The largest singing contest in Malaysia, the Anugerah Juara Lagu (AJL) concert was staged recently at the Putra World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur. Broadcasting the contest and its results live to millions of viewers, Media Prima Berhad (MPB) employed a Calrec Summa mixing console to deliver 5.1 surround audio.

‘Summa is one of the simplest mixers that I have ever used,’ says MPB Head of Sound, Mohd Zaidi Mohamed Taib. ‘It is a true broadcast mixer that is perfect for a live broadcast and production environment. The audio quality is great, and integration is straightforward. The Summa even comes with a complete and fully redundant PSU, controller, DSP, and router in a single 4U-high chassis.’

MPB selected the Summa to create the main 5.1 surround mix for AJL, which was broadcast live to an audience in a prestigious cinema hall in Melaka, 180km south of Kuala Lumpur. The 5.1 surround signal was levelled and encoded into Dolby E format by a Junger Audio system before being transmitted to Melaka via satellite link. At the cinema hall, the signal was decoded and processed by another Junger system and played over the hall’s surround speaker system. This enabled the cinema audience to enjoy an immersive sound experience rivalling that of the audience at the live event.

‘It was an honour to be part of the AJL crew on this project,’ says David Chan, General Manager of Calrec distributor JAA Systems. ‘We were delighted to be able to play a part by supplying the Calrec and Junger Audio solutions that were used in the mainstream system for the AJL 2017 show.’

‘It was a real pleasure to be able to introduce the Summa console to MPB in such a dynamic way, especially for a show as prestigious as AJL,’ adds Calrec International Sales Manager, Anthony Harrison, who attended the event. ‘The feedback from the engineers and operators highlights the exact design philosophy we had in mind when developing Summa.’