The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) has taken delivery of the first of four new outside broadcast vehicles, commissioned for the 2010 FIFA World Cup and other upcoming events. All four OB Vans have been equipped with identical Lawo mc_56 digital audio consoles.
The first two vehicles have been delivered by integrator Sony, and are now in use on the Premier Soccer League broadcasts for SABC and international feeds. The events are considered the perfect warm-up for the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup and a rehearsal for the 2010 World Cup.
The SABC’s Technical OB Manager Mervin Buthelezi says reliability is one of the main reasons for choosing Lawo for the sound side of the OB vans: “After evaluation, research and testing by our own sound engineers, we all felt that the Lawo mc_56 had the power, flexibility, reliability and redundancy we were looking for. It also integrates perfectly with Virtual Studio Manager.”
For their busy season of sport, which will include the SA Athletics Tour at the start of 2010, SABC will deploy all four of the new OB Vans. Each 30-ton vehicle is equipped with 18 cameras, and wired for 24, including 3 superslow HD cameras. The interior is divided into four main areas; Production, Sound, Video Tape Area (VT) and Vision Control.
The Sound Area is equipped with a Lawo mc_56 console with a 64-fader stereo fully programmable control surface in a 32-16-16 configuration. There is built-in full processing for each channel and the HD Core offers 128 AES inputs and 128 AES outputs.
A Lawo DALLIS frame provides all the other AES and analogue I/Os; the routing capacity of the HD Core is 8192 crosspoints. Additional general specifications include 3 x Glensound Commentary stations, 5.1 Surround monitoring, Dolby-E Encoding/Decoding and a Pyramix Audio workstation. Communications are via a Riedel Artist 144 x 144 talkback system, with complete interfacing to the Audio Router.
Audio-wise, the Confederations Cup has a requirement for different mix outputs that can only be achieved by two sound engineers operating the mixer together, but independently; this method will also be used by the SA Athletics Tour in February 2010, and such versatility is one of the great strengths of the Lawo mc_56 console.
Lawo, headquartered in Rastatt/Germany, specialises in developing, designing and manufacturing mixing consoles and matrix systems for radio and TV broadcasters, as well as for use in live events. Lawo’s product range covers digital audio mixing consoles for use in radio, broadcast, production and live applications, including the required software. In addition to the provision of matrix systems and audio networks, Lawo also carries out project engineering tasks and acts as a main contractor for radio OB trucks.
Pictures below: OB Van outside, Sound Control Room and MC256 Console.
