadcasting Services (SBS) in Sydney. The new system was supplied, configured and commissioned in two phases.
Extensive cooperation between VSM’s manufacturer LSB Broadcast Technologies, SBS’ traffic department and Professional Audio Technology took place to customise the VSM scheduler to SBS’ requirements, including special functions within the VSM Scheduler and custom designed operator screens for remote terminals.
The VSM Scheduler is used by the SBS traffic department to maintain the entire SBS Sydney Radio schedule and to control all on-air contribution switching on the Lawo HD Core router.
The first phase involved replacing SBS’ main radio MCR router with a Nova73 HD core router controlled by a VSM system, which also serves as the main on-air scheduling system via its VSM Control scheduling software. All on-air studios and production booths were also equipped with VSM LBP17 router panels for easy source selection from the MCR in each location.
The second phase shifted focus to the commissioning of all on-air studios and voice booths in Sydney. ‘SBS and Professional Audio Technology worked very closely together to make sure that the routing and scheduling system cut-over was implemented without any glitches, while taking all of SBS’ unique requirements, redundancy and ease of operation into account,’ said Professional Audio Technology’s MD Patrick Salloch. ‘It made sense to ensure we got the first phase spot on before we moved on to the console integration in the studios.’
‘It was crucial to not interrupt our 24/7 on-air operation while cutting over to the new system,’ added solutions architect and project manager Francis Fung. ‘PAT were extremely helpful in working together with key SBS stake holders, liaised closely with operators, the project department and the German manufacturers to ensure the successful commissioning of phase one of this project.’
‘This has been a fantastic team effort between all parties involved so far,’ enthused James Vicary, operations manager for SBS Radio. ‘We are looking forward to a long and fruitful relationship between SBS, Professional Audio Technology, Lawo and LSB over the coming years.’
Phase two of this project has already begun and all console cluster custom configurations have been finalised and tested prior to the final installation. ‘It was crucial to emulate some of the screen layout within VisTools to provide On-Air Talent with a similar feel when operating the new Lawo consoles,’ explained Alan Liddelow, PAT’s technology specialist.
‘A fine balance had to be met between emulating the old technology while introducing newer and far advanced features. Close cooperation between the SBS Operations Department and PAT made this possible, while taking full advantage of the flexibility of Lawo’s VisTools control software.’
While SBS Radio has three stand alone on-air studios in its Sydney facility, the radio complex also accommodates three studio clusters consisting of two on-air studios which both can remote control one voice booth.
These studio clusters required custom configuration whereby each on-air studio can control all parameters in the voice booth remotely, so that on-air producers can take control of all technical aspects of a program while the on-air talent can concentrate on the program itself. Various other custom functions such as integration of delay features, talkback and hybrid control were included in each studio’s configuration. All custom configurations were completed by Professional Audio Technology.