Final Mix Post tests out VistaMix
Published: ASIA
AUSTRALIA: Sydney based broadcast audio company, Final Mix Post, has recently added VistaMix automatic mixing to its Studer Vista 5 consoles. The company made the decision in a bid to tackle the mix problems prevalent in noisy TV studio environments.
Capturing audio from unscripted judging panels or multiple game show contestants can be difficult. If you leave all microphones open, the mix gets noisy, if you turn someone down when they’re not talking, you might miss them when they speak unexpectedly. Broadcast doesn’t get second chances, so it has to be right the first time. Adding VistaMix to its console has helped the company overcome some of these challenges.
John Simpson of Final Mix Post is a long-time user of Studer consoles, and his Vista 5 has been the go-to surface for most jobs. While visiting Studer to demo new gear, he was blown away by VistaMix. ‘It was so good we had to have it,’ he exclaimed. ‘It’s the best version of an automixer I’ve used. It mixes way better than even we can.’
Mr Simpson upgraded his Vista 5 to run the new feature and immediately rolled it out. The first show to get the VistaMix treatment was Network 10’s A League of Their Own; a sports-themed comedic panel show hosted by comedian Tommy Little.
‘The show was so rapid fire it was almost impossible to capture,’ said Mr Simpson. ‘We also had a PA for an audience of 400, and reverse monitors for each side of the panel. We did it with three VistaMix feeds - VistaMix across both panels and another instance as a master. We implemented it from the rehearsals and it’s been fantastic.’
In addition to cleaning up the live audio feeds, VistaMix also helped in the edit suite. ‘It made the postproduction much easier because the dialogue track was much tighter.
‘VistaMix is a game changer for us – it’s exceeded all expectations and it’s a regular part of our setups,’ he concluded. ‘It’s been used across the judging panel on the X Factor and Australia’s Got Talent, and we’ll be using it on The Voice as well.
Studer are now rolling out the automix technology across its range. In addition to the Vista family, it is also now available on its OnAir consoles as well.