JANDS NEWS
TV3 Big Night In
23 September 2009
In June this year, Derek Metivier, one of New Zealand’s more experienced broadcast audio engineers, engaged Andy Tait from Tom Cat & Associates to supply a Vi6 console and lend a hand to do the 21.5 hour live to air Auckland mix for the TV3 Telethon, the first Telethon in NZ for 15 years.
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Andy and Derek have used the Vi6 console on many music TV Productions over the years, so when this job came up the Vi6 was their first choice.
They did the live to air audio mix from a customized sound proof shipping container at the temporary Alinghi base studio. This included the band mixes as well as all the playback, presenters, ISO feeds, IFBs, mix minus sends and fold-back mixes to the different areas of the venue.
Andy commented that “New Zealand’s outside broadcast trucks are world class, but compared to the container, they don’t offer the same amount of sound isolation or internal space necessary to set up an ideal music mixing environment.
The Vi6 has more great sounding dynamics & effects on board than you will ever use. We have a quad-core computer loaded with Nuendo and an RME HDSP MADI card connected to The Vi6’s optical MADI interface allowing us to easily multi-track shows up to 64 tracks. In some cases, this package has allowed us to begin the audio post process onsite, saving countless hours and costs in post production.
This was such a complex show, the console was loaded to the max with over 90 mix channels and all mix busses, auxiliaries, groups and matrixes were full. I can’t remember a time when we have had such a busy template and not a single glitch.
We had an additional stage box on standby (kindly donated by the folks at Jands NZ) but in the end, by utilising every available mic/line input and a few of the AES/EBU inputs, we managed to squeeze all of the 80 odd inputs and 40 odd outputs into the single stage and local box infrastructure.
Derek was able to configure the console in a way that was perfect for the project, we basically had three 32 channel layers, the top layer catering to the main performance stage instrument mics, the second layer was loaded with the 2nd performance stage mics, presenter mics, room mics and vocal mics etc, and the third layer was mainly for effects, VT and EVS machines, CD, IFB and mix minuses. Most of the critical on air components were assigned to VCA’s for instant access.
Of course all digital consoles are great for these sorts of projects but Derek and I particularly love the Vi6, it’s such a visual user friendly control surface, and after almost four years, I must confess, other than the odd query, we still haven’t bothered to read the manual.”
Tom Cat‘s Vi6 console has been used for mixing and multi-tracking many TV productions over the past few years, including NZ Idol 2006, two seasons of Stars in their Eyes TVNZ, NZ’s got Talent Prime TV, To Sir with Love TVNZ, and C4’s Homegrown 2009 TV special.
For more information contact Andy Tate – Tom Cat & Associates:
