German broadcaster Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB) has made a firm commitment to Fairlight technology by purchasing two of the company’s Constellation digital recording, editing and mixing systems for its audio post production studios.
Established in 2003 from the merger of Sender Freies Berlin (SFB) and Ostdeutscher Rundfunk Brandenburg (ORB), RBB is responsible for the production and broadcast of public radio and television in the German federal states of Berlin and Brandenburg. It is also a member of the consortium of German public broadcasters, ARD, and its Potsdam broadcasting centre houses the ARD Digital service.
The Constellation systems, both with Pyxis Track video, MXF options and Crystal Core (CC-1) engines are destined for RBB’s studios in Potsdam and Berlin, where they will be used for news, magazine and feature production. The installations will take place during July and August, with both systems expected to be fully operational by the end of the summer.
RBB’s project manager Andreas Heese says: “We chose Constellation because our sound engineers had good experiences with our old Fairlight MFX3 systems. However our specific reason for choosing this system was Fairlight’s ability to assist with our new tapeless workflow in news production.”
The combination of Pyxis Track video, MXF and CC-1 delivers the post production industry’s ‘Holy Grail’ of true audio/video workflow convergence by integrating an SD/HD compliant non linear video solution with a mature and feature rich audio recording, editing and mixing system on the same platform. This enables Fairlight to support a seamless interplay of both SD/HD video and audio and a wide range of file exchange capabilities.
Mario Schmitz, Fairlight’s head of European Operations, says: “RBB was particularly interested in our ability to offer the best workflow tools for their requirements. Fairlight's CC-1 platform can be seamlessly integrated into any network environment or topology. It can import/export, read/write and stream media to and from any local or shared drive that is seen by the operating system. This converged approach offers the convenience of ‘drag and drop’ file selection whereby wrapped audio/video essence and audio or video files are immediately available to any project. In addition file export from the Fairlight system ensures complete integrity of the tapeless workflow environment.”
RBB is importing MXF D10 files via Drag-and-Drop, which are then re-wrapped with new audio while the original video content remains on the network storage throughout the entire process. The file is then uploaded to RBB’s Ardendo Content Management system where it is available to all producers who need to generate magazine or news playlists.
“Fairlight integrates very well in our existing MXF workflow,” Heese says. “Other providers of professional audio equipment do not integrate the MXF format or use a different operational pattern. Having the ability to unwrap MXF D10 files does more than make life easier for our operators – it makes it possible.”
Heese adds that having a fully integrated file-based system will also help RBB speed up workflow because operators will no longer have to physically exchange tapes.
“This saves time, which is a large advantage in news production. The new installation will also make it possible for operators to comfortably exchange projects between studios, giving us more flexibility.”
In recent weeks RBBs sound engineers have been testing the new system and are satisfied with the results they are achieving.
“They are finding Constellation very easy to use and we are all very keen to have the new systems up and running in the studios,” Heese adds.
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