RTBF, the national broadcaster for the French-speaking areas of Belgium (Brussels and Wallonia), has given Fairlight technology a major endorsement by choosing to re-fit all of its audio mixing rooms with Fairlight workstations, powered by the company’s ground breaking CC-1 digital processing engine.
The re-fit, which will take two years to complete, is part of the broadcaster’s Numprod project that aims to build a tapeless production net on all of its production sites. By installing Fairlight throughout, RTBF will benefit from significant improvements in work flow thanks to much easier file management and transfer.
Denis Derigent, managing director of Fairlight’s French business partner EuroMedia Technologies, says: “The work flow for all of RTBF’s Fairlight stations is being designed by EuroMedia-Technologies using our own AV-Process 3.0 CCE (Crystal Core edition) software. This new media management software, which is supported by Fairlight, handles all audio and video files, including Avid and EVS input and outputs, so that facilities can automate their entire production work flow.”
RTBF’s Numprod project is led by the broadcaster’s Chief Engineer for TV Production Didier Vanzeune and Sebastien Lange, Post Production Engineer.
Bernard Gabus, Audio Delegate for the Numprod project, says: “We are standardizing our production tools, not only to make file management easier, but also to rationalize maintenance services and user training. Until now we have had three different systems running in our various studios but the aim is to change and upgrade to Fairlight stations, along with EuroMedia Technologies servers. This will ensure that all of our studios are fully HD and 5.1 ready.”
RTBF’s television and radio production sites are spread over the French Community of Belgium, in Brussels, Mons, Charleroi, Namur and Liège. TV production and post-production facilities (studios, editing and mixing rooms) are based in Brussels for Information and Sports, in Charleroi for Magazine and Youth programs, and in Liège for Entertainment and Arts.
The broadcaster has already installed four Fairlight Constellation XCS consoles – two in Brussels and two in Charleroi. By the time the Numprod Project is completed, Fairlight technology will be installed in three more mixing rooms in Brussels and two in Liège.
RTBF’s decision to standardize on Fairlight equipment was taken as a result of its previous good experiences with the company’s products – it has been running four MFX3 consoles and one Dream Console at its Brussels facility for some years. The introduction of the Constellation XCS console, which was launched to much critical acclaim at last year’s IBC Convention in Amsterdam, helped secure the deal because it satisfied RTBF’s desire for a large format mixing console that incorporated Fairlight’s award-winning Xynergi controller technology.
The new Constellation XCS range has a Xynergi Centre Section that harnesses the unique tactile power of the Xynergi controller technology and allows users to redefine how they interface with their creative environment. The XCS panel centralizes all major system functions directly under finger tip control providing a truly intuitive tool for recording, editing and mixing. The XCS can be specified with any number of other Constellation panels, most typically the channel assign panel or in line panel, to create a console mixing environment tailored to the individual tastes of the operator.
“As well as re-fitting all of our audio mixing rooms, we are also carrying out a number of other projects this year,” Bernard Gabus says. “These include a substructure for stocking mobile needs and OB vans in Namur, and a new multi-broadcast center for nodal operations and for high-end control rooms in Brussels.”
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