Exhibiting with Danmon Group colleagues on stand 8.B60, ATG Danmon will promote its comprehensive range of systems integration services at IBC 2023. These include pre-project consultancy, system design and structural layout, installation, workflow configuration, testing and commissioning, documentation, training and, if requested, lifetime support. ATG Danmon representatives at the show will include Paul Shonfeld, Jonathan Hughes, and Howard Dixon.
“A substantial strengthening of media industry investment in the broadcast mainstream, corporate, higher-education, and parliamentary sectors has been evident over the past year,” comments Paul Shonfeld, ATG Danmon head of sales. “In the broadcast category, we completed a studio control room upgrade for ITN at their London headquarters in Gray’s Inn Road. This included the integration of a latest-generation production switcher, control surface, and production server. Transition to the new system was completed over a single weekend to ensure continuity of the facility’s daily transmission schedule. The new infrastructure can be upgraded from HD to 4K-UHD, and SDR to HDR, if or when those capabilities are required.
“Among corporate sector projects recently completed by ATG Danmon is a video production facility for Fortnum & Mason, one of Britain’s longest-established retail stores. This comprises a Food & Drink Studio plus a dedicated control room. Created as a multipurpose resource on the store’s third floor, the studio incorporates a kitchen with remotely controlled cameras and adjustable lighting.
“After a careful site survey, we recommended a solution based on compact overhead 4K-UHD HDR cameras with integral motorised pan/tilt/zoom. These have proved highly effective and efficient in many of our recent systems integration projects, notably in newsrooms and theatre venues. The results have proved very eye-friendly both from a video production viewpoint and as experienced by Fortnum & Mason’s customers visiting the suite.”
Manchester Metropolitan University’s School of Digital Arts chose ATG Danmon to equip its new School of Digital Arts. The project tender was issued in two phases. Phase 1 centred on the installation of cabling and interfaces, lighting control, and related infrastructure.
“The university gave us very clear guidance at every stage of the project, from initial design specification right through to completion,” says ATG Danmon project manager Howard Dixon. “The result is a comprehensive resource which allows undergraduates, postgraduates, and researchers to gain experience with the tools and technology deployed across the broadcast, film, and wider media industry.”
Following successful completion of MMU SODA phase 1, ATG Danmon was awarded the tender for the much larger Phase 2. This included the design, installation, and commissioning of two motion-capture studios, two green-screen studios, a stop-motion studio, film studio, edit suites, a multipurpose studio, a colour grading and editing system, and related audio/video equipment.
A high-profile project in the parliamentary category was an audio system located in the clock tower of one of Europe’s longest-established national government buildings. The assignment formed the culmination of a five-year restoration which included repairs to the clock and the masonry of the tower itself. It allows the chimes from the tower’s five bells to be captured for live transmission as well as for use in news programmes and parliamentary broadcasts. The largest of the five, weighing nearly 14 tonnes, sounds the hour, supplemented by four smaller bells programmed to sound a distinctive sequence each quarter-hour.
“An unusual complication was the need to test the system’s acoustic and electronic performance before the date when the bells were officially permitted to resume their public duty,” summarises managing director Jonathan Hughes. “This was overcome by performing tests at a church with a similar clock tower. The results proved resoundingly successful.”