Germany’s Radio/Tele FFH has completed an ambitious studio renovation for the HitRadio FFH, Planet Radio and Harmony FM radio stations using Lawo Ruby mixers, the latest addition to Lawo’s family of Daniel Fischer and Julia Nestle and virtual mixing products.
Headquartered in Frankfurt, FFH has consistently been among Germany’s most popular private broadcasters since beginning operation in 1989. The main and backup studios are now equipped with a total of seven Ruby surfaces, each controlling Power Core mixing engines. More Power Cores were used to build a sophisticated, facility-wide router and conference matrix/intercom system.
‘This was a very ambitious studio project,’ says Marc Straehl CEO of SLG Broadcast, which designed and installed the systems in conjunction with integrator Studio Hamburg MCI. ‘These new Lawo radio products gave us the tools we needed to solve every operational challenge the customer had. They were a perfect fit.’
‘Our new Lawo system is extremely flexible and built for 24/7 operation,’ says Radio/Tele FFH Head of IT & Broadcasting, Jörg Polinski. ‘Our operators can create programming for any channel using any studio, and sharing audio resources, which saves us money on both equipment and staffing. Our audio network is a dual-core redundant matrix, which employs two Power Cores for routing – very flexible and very secure. We couldn’t be happier with the results.’
‘This is pretty revolutionary,’ Straehl continues. ‘In most studios you see half-a-dozen monitors displaying all the information the operator needs. Not only is it cluttered, it’s distracting. But Ruby enables console controls to integrate with those for playout systems, phone queues, codecs and even social media and streaming video. Goodbye monitors, hello open sightlines.’
‘We’ve received significant benefits since the installation of our Lawo system,’ Polinski adds. ‘Our editors and presenters benefit from the smooth workflow that results from the mix of hardware and touch-screen operation. This concept decreases errors and increases work efficiency. It also makes the studios very tidy! The technology lives behind the scenes. You don’t see lots of controls everywhere, but you still have the full range of functions you’d get from traditional consoles.’
More: www.lawo.com
