"Having made large investments in video equipment, we recognized the need to upgrade our audio mixers to higher specification units in order to cater for the increasingly complex audio production requirements of our clients, and the scale of the events," remarked Kevin Moorhouse, technical director of Gearhouse Broadcast. "In particular we required compact, but powerful units in order to make shipping more cost-effective. The B800s fulfilled this requirement, while the specification met and exceeded the requirement of the sophisticated audio plan for the Football World Cup."
Each of the desks will be allocated to a flyaway as the main sound desk, with two BSS 9088 Soundweb DSP matrixing devices forming the hub of each of the five associated processing racks. The B800s have been configured with 24 mono inputs, 12 stereo inputs, four mono and two stereo groups, and there are two fully independent stereo master output modules. Six mono and two stereo aux sends are also provided, while extensive monitoring and cue facilities include stereo AFL/PFL and several sets of speaker and phones outputs. Four VCA groups provide additional level control.
The flyaway commitments this summer, in Europe, America, Korea and Japan are a major undertaking for Gearhouse Broadcast and this has necessitated the expansion of operations into an additional warehouse in London. After the World Cup the B800s will return to Gearhouse Broadcast’s rental stock and be used as part of future digital flyaway solutions.
(Ruth Rossington)
