Emerson College Upgrades its Broadcast Audio Capabilities, Outfitting Four Control Rooms with Solid State Logic System T

An SSL System T S300 surface has replaced the C10 in the Audio A Suite, the audio control room for the Di Bona Television Studio — named for famed television producer Vin Di Bona, an Emerson alumnus—on the eighth floor of the Tufte Performance and Production Center (PPC). The 11-story, 80,000-square-foot Tufte PPC was completed in 2003 and was the first purpose-built structure designed and built for Emerson College.

“We wanted to increase the flexibility of pooled resources among our facilities, and this summer we embarked on a complete central machine room initiative,” MacArthur reports. “Previously we had three disparate machine rooms for our facilities, but wanted to consolidate, so we invested in new fiber to make that happen.” The Tufte Television Studios are now interconnected with the nearby Journalism Production Center, Emerson Television Channels, Bobbi Brown and Steven Plofker Gym and Cutler Majestic Theatre.

“What’s interesting for us, with the generation of students that we have now, and especially with the TCRs, is the touch screen option,” MacArthur says. It’s second nature for a generation that has grown up with constant access to personal electronic devices to control a complex platform such as System T from a touch screen. “So many of our students will intuitively grab a ‘fader’ with their finger and slide it,” he says. “It’s a very elegant display.”

As for the physical controller, MacArthur expects the build quality to withstand the constant use and abuse: “The Fader Tiles are so well constructed. We’re optimistic about their durability with novice users.”

The second of the three SSL System T Fader Tile and TCR systems has been installed at the control room and studio facilities in the Journalism Production Center, also built in 2003 and updated in 2010, which is located on the sixth floor of the Walker building, adjacent to the Tufte PPC. “It’s largely instructional, so we’re teaching journalists and producing daily newscasts, whether they’re self-contained as a course resource or posted online,” he says.

The third Fader Tile and TCR combination has been integrated into a control room in the nearby Bobbi Brown and Steven Plofker Gym to support live coverage of Emerson College’s men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball games. The onsite mix control system is networked to its TE1 Tempest Engine in the central machine room in the Tufte PPC.

At the Tufte Television Studios, the spacious Di Bona Family Production Studio A, measuring 40 feet by 43 feet and offering audience seating, enables students to produce a wide variety of programming using the SSL System T platforms available there. The diverse productions set students up for careers in the real world. “We have a weekly Good Morning Emerson television show that’s modeled after a regular morning show. We’ll have live bands, soap operas, sitcoms,” says Antonio Ascenso, Director of Production Facilities, Media Technologies and Production. “If you can think of it, we’ll do it.”