Joe Sloan
SILVER SPRING, MD.
The Hope Channel Production Center is owned and operated by Seventh Day Adventist Church and was established to create content for the Hope Channel. Our operation provides a rich variety of culturally relevant programs with appeal for all ages and is responsible for eight globally-delivered channels that are available on satellite and cable. We also operate three Internet channels, with more being added later this year. The Hope Channel owns or is affiliated with more than 40 television studios around the world.
In order to accommodate our expanding requirements, we began work on a new facility annex two years ago. This provided us with a clean slate for the design of a state-of-the-art HD facility. As part of the planning, we began looking for an audio console that could meet all of our present demands and also would have the capability to carry our mission well into the future.
Our research provided us with an opportunity to investigate several consoles, but everything kept pointing back to the 32-fader Solid State Logic C10 HD as being the perfect fit for our applications. Actually, purchasing the C10 HD turned out to be an easy decision, as it fit extremely well with our production style and was available with the best purchase price for an audio console with a feature set well beyond that available in other consoles.
NO STEEP LEARNING CURVE
Another factor in our selection of the SSL C10 HD console was its very easy and intuitive operation. This was a very important element for us, as we have a variety of audio operators who have differing skill levels. We needed to make sure that the freelance engineers we use wouldn’t get lost and require us to provide pointers or other assistance. This has saved us a lot of valuable time in the long run.
The SSL console also allows defined levels of access to be assigned to the various console features, allowing us to assign a task to a novice operator, and not have to worry about that person unraveling a complex program setup.
The console’s LCD screen layout is another very positive feature, as it allows you to easily see what you’re doing and to determine the status of the console. SSL’s Eyeconix display feature actually provides a picture or a graphic of a channel source, so an operator can quickly identify each channel without confusion, further increasing the console’s ease of use.
PANEL DISCUSSIONS ARE A BREEZE
We produce many panel discussion-type programs in our facility and the C10 HD’s Dialogue Automix system makes this sometimes rather difficult engineering task very simple and straightforward. It provides “set and forget” audio level management of panel discussion audio and can be used with up to 16 microphones. The SSL C10 HD also provides us with the ability to merely sit down, push a few buttons and then turn out a show easily and quickly. All of us at the Hope Channel Production Center are really impressed with the performance and capabilities of the C10 HD and know that we made a wise decision in our selection.
Joe Sloan is the operations and production Manager for Hope Channel Production Center. He may be contacted atsloanj@hopetv.org.
For additional information, contact Solid State Logic at 212-315-1111 or visitwww.solid-state-logic.com.
