Into its fourth year of providing ‘a live multi-platform experience that submerges viewers into the heart of Tornado Alley’, the US Weather Channel’s Tornado Hunt 2012 found Lead Meteorologist Mike Bettes and an expert team of stormchasers embarking on another journey to capture tornadoes live on air as well as online.
Along with the crew, stashed inside Bettes’ vehicle (aka The Bettes Mobile) was a Sound Devices 302 portable field mixer, set up to handle on-air audio for the live broadcasts. In addition, the vehicle carried four HD cameras, serving the passenger seat, forward-facing ‘dash-cam’ point of views of the producer/driver and a rear-facing ‘backseat’ camera, which allowed an additional meteorologist to participate. Another enhancement to this year’s vehicle platform, an HD switcher with local control, was added. It enabled the on-camera talent to switch between any of the four cameras during live shots.
‘Building a broadcast vehicle like The Bettes Mobile required reliable, robust and trusted gear,’ says Kevin Parrish, Senior RF Engineer for NBC Network News, Field & Satellite Operations. ‘Due to the nature of this assignment, it’s not possible to provide field maintenance; everything needs to work correctly from day one. Equipment selection is key and that’s why we selected the gear we did.’
Developed specifically for audio-for-picture applications, Sound Devices 302 mixer is the most widely used compact-battery-powered professional audio mixer in its class, offering offes flexibility, control and high audio performance. It interfaces with wireless transmitters and receivers, camera audio inputs of all kinds and external audio recorders. Its microphone inputs share the same circuitry as the Sound Devices 552 Portable Production Mixer and MixPre-D Compact Field Mixer. Controls are accessible on its three main surfaces, and its high-efficiency power circuitry runs the mixer from either three internal AA batteries or an external 5-18V DC.
‘Since Sound Devices mixers are pretty much a mainstay for our field audio production needs, they provide a ‘standard platform’ that most of our staff are well accustomed and completely familiar with their operation,’ Parish adds.
More: www.sounddevices.com
