There were rumours that some stations had a different Mark 3. Adjacent to large "Community Studios" where concerts and audience shows could be held it was said that some stations had a special Mk III modified to cater for the needs of live music performance, or providing PA to an audience.
BBC Radio Merseyside had one in their building on Paradise Street.
The desk, already quite a stretch for some to segue from a gram to a cart, was lengthened. The four outside source channels and the RBS were replaced by twelve mic channels that were fed from pattresses on the studio wall.
From what I remember the channels had a course gain control, some sort of EQ, and the facility to provide auxiliary sends, although these weren't labelled as auxes and no-one really seemed to properly know how it worked.
To get it all to fit into the frame the narrow divide between the normal Mark 3 mic channels and the tape repros was removed. This was only a small change, but it made everything feel cramped at the right hand side of the desk. You realised that one of the things that made the Mark 3 design so good for self-op work was the space; by not packing in too much stuff there was room for your hands to work the desk, even when thinking about what you were meant to be saying.
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As well as the "big" Mk3s for Studio 2, was there also a mini version? Radio York's behind the scenes website shows their NPA (news booth) with something that looks similar in style to an Mk3, just smaller
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bbc.co.uk/northyorkshire/content/image_galleries/behind_scenes_rad_york_gallery.shtml?28
Would there have been similar mini Mk3s for district studios?
Hi Anon - thanks for your comment.
ReplyDeleteThere would be similar kit, but don't think of these as mini-Mk 3s. The Mark 3 was a BBC design - this desk is a Glensound. Glensound specialise in OB kit, making the now ubiquitous ISDN COOBE, but they also make mixing desks.
They're mainly for OB use, but they have also made some studio desks too. Have a look here for starters.
Thanks for that - I was assuming it was a BBC design due to the upside down faders (but I guess the Beeb would have bough enough to make it worth Glensound's while providing that as an option) and the wood surround.
ReplyDeletePresumably different stations had their NPA kitted out with whatever was currently available when the station was installed rather than standardised kit, or were separate news studios a later addition?
I think a separate news booth was always part of the spec at a Mark 3 station. I know that quite a few had those Glensound desks, but I'm not sure that it was universally applied.
ReplyDeleteAnyone else any ideas?
The Radio Merseyside Studio 2 'music' desk was a fine beast. As a freelancer just leaving college I was allowed to join the Mark III training as the station moved to Paradise Street. But the session in Studio 2 was the only one I did... I was a bit lost compared to colleagues who had been on the Studio 1 sessions!
ReplyDeleteThe desk had a big red button which you pressed to put it into 'Group Working' whereby the 12 extra mic/line faders came into play and the original two mic faders became Group 1 and Group 2 to which the 12 channels could be assigned.
Pressing the red button put an awful thump across the output and it was wise to drop the speaker volume so the little things didn't jump off the top of the desk!
Thanks Anon - that's a great bit of info.
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