Hand in Hand: Australia’s latest HD Truck integrates Riedel Intercom and Lawo Audio Console

ZerO1zerO, one of Australia’s leading production and post-production companies, installed a Riedel Artist digital matrix intercom system in its new HD truck. The intercom is fully integrated with the truck’s Lawo digital audio console via 6x Riedel MADI client cards. This set-up allows the truck’s audio engineer to easily remote both intercom panels and 4-wire ports from the Artist system through the existing audio infrastructure.

“The choice was simple,” said Keith Cooper, head of Audio and Communications at zerO1zerO. “I needed flexibility to fulfil my clients’ ever increasing needs, seamless digital integration, ease of patching between communications and audio and the best sounding system available. Riedel is the one.”

The truck’s intercom system consists of an Artist 128 mainframe populated with 6x MADI, 1x CAT-5, 3x COAX and 3x AIO client cards. The MADI cards connect directly to the Lawo Mc66 and provide the console/intercom integration. The CAT-5 card is used for 2 Riedel Connect Solo telephone hybrids, providing access to up to four telephone lines from the intercom system. The COAX cards connect external intercom panels to the truck via coax cabling and the analogue cards provide transformer balanced audio directly to the truck’s 12 HD cameras.

Control panels include both Artist 1000 series LED display panels for the audio and communication workstations as well as 2000 series panels with LCD displays for production and technical areas. All panels connect digitally to the Artist mainframe using 16 bit 48kHz audio.

In addition to just using the panels for comms, six DCP-1016E desktop control panels will also serve as on-air commentary stations for zerO1zerO’s coverage of A-League USL Soccer. These panels are supplemented with 6x CSX-11 commentary add-on units, which utilise the intercom panel’s second audio channel. The CSX-11 was specially designed to work with Riedel DCP panels and offers expanded features for commentary such as additional XLR connectors, a phones connector, dedicated pushbutton switches for On-Air, Talkback and Mic-Mute, as well as a special fail-safe commentary mode.