The combination of PMC6 two-way active monitors and a PMC8 Sub provides the audio reference for the radio station’s new studios in Broadcasting House.
After 18 years at Wogan House, BBC Radio 2 has moved back into the nearby BBC Broadcasting House, London, and is housed in new studios designed by specialist broadcast systems integrator, IPE.
The four new studios form part of Broadcasting House’s Popular Music Hub, and this expansion brings the total number of studios in the Hub to 10. They provide facilities for the UK’s most listened to radio stations – Radio 2, Radio 1 and 6 Music.
Ben Relf, Senior Project Engineer at IPE, says: “IPE has a long history of working with the BBC on several technology projects, installing Yalding House Radio 1 studios in 2005 and later installing the original Popular Music Hub studios when Broadcasting House was being built in 2012. At the time, these were fitted with Studer mixing consoles and multiple pairs of PMC TB1S loudspeakers.”
The new facilities are largely based around an Audio over IP infrastructure, with DHD audio consoles provided in each studio. These were specified with local audio I/O to cater for periphery items, such as microphones and speakers. PMC6 active two-way monitors matched with a PMC8 Sub were used as the main studio loudspeakers.
The studios are also equipped with Radio Visualisation facilities, Live Music performance areas, DJ Positions with Pioneer DJ Decks and Technics Turntables, and an IHSE KVM System to allow operators in pairs of studios to access the necessary PCs and Playout Servers. Much of the new equipment was supplied by pro audio technology provider HHB, which worked closely with IPE to deliver hardware to meet the project timescales, despite challenging supply conditions in the wider technology market.
Ben Relf says the expansion of the Popular Music Hub was a huge success, despite everyone working to incredibly tight time constraints. “We have received very good feedback from users, who are impressed with the new studio facilities provided,” he says.
PMC’s own history with the BBC dates back 30 years, although the company’s founder and Chairman Peter Thomas has an even longer history with the corporation, having joined as an engineer in 1977. He eventually became Engineering Manager, a role that involved developing new products and providing technical and engineering support for BBC Radio’s Music Studios.
In the early 1990s, Thomas and PMC’s co-founder Adrian Loader (then working at FWO Bauch), were asked to design a full range loudspeaker capable of handling very high SPLs for live music performances taking place at Maida Vale. The result was the BB (Big Box) series of transmission line prototypes.
“It took five prototypes before the studio was happy,” Thomas says. “By the time we got to the BB5 we had something they really liked, and they decided to buy two pairs. However, I couldn’t sell them and remain an employee because it was deemed a conflict of interest, so I left my job and set up PMC with Adrian. That was in 1991 and the BB5 became the industry’s first large active speaker with genuine resolution and accuracy. Their design is still in use in studios globally, with the BB6 Active being the latest evolution of the design in production today.”
Thomas adds that he is proud and delighted that PMC monitoring is being used in the new Radio 2 studios.
“Our professional studio products are world-renowned for their clarity, resolution and neutrality, especially at the low end of the frequency spectrum,” he says. “Our designs really do pass the test of time – the original BB5s that we built are still in use at Maida Vale.”
PMC customers now include concert halls, mastering studios and recording studios such as the world-famous Capitol Studios and Hollywood’s film scoring elite. In Germany, PMC were used for recording classical music for Deutsche Gramophon and Harmonia Mundi, while big name celebrities like Stevie Wonder, Calvin Harris, Elton John and electronic pioneers Kraftwerk choose PMC.
