Camp Digital Is On the Move With HARMAN Soundcraft Vi4(tm) Console In Its New Thunderbolt HD Production Truck
LAS VEGAS, Nevada – Camp Digital is a partnership of Nashville video production professionals who created the full-service mobile video production company four years ago. In early 2012, Camp Digital’s fleet got bigger and better with the company’s new Thunderbolt HD truck, equipped with a HARMAN Soundcraft Vi4 digital mixing console.
Camp Digital specializes in music and entertainment events for television, home video and non-traditional media including the Internet, tablets and wireless devices. The company’s five partners have more than 100 years of combined experience in TV and video production.
“Our concept with the Thunderbolt HD truck, as has been the company’s philosophy all along, is to be able to get in and out of spaces that a tractor trailer can’t, provide the highest HD production quality and still be budget conscious,” said Tom Gregory, vice president of Camp Digital. “This gives us the ability to do jobs that other production trucks can’t touch. Add to that the fact that we’re extremely sensitive to today’s production budgets, we think we’re a great solution for a broad range of clients and productions ”
It’s a philosophy that’s working. Since turning out the Thunderbolt HD truck in January, Camp Digital has produced several “RAM Country” live music events for Yahoo! Music. Thunderbolt was in Indianapolis during the week of Super Bowl XLVI to produce performances by Pitbull and 50 Cent for “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and was recently on location for Ron White’s second annual “Comedy Salute to the Troops,” expected to air April 22 on CMT. This is also Camp Digital’s fourth year working with ABC and the CMA Music Festival, capturing performances by Keith Urban and Kix Brooks.
With a schedule like that, there’s no room for equipment that can’t handle the mileage. Because of his positive experience from using the Vi4 in the JOURNEY HD truck, Camp Digital added the console to Thunderbolt HD’s system. “When we first purchased the Vi4, we needed a console that had a conservative physical footprint but still had the ability to handle well over 48 inputs and did not compromise on quality or flexibility,” Gregory noted. “The Vi4 has all the features we need and then some.”
“The Vi4 has been absolutely bulletproof,” Gregory added. “We’ve had zero issues with it on any level. For the Thunderbolt HD truck, we’re connected with fiber optic cable to the stage box, which gives us more distance to work with, and everything run perfectly.”
Camp Digital’s clients also like the Vi4′s ergonomics. “Jimmy Kimmel’s crew flew out from LA to do the Super Bowl tapings and they had to use our Vi4,” he said.” They were not familiar with the Vi4 in particular, but had worked with Studer consoles in the past. In no time at all they were comfortable with the Vi4 because of its similarity to other Soundcraft and Studer models. They’re all quite logical and straightforward to use.”
“I know Soundcraft specifically designed the Vi4 to deliver flexibility and performance in a compact size,” Gregory stated. “They succeeded. The Vi4 is tailor-made for situations like ours.”
Camp Digital captures and produces music and entertainment events all across North America for a variety of television network and music industry clients. Camp Digital is a full-service production company that also owns/operates Thunderbolt HD, a state of the art 12 camera video production truck with 64 tracks of Pro Tools audio recording capability managed through the Soundcraft Vi4 audio console. For more information on Camp Digital visit www.campdigital.net or contact them directly at 615-826-0122.
HARMAN (www.harman.com) designs, manufactures and markets a wide range of audio and infotainment solutions for the automotive, consumer and professional markets – supported by 15 leading brands, including AKG, Harman Kardon, Infinity, JBL, Lexicon and Mark Levinson. The Company is admired by audiophiles across multiple generations and supports leading professional entertainers and the venues where they perform. More than 25 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with HARMAN audio and infotainment systems. HARMAN has a workforce of about 13,000 people across the Americas, Europe and Asia, and reported net sales of $4.2 billion for twelve months ending December 31, 2011.
“Greg determined that the best solution would combine acoustic treatment with a redesigned sound system, and brought us in to look at revamping the speaker system as well,” says Dieckhaus. “The first thing that came to mind for me was the Iconyx IC2 digitally steerable array from Renkus-Heinz. I had used Iconyx in many other churches and knew it worked well in very challenging acoustical environments. I had educated myself on the new IC2 model and was confident it was the right system for this application. This particular church has a rather wide chancel stage, without a lot vertical elements to position a column array.” The IC2 system, comprising a two-box array mounted above the chancel platform, was installed by Pentegra Systems of Elmhurst, IL. The IC2 system is augmented by four Renkus-Heinz SGX81 two-way 8-inch cabinets, installed to provide coverage to the over-balcony seating. Another pair of SGX81 boxes are installed as monitors for the chancel choir.To that end, Miller designed a system utilizing diffusers, rather than absorption, to treat the room’s excessive reflectivity. “The musical aspect of our service is very important, and the sound of our organ and choir in particular,” says Hollinger. “Sound absorption was never an option for us, so Greg Miller’s approach of using diffusion was really the right one for us.”
