SSL C100 HDS Provides the Audio Power for SNY Sports Programming

“As our operations have expanded over the years, we wanted to switch to the C100 HDS because we needed more faders as well as additional inputs and outputs,” says Alex Blanding, senior director of engineering for SNY. “We also wanted some of the features that were built into the new HDS that were not available on our original C100. The Dialogue Automix and the 5.1 Upmix were huge for us, as was the size of the new console. Our audio room is a bit on the small side, but the new HDS allows us to have more faders and all that power in the same footprint as the original C100.”

All audio for SNY’s two production studios, Studios A and B, is handled by the new C100. The two studios are used to produce over a dozen regular programs, so console reliability and redundancy are two must-have items.

“Having only one control room, we don’t have another to run to if there is a problem,” explains Blanding. “Redundancy, therefore, is a key component to all of our video, audio and graphics systems. The C100 gives us the redundancy we need so we can proceed with confidence. SSL also has a great reputation for building quality products, brought out through our experience with the older C100, so that was another factor in choosing the new C100 HDS.”

The Dialogue Automix and 5.1 Upmix options were also critical must-have features for the new studio. Dialogue Automix helps to streamline production of panel discussion programs, while the 5.1 Upmix provides surround consistency when dealing with multiple-source audio in different formats for SNY.

“A lot of our talk shows are roundtable, featuring multiple analysts or guests,” states Blanding. “We had a lot of trouble in the past when using an external automatic mixing device that had limitations. The Dialogue Automix in the C100 HDS is a much more elegant and capable solution, and makes the panel show very straightforward to produce. We’re also airing all of our shows in 5.1 now, even the talk shows, so having the 5.1 Upmix available is extremely helpful for processing audio segments from outside the studio that we pull in to support a program. The engineer usually has no clue as to how to treat the incoming format, be it stereo or mono, because the audio comes in on the fly. The 5.1 Upmix automatically provides the proper placement of the track, making this job easier as well.”