A little over three years after commissioning a second mobile recording unit capable of 3D and 7.1 surround sound, UK location recording company Red TX has upgraded its original Red I OB to 96kHz audio operation capability.
Both Red I and Red II are equipped with Studer Vista 8 consoles, with 96 mic preamps as standard, but by streamlining their original recording truck with a new Studer SCore Live engine and faster computer, Red TX is keeping live event, film and television recording facilities at the leading edge of available technology. The move was prompted by customer demand and means that both vehicles — while slightly different in wheelbase — are similarly configured and now virtually interchangeable.
‘We were getting more call for projects in 96K,’ says Chief Engineer, Ollie Nesham. ‘Every few years there is a call for a greater number of inputs. Ten years ago we could get everything, including audience mics, into 56 tracks; today there can be 100 mic amps and considerations such as 5.1 stems, Studer VistaMix — and the desk couldn’t handle it, so we decided to act.’
Nesham contacted Studer’s Europe Technical Sales Manager, Simon Roome: ‘Although we are largely self-sufficient Studer are brilliant at support — they upgraded the computer in the desk and provided a new Core,’ he says. ‘To have this flexibility and be able to build up 96k configs for both trucks is important to reflect changes in the industry. At festivals, we are taking Madi and analogue of over 100 inputs in some cases, along with audience mics and comms; so having six Madi cards in each truck allows us to have three stage boxes on each truck, and record 192 tracks.’
With all microphone inputs now operating at 96kHz/24 bits and full DSP on every channel, Red TX has undertaken a series of projects since the fit-out of its original vehicle, including Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens) at Eventim Apollo Hammersmith, the Red Bull Culture Clash and MTV Europe Music Awards in Glasgow.
