Seven broadcasters use Lawo desks at Asian Games

Published: January 14, 2011 ASIA

CHINA: A number of Lawo digital consoles were in use for broadcasting the XVI Asiad, otherwise known as the 2010 Asian Games, staged in Guangzhou.

Host broadcaster Guangzhou Games Broadcasting (GAB) appointed a number of OB specialists, among them 22 Chinese broadcasters, to provide teams and equipment to manage the production of the international TV and radio feeds from the 53 competition venues in use. A large proportion of the broadcasters decided to use Lawo mixing consoles, ranging from small zirkon desks to large-format mc²66 MKIIs.

For the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, staged at Haixinsha Island Compound, GAB built two audio cabins, one for 5.1 surround sound mixing, the other for full redundancy. Both studios were equipped with Lawo 40-fader mc²66 MKII consoles, supplied by local rental company Ding Run.

Ding Run itself sub-contracted the Lawo systems from the specialist German company Audio Broadcast Services GmbH (ABS). Working from hardware-specific guidelines set by Ding Run, ABS used its experience with major sporting events to draw up the console configurations. The German company also provided four engineers on site in Guangzhou for set-up and commissioning, and to give support during the ceremonies, as well as the duration of the games.

Two more of ABS’s Lawo mixing systems were on duty at the Huangpu Sports Centre Gymnasium for the basketball competition, and at the Guangdong International Boating Centre, the still water and slalom venue. Both these locations used 48-fader mc²56 desks, with redundant Router, Madi port and Dallis master cards.

Also at the International Boating Centre, Chinese broadcaster CCTV was filing live reports for Channel 1 and its sports Channel 5, using two 32-fader mc²66 consoles. KBS, the Korean Broadcasting Service, was not far away, with its own mc²66.

Other Games being relayed via Lawo systems included volleyball (Fujian TV OBV), football (Guangxi TV OBV), baseball and softball (Tianjin TV OBV) and handball (Hangzhou TV OBV).