SMG, owner of broadcaster stv, has chosen Custom Consoles furniture for a large-scale studio installation at SMG’s recently-competed state-of-the-art headquarters in Glasgow’s Pacific Quay.
“The relocation from our former headquarters in central Glasgow provided the opportunity to upgrade our entire technical facility, from VT ingest right through to transmission,” comments Gary Welsh, project manager at SMG. “Using Custom Consoles Module-R and M-desk furniture, it was possible to configure desks and housings that matched our exact requirements from standard product designs. We had already invested in Custom Consoles System 2 desks and were impressed by their high build quality.”
Gary Fuller, Custom Consoles’ sales manager, adds: “This is another large contract demonstrating the cost savings and flexibility that the Module-R range offers. SMG’s re-equipped technical areas include VT acquisition, two production galleries, master control, transmission, three linear and five nonlinear edit suites, a VT logging area and additional furniture for Setanta Sport.”
The new master control room and transmission suite at SMG are a mirror-image design, separated from each other by a glass wall. Each incorporates a single-operator curved-L-shaped Module-R desk in front of Christie rear-projection monitor displays. Equipment storage cabinets are located at each end of both desks.
Production Gallery 1 houses a 5-metre wide Module-R desk accommodating vision controller, control assistant, director, production assistant and producer. A vision mixer is recessed in front of the director. Positioned in parallel behind this desk is a 5-metre wide Module-R desk accommodating teleprompt operator, lighting controller and lighting assistant. A 5 metre wide Custom Consoles Media Wall houses multiple 23-inch LCD monitor panels.
An acoustically isolated sound control room within Production Gallery 1 is furnished with a Media Wall, Custom Consoles equipment racks and a 14RU pedestal. The pedestal is located alongside an audio mixer desk to provide a script surface. Production Gallery 2 is similarly furnished and has an additional three-seat Module-R desk used for robotic camera control.
VT acquisition is built around a 4 metre straight Module-R desk with triple racks at each end. Two Custom Consoles dual-surface Media-Desks plus two 27RU equipment bays are located in the VT logging area. The rear section of each Media-Desk incorporates a 3RU equipment pod. SMG’s three linear edit suites each have two Module-R desks housing a variety of tape-based post production equipment. These are supplemented by five disk-based edit suites, each with a System 2 desk for the editor and an M-Desk for the producer. Each System 2 comprises a main work surface plus monitor shelf and and acoustic rack enabling fan-cooled equipment to be located relatively near production staff without causing significant aural distraction.
The Irish-based sports channel Setanta also has facilities within SMG, including two edit suites and a playout area. The edit suites have been furnished with a Module-R desk and two Media Desks.
