Wohler’s VMDA-SUM8 Enhances Audio Monitoring in Game Creek Video’s Liberty HD

Mobile-production company Game Creek Video has installed Wohler Technologies VMDA-SUM8 analog/digital summing audio monitors in the company’s new Liberty HD two-truck mobile television-production unit. Rolled out in August, just in time for the college football season on ESPN/ABC, Liberty HD relies on six VMDA-SUM8 units for flexible monitoring and mixing of intercom aux inputs.

“We’ve always worked with Wohler audio-monitoring products, and we selected the VMDA-SUM8 for Liberty because it provides eight channels where most systems offer just four or six,” says Jason Taubman, VP of design and engineering at Game Creek Video. “The summed-output feature on the VMDA-SUM8 also was a major factor in our purchase decision, as it offers operators the convenience of creating a small eight-channel mix down into one headset. As a result, production staff can put that audio in their ears rather than in front of them.”

Ideal for mobile-production applications, Wohler’s VMDA-SUM8 analog/digital summing audio monitor provides self-powered stereo or mono monitoring in a 1U rack size and depth of 4.5 inches. A total of eight mono or four stereo channels may be summed together and monitored from the two speakers on the front panel. The user may select either digital AES/EBU or standard analog sources for each of the eight input channels to be monitored.

Liberty production staffers typically use the VMDA-SUM8 for discrete sources, such as IFB talkback, network returns, and producer and director hot mics. Eight volume controls on the front panel allow separate adjustment of each channel in the summing mix, and a recessed trim pot on the front panel serves as a master volume control for all eight selected channels.

“We are constantly finding new ways to add convenience to our clients’ production work, and the VMDA-SUM8 offers a combination of functionality and audio-channel density that serves the mobile-production market very well,” says Carl J. Dempsey, Wohler president/CEO. “Game Creek Video is a leader in this market and a longtime Wohler client, and we’re pleased to see the VMDA-SUM8 implemented in the company’s newest-generation mobile truck.”

Game Creek Video also outfitted Liberty HD with a VM-2A for utility analog audio monitoring in camera control, and an AMP1-DA/106 for analog and AES monitoring in audio control. The VAMP2-SDA was installed for SDI-signal monitoring of transmission video with embedded audio. Rounding out the Wohler solutions for Liberty HD are VMQ-4 units, which provide monitoring of four simultaneous discrete analog channels.