Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) station KTVR has purchased a Max Air console from Euphonix. Located in Portland, Ore., OPB has five full-powered TV transmitters and five DTV transmitters. Television stations operating under the OPB corporate umbrella include KOPB (the largest station within the organization), KOAB, KOAC, KTVR and KEPB.
The new Max Air digital audio mixing system—with 96 channels, 32 faders and an eight-fader center section—will be installed into KTVR’s new studio production facility in Portland. The installation of the Max Air is part of an extensive facility renovation that includes high definition cameras, a high definition production switcher, new character generators/monitor wall, plus additional enhancements. The revitalized production studio is making the transition to a fully digital production facility.
According to Don McKay, OPB’s director of engineering, “Our new Max Air will be replacing an old analog console. The switch to a fully digital production environment at KOPB, which produces content not only for our other family stations, but for the entire PBS system, is a massive undertaking. We’ll be temporarily closing the production facility during the month of August as we install our new equipment. We expect to be operational in late August.”
McKay was upbeat about a number of Max Air features. “Euphonix brings to the table a great number of positives,” he says. “At the forefront of these are the Max Air’s intuitive layout, the ease with which the board handles 5.1 surround sound mixing, and a flexible input/output architecture. The console’s macro switching facilities and the various means of configuring the console for operation were very important considerations because we use a number of volunteers and other temporary people as part of our production process, so we consider intuitive operation a critical factor.”
In addition to the Max Air console for Oregon Public Broadcasting, Euphonix digital audio consoles can be found in other leading PBS facilities, including KCET Los Angeles, KQED San Francisco, KLRU Austin, MPTV Milwaukee, NETC Lincoln, WEDU Tampa, WMHT Schenectady and WIPR, San Juan, Puerto Rico.
For more information, visit www.euphonix.com and www.opb.org.
