Ahead of the Church's biggest annual get-together at Camp Meeting in Wales, SECMedia has refurbished an OBV built by Sony Broadcast, once part of the Grampians TV fleet. Equipped with a new 48-channel M-400 digital console plus configurable digital snake solution, the truck will handle a packed schedule, recording and mixing for internet broadcast six programmes a day throughout the six-day event.
The South England Conference is the umbrella organisation that enfolds all the Seventh-day Adventist churches in the south of the country. Stefan Stanciu, leader of the 15-man AV and IT team, was the first to identify the potential of the M-400 consoles for his media operation. "Seeing it for the first time at PLASA, we got really excited and upped our order to two consoles."
The Seventh-day Adventists were already successfullly using an M-400 at their university facility, Newbold College near Bracknell, but compact size proved the decisive factor for choosing the console for the new OBV, which is already set up to house the audio facilities in the driver's compartment of the truck.
"Space is really limited. We were keen to find a digital desk that would fit into the existing rack space, and the M-400 made it with an inch to spare. The price tag was also very pleasing. The M-400 and RSS multicore snake solution came in for less money than the leading alternative without a digital snake."
Stanciu and his primary audio engineer Andre Johnson will use both M-400s for the SEC's larger events. Johnson will take one console into the venue, and use it to mix the PA. Feeds from this desk will be sent via RSS S-1608 stageboxes and Cat5e multicore connection to the OBV, where the engineer will prepare mixes for DVD, internet streaming and broadcast on local radio.
(Jim Evans)
