Serving nearly four million viewers in the Sacramento/Modesto/Stockton area of California, public service broadcaster KVIE has recently completed a major upgrade of its Audio Control Room A. ‘We have only one production control room and when we made the change to HD production, we needed a contemporary audio console that could handle our different production situations,’ says KVIE Director of Engineering, Greg Johnson.

Replacing an aging analogue desk, a Solid State Logic C10 HD Compact Broadcast Console was chosen to meet the requirements typical of a thriving mid-scale broadcaster upgrading to HD operation – compact footprint, simplicity of installation, reliability, longevity, affordability and crucially, operation by a wide range of non-specialist staff.

‘We were used to working in analogue, so the ergonomic layout of the C10 was immediately familiar and desirable from an engineering and operational standpoint,’ Johnson explains. ‘We like the fact that all the processing is right there in the console. Other manufacturers that we looked at seem to offer a more distributed resource model that is not very straightforward to work with. The C10 gives us a very powerful, feature-rich console that offers SSL’s traditional user friendly layout, service, and support.’

The physical layout of KVIE encompasses one HD production control room, with attendant audio room, servicing the needs of two production studios. A larger 50-ft x 75-ft studio has a full sound stage for larger and more complex productions, with a smaller 45-ft x 40-ft studio for smaller productions and fundraising events. The C10 handles every production need.

‘When considering an audio console, we wanted one that would serve us well into the future. SSL has a demonstrable history of providing consoles that not only last, but, in the case of a digital console like the C10, offer the flexibility of feature upgrades that will keep our operations current with technology advances.’

KVIE ordered SSL’s Dialogue Automix and C-Play options to help with production workflow. Dialogue Automix, used for panel-type productions, allows the general staff to manage the console when necessary, while C-Play offers a fully-functional spot and music playout system integrated into the console.

‘With the C10, we can have non-professional audio staff successfully operate the console,’ says KVIE Maintenance Tech, Jeff Hansen. ‘We also rent out our facility to outside production companies and SSL’s reputation enhances our ability to market the facility. We have been very happy with the customer service from SSL. This is important to us because we have clients come in that have technical needs and sometimes we need to get questions answered. It’s nice to be able to call SSL and get somebody who knows what we are talking about.’