Truck Audio Consoles: A Category in Transition

As much as audio loves analog, the reality is that the future is digital. Chris Fichera, VP of audio at Group One, which distributes DiGiCo consoles in North America, says he has been told that it's less love of analog's sound than concern over digital's costs and often steep learning curves that keep some regional remote-production vendors from moving to digital.

There are just some companies out there that are not ready to make the jump [to digital], he sighs. There are definitely the haves' and the have-nots' when it comes to being able to afford a digital console. He notes that DiGiCo's broadcast models SD9B, SD10B, and SD11B range in price from $25,000 to $100,000, price points the company has tried to tailor to the small-truck market. But, he says, even when a digital console fits a budget, it may still seem technically daunting to some users.

At Solid State Logic, according to VP of Broadcast Sales Steve Zaretsky, digital consoles can be costly compared with analog desks: the company's C10 broadcast console costs several hundred thousand dollars, depending on channel numbers and configuration.

However, he points out, digital is an umbrella technology that encompasses far more aspects than simply mixing audio. He points to the C10's integration of MADI audio-signal transmission and control as an example of how a digital console takes on functionality beyond mixing. He also notes software additions (the company calls them Production Assistants) that integrate such functions as automated 5.1 upmixing and C-Play, an embedded dual-player playout system.

SSL includes the developing college broadcast markets in its strategy, Zaretsky says, adding that he views the use of analog consoles as an iteration in the course of a longer developmental timeframe that will inevitably lead to digital work surfaces. All the trucks are going to have to eventually move to a digital platform, to remain interoperable with the rest of the industry.

For the Regional Market

Denver-based Mobile TV Group is the largest single entity servicing burgeoning regional sports production, fielding 27 trucks covering more than 4,000 regional MLB, NBA, NHL, and other sports nationally. According to founder/GM Phil Garvin, the company began its shift to digital consoles in 2003 to accommodate 5.1 audio and greater versatility.

The change took place first with the main console, with Euphonix digital consoles installed (the brand was acquired by Avid in 2010) and used for the home portion of dual-feed games. The other feed, sent to the visiting team's broadcaster, would often be mixed through an analog console, such as a Yamaha. Most recently, he says, the home consoles in the MTV Group's new mobile units are Calrec boards, whereas he has acquired six Studer Vista 1 digital consoles for the visitor-feed desks.

Garvin has noticed a significant difference between the original migration to digital and this second acquisition cycle: When we first made the transition, between 2003 and 2005, A1s needed to learn digital. Now, he adds, they have to learn a wider range of user interfaces.

Another issue, he points out, is that digital consoles are developing at different rates: some can use embedded audio natively; others must have the embed/de-embed process handled externally. Until this year, the MTV Group used the digital-audio mixer's internal router as the truck's audio router. However, with the transition to embedded audio, the newest mobile unit in the fleet, 33HDX, will use an Evertz audio/video router. Garvin hopes that, eventually, audio consoles will natively handle embedded audio, with internal embedders and de-embedders, and MADI.

Embedded audio has dramatically increased our ability to easily handle six to eight channels of audio, which is now required for our regional-network clients, says Garvin, and MADI has made connecting multiple audio consoles to the router much easier.

No Analog Here

Of course, at the top of the remote-broadcast food chain, analog is almost quaint. Not a single one is how Paul Bonar, VP of engineering at Game Creek Video, describes his inventory of analog audio consoles. However, he is finding that, while the migration to digital desks set off an arms race to add features and capacity, which is running into the spatial realities of the confines of a remote-broadcast truck.

Sometimes, he says, a console with all of the features and all of the faders that a customer wants just isn't going to fit inside the space that we have.

He notes that the Calrec Apollo is an in-demand console because of its dual-fader configuration. Freelance A1s like its because of its tactile aspect and ability to handle up to 144 faders, but the space available often results in the choice of a smaller console.

Clients understandably are looking for the biggest, most powerful consoles that they can get, but that runs into issues of space and cost, Bonar contends. And the equation in choosing a console isn't just size and cost; it's number of inputs versus number of channels versus processing power versus space versus price. It's complicated.

It's a peculiarly digital problem: analog consoles generally topped out at 48-56 inputs and, that created an implicit limit for years of truck audio-rooms design. Digital brought more-muscular processing, which increased the size of mainly rack-mounted engines, as well as such advances as touchscreen interfaces. At the same time, the size and complexity of the shows produced were growing, demanding more and more audio inputs and processing. That pushed digital broadcast consoles into the multilayered work surfaces, something that has not sat especially well with A1s accustomed to having all faders and channels available all the time on one surface.

The Calrec Apollo's du

LINK:	http://sportsvideo.org/main/blog/2013/07/11/truck-audio-consoles-a-cat...
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