One of Ukraine’s most popular television stations, STB carries a mix of original content and Ukrainian versions of popular Western programmes. Launched in 1997, the station’s continued success – it is currently ranked first in the country by audience share – has seen its equipment requirements grow. Recently it taken in a DiGiCo SD9 digital mixing desk.
The broadcaster needed a digital console that would withstand the rigours of being transported to regional heats of the Ukrainian version of Masterchef that are held around the country. Together with Masterchef senior sound designer Andrei Petrik and engineer Alexander Pavlyukov, STB sound engineer Anton Fedorov chose the SD9, which supplied by DiGiCo’s Ukrainian distributor Real Music.
‘The console had to be a reliable workhorse, able to work while constantly travelling – sometimes in hostile environments,’ he says. ‘As far as we were concerned, DiGiCo has the best protection against dust and shock resistance. There was also an urgent need for a Madi interface and we wanted the possibility of using fibre-optics.’
A veteran of shows that include X Factor and Ukraine’s Got Talent, Fedorov explains that Masterchef was filmed in all parts of Ukraine – Kyiv, Donetsk, Odessa, Lviv, Chernivtsi. ‘It passed the touring test easily,’ he reports. ‘It’s now being used on The Bachelor and it has worked very well. The channel ganging is very convenient and everyone who needs to get a desired mix can without any problems. I think it will work perfectly as a monitor mixer on our big live shows.’
‘I have been especially impressed by the dynamics processing and the multiband compressor in particular,’ he continues. ‘It is easy to use and the sound is really something!’ adds Anton. ‘The output buss design is very easy to use and everything can be completely reconfigured in the software for any task. We were even able to flip the touch screen upside down with the software, which we needed to for one show.’
Fedorov and his colleagues have been sufficiently pleased with the SD9’s performance, that they are planning to buy a second DiGiCo console: ‘We are thinking of buying a new FOH console – most likely an SD8 with optical interface, although the configuration has not yet been determined,’ he says. ‘DiGiCo also has the broadcast specific SD7B and SD10B and we need to further explore the capabilities of those consoles. But anything is possible, because DiGiCo is DiGiCo, and that says a lot.’
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