This year’s promos were particularly challenging in that they
previewed footage from upcoming episodes of CBS programming, so imagery was
being delivered right up until the mix.
The studio used its recently-purchased Fairlight systems to
turn around the promos quickly. In early 2006, CBS Television City purchased
two Fairlight Constellation-XT consoles, and more recently purchased a third
Constellation-XT with the option of upgrading to an FPGA-driven DREAM II
Constellation-XT in the future.
“Timing is everything in our line of work,” says Jeff Ross, audio mixer at CBS
Television City. “Any downtime affects our whole department, and if one room
shuts down all the content gets bumped to another finishing audio suite and
bottlenecks production. That’s obviously something we can’t afford to endure
when preparing for the Super Bowl, which is our biggest event of the year.”
The customizable design of the Constellation-XT allowed CBS
Television City to set up macros specific to their needs.
“Previously all macros had to be programmed through
a computer interface,” notes Ross, “but the Constellation-XT enables us to
customize our own presets simply with the touch of a few buttons. This
capability has impacted our day-to-day workflow, allowing us to maximize our
project velocity and consequently our project volume.”