The latest addition to CSP Mobile Productions’ remote recordingfleet is Unit Six, a cutting-edge, dedicated audio truck. Thisstate-of-the-art studio on wheels is crafted around Yamaha’s newPM1-D digital console, already widely acclaimed for a design thatperforms excellently in both live and studio settings. The 96-inputYamaha console is supported by 48 tracks of Tascam DA-78 MDMs, 48tracks of hard disk recording/editing capability and a Macintosh G4editing front end with MOTU interface. Also integrated into theoriginal design is 5.1 surround monitoring and mixing capability,with monitoring provided by Genelec self-powered units.
The truck also offers a full complement of analog processinggear and a wide array of microphone choices. CSP VP/operationsmanager Len Chase designed the tight and remarkably accurateacoustical environment, which features diffusion in the controlroom’s ceiling and bass traps in the corners. Two 43-inch plasmadisplay monitors are easily visible, both from the engineeringposition and from the client lounge, features that make Unit Sixone of the most comfortable remote units on the road.
CSP’s two remote video trucks were also designed by Chase andhis engineering team and constructed at CSP’s Maine headquarters byNew England craftsmen. That design combination of comfort andcutting-edge technology is part of a strategic plan to positionUnit Six as a leader in remote music production and mixing.
“With our emphasis on 5.1 surround, Unit Six was designedto be as close to a recording studio as feasible in a remotefacility,” explains CSP Mobile Productions president NatThompson. “Our aim is to make recording artists, producersand visiting engineers as comfortable as possible.” AddsLance Vardis, the mixing engineer who helped significantly in thedesign of Unit Six, “It’s as close as you can get to being inthe club or the arena for a performance. But going one stepfurther, what we’re doing here is basically bringing the surroundcapability out of the studio and right to the venue. What we hopeis that when broadcasters and concert promoters hear how muchsurround adds to a music broadcast, it’ll encourage them to pursuemore and more music broadcasts in surround.” Thompson alsosays that DVD is rapidly becoming the format of choice forin-concert music videos — such as the one that Unit Sixrecorded for the Foo Fighters recently — and that DVD-A willcreate further demand for surround capability in remote recordingoperations.
CSP Mobile Productions is a division of Maine Radio andTelevision Company, an icon of American broadcasting since 1925,and still owned and operated by members of the founding family.
CSP offers an entire package of audio- and video-remotecapability, along with a technical and creative team thatunderscores the company’s long heritage. “And we offer onemore thing,” adds Thompson, “and that’s a vision of thefuture of remote music recording.”
SPEC SHEET
Company Name: CSP Mobile Productions. ServicesOffered: Full-service remote audio and video recording, mixingand editing; discrete 5.1 surround audio monitoring and mixing;production services, including scripting, directing andpost-production in conjunction with Tupelo Honey Productions.Main Technology Platforms: 96-input Yamaha PM1-D digitalconsole; Tascam DA-78 and hard disk multitrack recording; Genelecmonitoring; processing includes Lexicon, Drawmer, Eventide, TCElectronic; 42-inch plasma displays (2); control room: 8’6×13;lounge: 8’6×9; engineering area: 8’6×6. TruckInformation: 1996 Chevy W7, 6-cylinder/270-h.p. w/a 2,00028-foot Morgan box. Partial Client List: Foo Fighters,Allman Brothers, Barenaked Ladies, Tibetan Freedom Concert,Woodstock.com, Aerosmith, Stone Temple Pilots, Third Eye Blind,Wynton Marsalis. (Many of these performances were distributed bySpring Communications.) CSP also provided facilities for a longlist of major league sports, corporate and network broadcastproductions.
CSP Mobile Productions
One Delta Drive
Westbrook, ME 04092-4745
Tel.: 207/375-6052
Fax: 207/856-2861
Website: www.cspmobile.com
E-mail: [email protected]
