Sweetwater’s Latest HD-Truck Will Roll Out with Riedel

When Los Angeles-based Sweetwater Digital Productions’ new 53 ft. HDTV double-expando production truck hits the road it will have a Riedel Artist intercom system on board to guarantee pristine communications. The unit, currently under construction and designed to accommodate large-scale concerts, awards ceremonies and other high-profile sports and entertainment applications, will install Riedel’s Artist 128. Sweetwater provides turnkey production system rentals.

For its newest truck Sweetwater, already in possession of four Riedel systems, chose the Company’s Artist 128 from Riedel’s newest generation of matrices. “In addition to the Artist intercom panels’ ease of operation, the platform offers the most convenient way to link communications between two or more trucks. There is no need for trunking or uncomfortable four-wire configurations – it’s just a piece of fibre and you’re done”, explains Mark Hale, chief engineer with Sweetwater. The Artist 128 mainframe provides 128 ports in six RU. As with every Artist matrix, distributed systems up to 1024x1024 ports can be realized by linking several mainframes over fibre. This distributed matrix still ‘feels’ as one: it is completely non-blocking and has no limitations in the number of cross-points within or between the different mainframes of the system.

ALL Artist matrix frame sizes in the new series now use the same type of controller and client cards that significantly reduces expansion costs and the need for multiple spares. Other enhanced features include increased memory for complex multi-node installations, superior alarm signalization, optimized cooling for quiet operation, compatibility with legacy Artist frames, and a flexible fiber option enabling the user to easily change the fiber optic modules from multi-mode to single-mode.

Every frame-size can be a fully redundant system with redundant power supplies and redundant controller cards if needed. All modules are hot-swappable while the optional superior alarm signalization monitors potential failures both as a hardware alarm and a software alarm in the Director Configuration software.