Don’t Pass Up Part One!
While the finished shell was sent to RBDG in Dallas for acoustic treatment installation, the Sweetwater team was busy calling technology partners and assembling their ideal equipment package. They knew that they wanted a PMC monitor system, with three PMC 6-2 for the LCR, two 8-2 SUB subwoofers, four thin-form-factor ci65 for the surrounds and four ci30 for the height channels.
They also determined that an SSL System T would be the centerpiece, based on a number of factors, not the least of which is its versatility in working across multiple audio markets, from music to broadcast to post.
“We’d already had some experience with Sweetwater and RBDG on a couple of System T installs,” says Phill Scholes, SSL VP of Technical Development. “We’d gone through a lot of training and shown what the System T was capable of. For instance, they knew that its screens can display other things in addition to the console. That helped with the space because you could have Pro Tools on the console and have the renderer on the console. It makes for a really clean look.
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“It also provides an amount of scale that isn’t possible in an analog setting,” he adds. “You’ve got up to 800 inputs if you need them. Plus, the System T is based around Dante, so you literally plug in any Dante device and you’re set. It was specified by Sweetwater with two of our remote Dante mic pre’s so all you have to do is take them and a little stage box outside, plug them in at the source and you’re ready to go.”
The equipment also includes an Avid Pro Tools HDX and MTRX II interface with Thunderbolt 3 module, configured with four 8-channel analog OUT cards and two 8-channel mic/line IN cards. The video package includes a Blackmagic Design Videohub 20×20 12G video router, Blackmagic SmartView Duo 2, Hisense PX3-PRO projector and a Stewart Filmscreen Harmony G3 woven acoustical screen. Generators provide extra power, and Starlink provides satellite internet connection.
A DEVELOPING STORY
Although the original intent was to develop something that would pay homage to Chuck Surack and honor the company’s founding, somewhere along the way, while talking about the changes taking place in mobile production, everyone involved began to think that maybe they had something special here. That feeling has only been reinforced since they’ve taken it on the road.
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“It’s a moving studio,” Picotte says, “and it’s already touching all these different markets. We have a live production coming up. We’ve visited a couple of large houses of worship, more in the megachurch size, and we’re going to be doing a project with one in Texas. On October 7, we’ll be at UT Dallas. We have some artist projects coming up next week. I can see this being used on location while shooting a film, or beside a second stage at Coachella. Or an individual producer or artist who works out of multiple locations. It can cost a lot to build a studio in a home, and if you move, it’s gone. You can bring this studio with you.”
In the wake of unexpected customer demand, you can now buy your own studio from Airstream, built with Sweetwater and RBDG’s involvement. “I don’t think we went into this thinking about a retail product and selling it,” says Picotte. “This was simply the Russ Berger Design Group, Sweetwater, SSL, PMC and Airstream putting a really good system together—one that definitely helps educate our customers when we’re out in the field.”
