Efficiency on wheels.
Fuji TV audio truck on the road with mc² consoles.
For over six months now, Fuji TV’s audio OB truck has been serving the station with distinction. Inside this, the latest vehicle in the Japanese TV broadcaster’s fleet, are to be found not only a Lawo mc²66 console but also the first mc²90 console anywhere in the world to be installed in fall 2007 in an outside broadcast vehicle.
The quest for maximum efficiency has always been a tradition in the Land Of The Rising Sun, so along with the latest technical equipment, maximum efficiency was one of the fundamental requirements for the new OB truck. The concept realized in this rolling studio is as elegant as it is effective and perfectly tailored to the needs of the customer. The two physically separate sound control rooms, equipped with Lawo consoles and forming a network, make the truck a real jack-of-all-trades that even offers the option of working on two different productions at the same time.
Size matters – especially in Japan where the country’s stringent traffic control regulations impose far from generous limits on the size and weight of trucks. For this reason, to make maximum use of the permitted dimensions, Fuji TV’s decision-makers opted for a pure audio OB truck the working area of which could be increased considerably by expanding the sides.
Fuji TV’s new audio truck covers a wide range of applications: the live broadcasting of concerts and postproduction in CD quality are as much part of its portfolio as more demanding tasks such as assuming full responsibility as a command centre at major events. In fact the new OB truck has filled all these key roles in the last few months alone at a number of high-calibre events including the Japanese Formula One Grand Prix in Suzuka, various golf tournaments and a marathon – all applications that called for a large number of keypanels and the bridging of long distances.
It is in the performance of complex audio tasks such as these that the Lawo mixing consoles installed in the new truck are able to demonstrate to the full their exquisite feature sets, with the 48-fader mc²90 occupying the main control room and the mc²66 with its 24 faders the ancillary one. The two consoles form a network, so the sound teams at each console have full access to all audio signals. Even the control signals such as those used to control the truck’s three stage boxes can be distributed with complete freedom by both the mc²90 and the mc²66. Thanks to this well-thought out design, in which no compromises whatsoever have been made in terms of audio quality, the new audio OB truck is greatly appreciated not only by the customer, Fuji TV, but also by the teams of engineers that use it on location.
In addition to offering optimal sound quality and reliability, the mc² also boasts an astonishingly flexible control interface. It was simplicity itself, for example, to integrate a Riedel command module into the mixing interface of the Lawo consoles, where it fitted in right away – not only in terms of functionality but also aesthetically.
About Fuji TV
Fuji Television was one of the pioneers of television in Japan. Since 1959 it has been one of the market leaders in the Japanese TV landscape with a full programme broadcast nationwide. Originally located in the Shinjuku suburb of Tokyo, the company moved in 1997 to Odaiba, the artificial island in Tokyo Bay, where its distinctive headquarters designed by Kenzo Tange is one of the architectural highlights of the city, and even doubles as an exhibition venue.
