brutal güet braves the cold at the Women’s Winter Classics

The alpine peaks of Gstaad set a dramatic stage for the high-profile debut of S12, the sophisticated new mobile production unit from Swiss broadcast innovator brutal güet. During the Women’s Winter Classics produced for RED+, this state-of-the-art OB truck successfully navigated its first live broadcast, powered by a comprehensive IP-based Lawo audio infrastructure. Headliner pulls on a warm winter jacket to find out more.

Senior broadcast audio engineer Christian Maier noted the technological progression: “Overall, it initially felt quite unspectacular because I was already familiar with the system. At the same time, working with AES and RAVENNA streams introduces new capabilities and advantages that still require a certain degree of adaptation.”

Swiss productions require trilingual operation. Maier designed the setup to deliver three versions simultaneously: “Productions in Switzerland are inherently more complex. We always have to be able to deliver three language versions. That’s why I structured the setup so that all three languages are prepared — not only for this production, but for all future ones as well.”

The mc² generation’s DSP capabilities streamline these workflows. Maier explained: “Being able to store and recall EQs, compressors, and presets, as well as using dynamic EQ processing, makes multilingual productions much easier. I don’t have to build the same signal chains multiple times.” He explains that resources can be allocated selectively: “Not every output requires full processing. If a signal path is mainly used for information delivery, I can reduce processing there and allocate resources where they deliver the greatest sonic benefit.”

Efficiency and troubleshooting are also enhanced by the console’s customisation and visual clarity: “I can customise the console to suit my workflow in every detail, but I don’t have to. I can also pragmatically route a signal from A to B quickly and easily — and it still works. At the same time, I can create an interface that lets me work extremely efficiently. If a camera operator reports they can’t hear anything, I can immediately check a second or third meter to see whether the signal is leaving my system. That tells me right away where to look — or where not to look.”

The open-air setting required a customised microphone setup to manage spectator noise: “It makes a significant difference whether 500 or 5,000 people are standing around the rink. In some cases, spectators may even be just a metre behind my ambience microphones.”

Maier balanced this atmosphere with speech intelligibility: “I like to use a strong ambience mix to create an immersive experience, but the commentator always needs a clearly defined space. The ambience is dynamically shaped in the relevant frequency ranges to leave room for speech without reducing the overall level. This is an area where the latest Lawo console generation offers significantly more creative and technical flexibility.”

Precise timing remains vital in IP environments: “Different signal paths operate in different time domains, and these have to be aligned again at the output stage. With Lawo, delays can be applied exactly where they make sense — at the input stage, within groups, or on direct outputs. This level of clarity and flexibility remains a key advantage, especially in hybrid IP and remote production environments.”

The S12, built by Broadcast Solutions, is designed for diverse scenarios beyond sports: “From the outset, our goal was not to focus exclusively on traditional sports productions,” he concludes. “If we produce an opera, we need this surface structure and channel capacity as well. The concept is to use the OB van as a fully equipped mobile control room and minimise on-site setups."