Lawo, German innovator and manufacturer of pioneering IP-based broadcast technology, proudly announces that its mc²-series audio production consoles as well as its surface-less operations including mc² Micro Core can be controlled from any place in the world with a decent internet connection—even using a smartphone as a 4G personal hotspot. In a spectacular demonstration for its Lawo Lounge series of weekly webinars, Lawo’s Audio Production team showcased the ease and flexibility with which sound engineers can control a broadcaster’s Lawo audio production environment from just about anywhere.
Inspired by Lawo’s desire to assist audio engineers during the testing lockdown situation, Lawo’s Mix Kitchen is a long-term solution for any scenario where physical access to the broadcast center is cumbersome or simply impossible due to changed travel arrangements, traffic conditions, etc. The most important ingredient of the proposed setup is remote fader control using a Mackie® HUI-compatible fader panel. Lawo’s Mix Kitchen only requires slight configuration adaptions (using supplied templates) to enable the Nova73 console core on the broadcaster’s premises to be remote controlled.
In addition, Lawo’s Mix Kitchen solution enables in-place access to any Mac®– or Windows®-based computer in the broadcaster’s data center and can be complemented with an integrated vsmPanel providing full remote control over hundreds of third-party broadcast studio devices. Mix Kitchen includes LiveView™ video monitoring capabilities in combination with Lawo’s IP video solutions.
No additional Lawo hardware is required: readily available, off-the-shelf tools, a laptop and Lawo’s mxGUI software (included with all mc²-series mixers) allow the engineer in charge to take control of the Lawo hardware at the broadcast center or hub—with the same pristine audio quality and reliability. Mix Kitchen only transports monitoring and control data, keeping mission-critical TX audio within the facility’s infrastructure and avoiding bandwidth-guzzling multi-channel audio transport.
“Based on our remote-control experience gathered in recent IP projects, we wanted to make these benefits available for all audio engineers that have to cope with the current social distancing measures around the world,” commented Christian Struck, Lawo’s Senior Product Manager Audio Production. “The Mix Kitchen setup works almost out of the box: no additional Lawo hardware, retrofits or upgrades are required. Audio engineers can work with an inexpensive fader panel that supports Mackie HUI (examples: Icon Platform X, Behringer X-Touch), their laptop, a mouse and a tablet.”
A special leaflet and a detailed technical document listing the required ingredients for Lawo’s Mix Kitchen are available at https://bit.ly/mixkitchen. The video demonstration of Mix Kitchen can be viewed at https://youtu.be/Rt2itgm2Fr4.
