The world’s largest religious network and America’s most-watched faith channel, the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) has completed the transition of its its Nashville production facility from SD analogue to HD digital operation. Along with the Studer Vista 8 console at the heart of the studio, TBN has fitted control and edit rooms with JBL LSR4300 monitors.
‘We’re a global broadcaster, the sixth-largest broadcaster in the world,’ says Station Manager, Russell Hall. ‘We recognised that our 16-year-old analogue broadcast facility could no longer meet our growing requirements, and upgrading it involved nothing less than a complete overhaul – we gutted everything and went from analogue broadcast straight to HDTV.’
Reaching 104m households worldwide, TBN produce a wide range of content including Christian educational, worship, variety, music, entertainment, children’s and sitcom programming. ‘For us, there was no other choice but the Vista 8, because of its audio routing capabilities and flexibility,’ Hall continues. ‘TBN had already done three HD renovations of other production centers, and we had been putting in a complicated system of audio routers. We found that the Vista 8 eliminated the need for all of that – the Vista 8 can handle all of our complex audio routing needs with capability to spare. Its touchscreen control interface is easy to use, which is especially important for live TV broadcasts, and its sound quality is excellent.’
‘We have many facilities in one, including a 1,400-seat auditorium, a park area that’s wired for outdoor shoots, and a recording studio,’ adds Greg Malenovsky, Head Engineer at TBN Nashville. ‘So we’re doing lots of different programming from lots of different places, and all I need to do with the Vista 8 is recall the settings for each show. I can reconfigure easily so everything I need for a specific shoot can be recalled. ‘
Another advantage offered by the Vista 8 is that TBN already has Soundcraft Vi6 consoles for the studio floors and theatre. ‘It was much easier to interface the Studer Vista 8 with the Soundcraft consoles,’ notes Hall. ‘We weren’t concerned about the cost as much as with getting in a system that worked seamlessly – but as it turns out, the Vista 8 was less expensive than competitive consoles, in addition to being better suited to our needs. In my opinion, the Vista 8 is the best console in the industry for HD audio/video production.’
In addition to in-house work, TBN serves outside clients and producers who require complete production services. ‘We’ve seen an increase in business as the word has gotten out about our upgraded studio,’ says Hall. ‘In fact, some people who didn’t necessarily want to partner with us, and who normally would work elsewhere, have now decided to use our facilities.’
More: http://www.tbn.org
More: www.studer.ch
