Cutting-Edge Lawo Audio at Russia's Premier TV Channel

Cutting-Edge Lawo Audio at Russia's Premier TV Channel posted: 19/11/2019

Channel One is Russia's most popular TV channel-so popular, in fact, that it is usually assigned to channel button 1 on end-users' remote controls. For two control rooms dedicated to its 24/7 live news service at the gigantic Television Technical Center in Moscow's Ostankino district, Channel One installed two full-DSP-option Lawo mc 96 Grand Production Consoles with 72 channel strips and over 800 DSP channels each as well as two 12-fader, fully-featured Lawo sapphire mixing consoles for backup-purposes, along with fit-to-spec Nova 73 DSP cores and DALLIS stageboxes in an ST2022-7 redundant configuration for both the mc 96 and the sapphire consoles.

Grand Production Console

The new Lawo system handles the audio part of Channel One's news show, Time , Russia's most-watched news programs, which is manned day and night and airs live content during the whole day. Additional applications for the massively spec'd mc 96 consoles include live coverage of high-profile events like the 9 May/Victory Day , Immortal Regiment , etc., parades, which last up to five hours.

Pristine audio quality was clearly the most important consideration for selecting Lawo equipment, explains Ravil Haerdinov, Channel One's Main Sound Director of the Information Programs department. But we also needed raw processing power in an intuitive, user-friendly format.

Lawo mc in Studio

With the mc 96, the mc platform culminates in a pure, unparalleled audio production tool with a unique feature set for a variety of applications (broadcast, theater, recording). The mc 96 provides optimized performance within IP video production environments with native SMPTE 2110 support. Its revolutionary LiveView feature enables thumbnail previews of video streams directly in the fader labeling displays.

In addition, the mc 96 stands out with other user-centric features that allow it to shine in control rooms like Channel One's, where 24/7 live operation demands maximum availability, zero failure and, of course, highly customizable, user-friendly operation. One feature deemed especially important at Channel One were the six assignable free controls per channel strip that allow operators to use the console in a near-analog fashion.

The importance of the ability to protect (lock) all required signals cannot be overstated in the fast-paced and competitive environment of 24-hour news delivery and high-profile special events. This again spoke in the mc 96's favor.

Frequent conference shows mean that Channel One's new mc 96 consoles also needed to have a user-friendly Mix-Minus system-and they deliver.

Given the scope of the station's operations, command triggers and several GPI/O cards were specified for convenient control of all lamps, Group Mutes and other functions.

Snapshots, Channel Isolation, the console's intuitive layout and the ability to store backups rank among the mc 96's additional fortes. The presence of seven Lawo V__pro8 video processing units with audio embedding/de-embedding means that Channel One is able to fully leverage the convenience of the mc 96's LiveView functionality of video thumbnails for intuitive channel identification by operators even in hectic situations. Likewise, the console's Fader Notch function was programmed to click at 0dB, allowing audio engineers to take advantage of the Fader Start function and intuitively find the 0dB setting without looking at the faders.

Lawo mc 96 in Studio at Channel One

Color coding of encoders and high-res color TFTs further contribute to the mc 96's intuitive operation. Users can create, save and recall multiple personalized free control layouts directly in their own bay.

On the whole, the mc 96 is considered a Perfect Symphony of hardware & software controls, with a unique design that combines large screens with a low overbridge to provide a more ergonomic profile. Its 21.5 full HD touch-screens work hand-in-hand with the touch-sensitive color-illuminated rotary encoders. An equalizer window will automatically pop-up when touching the equalizer encoders, and after the parameters have been adjusted, the window closes without additional user action. Close positioning of the TFTs and encoders provides a constant and clear overview of parameters and graphs.

sapphire

Although installed as a backup solution for the unlikely event that an mc 96 becomes unavailable, two fully-featured, 12-fader sapphire consoles have also been installed at Channel One to ensure 24/7 availability of its news program. This move again demonstrates the versatility of Lawo's radio line-up, which is equally at home in TV operations and high-profile installations (parliaments, arenas, etc.). Other TV stations and broadcast facilities use Lawo's sapphire and ruby surfaces as flexible remote controls for audio nodes, which is possible thanks to their open-standard IP implementation.

The sapphire mixing console offers the best of both worlds, combining cutting-edge technology with eye-catching design.

Maximum flexibility and sophisticated functionality are available on a modern, clearly laid-out control surface. The system's raw processing power is provided by Lawo's VisTool software which can be customized to customer specifications and offers fully-featured audio processing. VisTool is Lawo's virtual radio studio environment that provides operators single-point access to all the tools they use daily. VisTool's rich graphical GUI is instantly understandable, because it works the same way tablets and touchscreens do-intuitively, with control right at your fingertips.

Lawo Sapphire at Channel One

Thanks to the DALLIS interfaces employed for ingesting and playing out audio signals, the audio quality of this system is

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