Dubai-based Middle East Broadcasting Center (MBC) Group, broadcasting to Dubai and surroundings including to Saudi-Arabia and Iraq, are among the radio stations in the Middle East to opt for Lawo equipment.
The group’s MBC Radio division operates six studios in Dubai, which are equipped with Lawo sapphire mixing consoles, says the company. The broadcaster also operates regional studios outside the Emirate. Its Riyadh studio has recently moved into self-op radio programming, using a new Lawo 20-key panel for remote control of the mixing consoles in Dubai, and a TCP/IP line for signal transfer. The feed is duplicated to a codec and landline, as backup to the satellite connection.
The Dubai radio production complex, on air since 2013, comprises three studios for producing MBC FM, Panorama and Iraq radio programming. According to the company, these studios are fitted with four 20-fader sapphire consoles complete with overbridges for radio on-air production, and a Nova17 MKII router to network all of the consoles and act as an audio router. A fourth Lawo-equipped studio operates as production studio but can also serve as an on-air studio, while Studios five and six serve as backup studios.
Lawo points out that it is possible to connect each of the six studios to any of the six networks, and to manage the switching either centrally or autonomously from each individual studio. Six different commercial playout streams are supplied centrally by the router to the respective networks with full automation. Both the central router and the studios are fully redundant in operation with automated switching to the redundant control and audio system.
“We have been using the Lawo sapphire consoles and Nova router for about a year now, and we are extremely happy. The setup makes our every-day work so much easier and efficient,” said Bassam Faour, MBC broadcast manager. “The sapphires and the Nova run absolutely smoothly and are very reliable. They are also highly user-friendly, and failsafe in their configuration and design. To me, they are masterpieces of German engineering and quality, backed by fast, committed and efficient support.”
