Studio 44 is an extremely well equipped event location based in the headquarters of the Austrian Lotteries in Vienna. Although originally intended solely for internal use, during the last 10 years it has become a successful commercial venture, with clients such as Ford Motor Company, Coca Cola, BP and Google to its name. The latest additions to its high quality equipment inventory are a DiGiCo SD7 and two SD8s.
“This is the first venue in Austria to have an SD7 plus two SD8s all with Optocore,â€? says Thomas Kappner, technical director of the complex. “We are happy that DiGiCo and distributor TON Eichinger performed the installation and training smoothly.”
“Being accustomed to the fixed architecture of analogue consoles and their quick access, we were extremely skeptical about digital console bank switching and menu structures,â€? adds chief sound engineer, Dietmar Krenn. “After initial demos, we wanted a particular
desk for its simple structure.
“Working on the DiGiCo SD7 showed us that it sounded much better from the start, achieving perfect results with less EQ. And with EQ and dynamics on all outputs, as well as lots of excellent reverbs and effects onboard, we can use more of these and try out new things.”
“The deep menu structures of other consoles are not suitable for our work, but with the SD7 all important controls and functions are right there on the surface,â€? says Krenn. “The EQ of the SD7 is ultra precise, which means quicker sound checks. Even on our analogue desk I had to use much more EQ for a decent sound. With the SD7 I did my first complete band sound check in 10 minutes, including monitoring.”
“Studio 44 hosts a big variety of productions, such as press conferences, live concerts, corporate events, panel discussions and live TV broadcasts,â€? concludes Kappner. “The SD7 is our FOH console, the first SD8 sits in the control room of our HD video facilities with a lot of sources and recorders, the second SD8 can be inserted in the Optocore loop at any of eight positions and is used flexibly for monitoring, in the foyer or for external jobs.
“With the DiGiCo Optocore, we can access all sources quickly without additional equipment. This system gives us the flexibility our clients demand every day.”
