One of two Studer Vista 9 consoles in GPB’s production control rooms.
Harman Professional Solutions announces that Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB) in Atlanta selected two Studer Vista 9 consoles for its production audio control rooms. Beginning as an educational TV network in 1970 with five stations, GPB is now a multi-platform media production facility with 18 radio stations and nine TV stations, serving approximately 98 percent of residents throughout Georgia and parts of Alabama, South Carolina, Florida and Tennessee.
GPB has five TV production studios, four radio production studios and numerous video and audio editing suites. The station’s two TV production control rooms are mirror images of each other.
“Our old system was frequently leading to downtime in productions,” says Darvin Sparks, senior broadcast engineer at GPB. “We wanted a stable, reliable audio system that would serve as a foundation for our productions and could grow with our future needs.”
GPB also desired enhanced production capabilities in several areas, including improved total system I/O capabilities, a flexible internal routing architecture, both MADI and audio over Internet protocol (AoIP) capabilities, and a minimum of 32 channel strips per console. When selecting new consoles, GPB looked for a vendor with a long history of providing advanced, reliable, well-supported systems.
Tom Spencer, primary audio operator at GPB, says that the new Studer consoles have been a valuable addition to the GPB studios. “The two Vista 9 consoles consistently meet the station’s wide range of production demands,” he says. “Internal routing is extremely flexible and intuitive, allowing for any last minute modifications that should arise during the course of a production.
“VistaMix is absolutely indispensable,” Spencer adds. “The ease of post-VistaMix routing options are very helpful in meeting an array of studio monitoring demands. Metering is easy to customize. The overall ergonomic design of the desk allows the operator to perform all necessary functions without compromising listening position or comfort. There has not been a production of any size that our Vista 9s could not handle.”
The station exclusively uses JBL Professional studio monitors, in addition to AKG microphones, Crown amplifiers and Lexicon reverb units.
“We wanted a vendor known for solid support and a company with longevity that we could trust,” says Sparks. “We have received superb support from our Harman Professional Solutions sales and support engineers—both before and after the sale.”
For more information, visit www.studer.ch/en/products/vista-9 and www.gpb.org.
