Lawo's well-loved console, now with high-performance MkII router and advanced ergonomic features.

Presented for the first time at this year's IBC was the redesigned mc²66 - with new router core and new operating surface, designed for even more user-friendly and intuitive operation.

The popularity and success of the mc²66 is a result of its functionality, DSP power, ergonomic operation, flexibility and reliability. With this redesign, Lawo has improved the excellent features of the mc²66 even more.

The new MkII offers a router capacity of 8000 x 8000 crosspoints, now with a fully integrated control system which can be designed with redundancies according to the production requirements, offering maximum reliability. The control unit for the operating console is now placed on the redundantly designable router board, so that the redundant control system can be replaced during runtime. At any one time, all control system data is mirrored between the active and passive system.

The new mc²66 concept offers a completely redundant signal path - from the stage box through the DSP channel to the output. Customers can choose their own level of redundancy and work with different redundancy grades in their configuration.

The control surface has been developed further with suggestions from the mc²66 user community having been included in the current redesign. Features added include: OLED displays, FC4 / 2nd layer operation, touch screens, GUI operation and the optional integration of external devices into the central section.

Don't hesitate to contact Protel should you require further information on any Lawo product.

"The Sun Came Out", the new 7 Worlds Collide album, was released at the start of September. This Neil Finn-led project has seen a return of familiar faces from the first 7 Worlds Collide album, including Johnny Marr, and Ed O'Brien and Phil Selway of Radiohead plus this 2009 album features a whole host of new guest talents including KT Tunstall, Bic Runga, Don McGlashan and members of Wilco. Beneficiaries of this album are Oxfam, to aid in their fight to reduce poverty worldwide.

A limited amount of time was set aside in January this year to write and record all the songs for "The Sun Came Out". With musicians and families welcomed into Roundhead Studios in Auckland, the facility became a constant whirl of creativity and energy throughout the time allocated to create the record.
Neil Baldock, Chief Engineer at Roundhead, commented, "Roundhead Studios was a buzz of near non-stop activity for three weeks solid with 16-hour days being the norm."

Read on for further recording notes from Neil, learn about the temporary ICON studio Protel built, plus our interview with Jim Scott (Producer/Mix Engineer for the project)...