Korean national broadcaster gears up with Lawo mc² consoles
Published: ASIA
KOREA: Following the upgrade of its master control room with 16 Lawo Nova17 MkII routing systems and VisTool workplaces for visualisation and control, Korean national broadcaster KBS (Korean Broadcasting System) has invested in more Lawo digital equipment. The broadcaster’s news studio and new OB truck will be outfitted shortly with mc²66 digital audio consoles, which are equipped with Ravenna/AES67 audio-over-IP interfaces. Although the news studio has been on-air since January 2015, the OB installation will only be finalised by August 2015. Lawo’s partner in Korea for broadcast audio and video, Soundfox International, is overseeing the extensive KBS installations.
Because of its familiarity with customised Lawo digital systems, KBS awarded the modernisation of its KBS News1 (NS1) news studio to the German manufacturer and the project began in October, 2014. An mc²66 console was installed and ready for news production in December, which fulfils the broadcaster’s criteria for operational stability and redundancy options, in addition to user-focused layouts. In this instance, KBS requested that the central control section and master to be located on the right-hand side of the desk.
‘The Lawo mc²66 system is very stable and easy-to-use,’ commented KBS News Director, Ho Gun Lee. ‘The reasons for selecting the mc²66 included its stability, together with the long history and expertise of Lawo as a manufacturer. Another feature is the simple and fast routing via the console, where errors can be monitored and analysed via real-time display of the current status of the whole system through the central main screen. In addition, errors are saved in the log file, which is convenient for maintenance control.’
KBS is also modernising its OB fleet, and for this a new mc²66 console is currently being configured and customised in Germany for delivery in early August 2015. The concept includes the use of Lawo stage boxes utilising Ravenna technology. KBS and Soundfox engineers are visiting the regional German broadcaster Südwestrundfunk (SWR) in Baden-Baden close to Lawo’s HQ to inspect the equipment and installations.