VRT OB vans keep on trucking with Stage Tec
Posted on: Thursday 6th of December 2018
Stage Tec has upgraded two of Flemish broadcaster VRT’s OB trucks with powerful RMDQ audio DSP units. The HD01 and HD02 OB vans were each equipped with six DSP boards in their NEXUS STAR routers. With them, the OB trucks are now ready for all production requirements. For example, depending on the configuration, 44 mix buses and more than 500 audio channels are available. The AURUS consoles, which have been installed in the OB vans for eight years, can now benefit from new features such as the automixer, M/S decoder, internal tone generator, and the VCA hierarchy, etc.
“The customer can swap out the old DSP cards for the new RMDQ very quickly. For Stage Tec, on the other hand, considerable effort was required for such a technological update in order to achieve compatibility. You can compare this with replacing the engine of a ten year old car with one incorporating the latest technologies and specifications – without compromising on functionality and performance,” explained Jean-Paul Moerman, Stage Tec’s distributor for Belgium and the Netherlands.
The two OB vans were built by Videohouse and have been on the road for VRT Flemish Radio and Television for eight and six years respectively. Both OB vans service large scale, complex TV productions and are primarily used for sports broadcasts and major music shows. Both audio control rooms are equipped with unusual AURUS consoles. These AURUS were designed as a large console in a small frame in order to save space, whilst still being able to undertake complex productions with many audio sources. A total of 64 faders are accommodated in a 48-Fader frame. This was achieved by installing two fader panels on the second console level directly under the screens in addition to the standard 48 faders. This increased number of direct access channels is used mainly for pre-recorded sound playback.
The performance of the new audio DSP units in the two OB vans seems to have convinced VRT: the Flemish broadcaster now plans to upgrade the M1 OB truck for radio productions and two production studios with NEXUS RMDQ boards.
