The new Yamaha CL5 consoles in 'El Hormiguero 3.0'

The CL5 consoles make possible the remodeling of the studios at the Vértice 360 ​​facilities in which the production company 7 y Acción carries out a live space as complex as 'El Hormiguero' for Antena 3 prime-time.

Given the complexity of the programs that the production company 7 y Acción carries out in the Vértice 360 ​​studios in Madrid, such as The Anthill 3.0 which is broadcast on Antena 3 TV in prime time, it was necessary in the remodeling of the facilities to opt for a system that could be configured in minutes. Another of the group's companies, Videoreport, has participated in this project.

The premiere of this new edition of The Anthill has shown that the new Yamaha CL consoles are up to the most demanding requirements in broadcast applications, says Jaime Torres, sound engineer in charge of production. The Anthill, “the new Yamaha CLs provide the quality and flexibility necessary for the challenges with which the director and presenter Pablo Motos and his scriptwriters attack us every day.”

The audio system is composed in its first phase of two CL5 consoles connected in cascade to provide a single control surface with a capacity of 72 faders and the possibility of managing 160 audio channels simultaneously, all of which is completed with three Yamaha Rio3224D input/output rack units, one located in the control room and the other two on the main set. The operator therefore has at his disposal 96 channels of analog audio from the different Rio3224D racks, another 16 from OMNI inputs and a whole arsenal of Yamaha miniYGDAI cards to connect all the digital sources and videos of the installation.

Additionally, an M7CL48 is located on the main set that performs monitoring functions. In control, a MacBook Pro connected to the Dante network with a simple CAT6 cable is responsible for recording up to 64 audio tracks that can come from any point in the installation, whether direct analog inputs from the Rio's or any output point of the different CL consoles.

on network

For Videoreport, the company in charge of the installation and operation of technical means, it was an essential requirement that the network be managed fully redundant using four D-Link brand switches, one managing the main and redundant network, and all connected by fiber optics given the critical distances between the control room, machine room and sets.

According to Rafael Chorro, Technical Lead and main developer of the project, "when designing the sound control, many factors were taken into account, the first and most important was the reliability of the old M7CL48 console and we wanted to continue working with Yamaha, maintaining the Dante network with a duplicate security system was a mandatory issue, the responsibility of carrying out up to two live productions per day makes a system with redundancy in the transport of all the signals from the turntable and the video control processed through the Dante network essential."

"The start-up and the beginning of recognition of the Dante network was a bit tedious, you have to be very thorough in the start-up process the first time that all the devices are found through the network, once established the system is robust, reliable and quick to configure with the Dante Controller software. The constant needs of the production company 7 y Acción forced us to grow in control surface and input and output channels without distinction between analog and digital signals, with this new installation Not only have we covered all the needs of the anthill 3.0 but we are also prepared to face future productions,” added Chorro.

And he concludes by commenting that "personally I think that the new CL series consoles and their Rio signal racks are going to give a lot to talk about in the market."

In a second step, a third CL1 table and a fourth Rio3224D Rack are already being installed to serve another studio and other sets, which of course will be fully integrated into the same Dante network. In the immediate future the system will continue to grow even more…