Technical development manager Julian Parsons explained that the OB Division had been in the process of decommissioning two 16-channel B800 desks from older vehicles, while at the same time a further desk was reaching the end of its lifespan. Their solution was to approach Soundcraft, who agreed to build both the original modular broadcast desks into a single-frame mixer, which was this month installed in the principle OB truck. Last month the new 32-channel, eight-group board completed its first Grand Prix in San Marino successfully.
At the same time they have purchased a flightcased, de-mountable B400 for coverage of the World Rally Championships. The B400 fully services the vehicle but for this event the production facilities are very different. The event includes a lot of portable single camera (PSC) recording, which is taken into an Avid Unity MediaNet, alongside two Avid Media Composer editing systems and five Avid MC Express digital workstations, from where the bulk of the content is produced. A separate articulated trailer contains two edit areas and a production office for Channel 4 while a third vehicle is a virtual reality studio.
Parsons explained, "We commissioned the B400 to service this production vehicle, to provide all the sound facilities to be associated with the VR studio and take a feed from the Unity and the production vehicles own two edits. The B400 had everything we needed in terms of comms package and the input functionality - all in a single unit, instead of configuring separates. Its the centre of the vehicle and provides all the sound facilities for Channel 4’s coverage."
(Lee Baldock)
