G-ROKS built its new Studio Extreme Tokyo with Blackmagic kit equipping them for most tasks from green screen shoots to streaming with high fidelity audio to live recording and streaming.
G-ROKS Inc operates a rehearsal studio for professional artists under Korg Inc, a major electronic instrument manufacturer. Their team has built a studio in Tokyo for recording and live streaming named Studio Extreme Tokyo.
In addition to manufacturing, KORG has played a role in some of the biggest artists and performances in music since the 1960s. Fortunate to work with some of the world’s best musicians, KORG has continuously built and improved rehearsal spaces as well as recently capturing and streaming performances in 4K.
The popularity of KORG’s G-ROKS music rehearsal studio led to the need for the new Studio Extreme Tokyo, equipped with a video recording room, a control room and a waiting room where visitors can experience spatial sound. The studio is also equipped with KORG’s own streaming system called Live Extreme, which is capable of streaming video up to 4K and lossless or high resolution audio.
Down to Earth
Blackmagic Design’s ATEM Constellation 8K live production switcher is now used at Studio Extreme Tokyo, matched to ATEM 1 M/E Advanced Panel 10, Teranex Mini IP Video 12G converters, SmartView 4K monitors, HyperDeck Shuttle HD desktop recorder and both Mini and Micro Converters. Blackmagic Design DeckLink and UltraStudio capture and playback devices are also used in the Live Extreme workflow.
The Blackmagic Design kit equips them for most tasks from green screen shooting to streaming with high fidelity audio to recording and streaming live performances. Soushi Yamaguchi from the Technical Development division of KORG and manager of Studio Extreme Tokyo gave some down-to-earth reasons for adopting Blackmagic Design hardware. "Blackmagic devices are affordable, and their compatibility with various manufacturers is an advantage,” he said.
“Also, since this studio operates as a rental studio, a varied cross section of our clients visit us here. We thought it would be best to include equipment that everyone is familiar with. For example, while there are switchers from various manufacturers, almost no one who visits this studio hasn’t used Blackmagic products.
Consistency
Yamaguchi sees more compelling advantages in the equipment as well. "The ATEM Constellation 8K can not only transmit 4K but also serve as a routing device when taken to the adjacent G-ROKS studio or when purchasing extra Blackmagic Design cameras. Its numerous outputs also allow us to displaying multiview mosaics on monitors beside the cameras."
The switcher is operated using the ATEM 1 M/E Advanced Panel 10 control panel. Hwang Eojin of G-ROKS said, "The ATEM Advanced Panel feels as though it has been designed with the user in mind. Initially, I was overwhelmed by the number of buttons, but when I actually started using it, I found it surprisingly straightforward to operate.
“The ATEM series in general maintains consistency in operation across models, so that even if the model changes, there's no need to relearn how to operate it. Also, Blackmagic Design's support is excellent, with thorough equipment training and quick response in case of any issues."
IP Signal Transmission
One of the core components of the workflow is KORG’s use of Teranex Mini IP Video 12G to transmit IP signals between the adjacent G-ROKS studio and Studio Extreme Tokyo for tasks such as camera control.
Eojin said, "Mixing audio in G-ROKS is challenging, so we perform that task in this studio. However, it's not practical to run multiple cables from the building. Although NDI was an option, we decided on IP transmission because converting to NDI would require our clients to control it via a computer, making it less user friendly. So, we chose to transmit IP and introduced the Teranex Mini IP Video 12G to support that."
"Studios performing IP transmission like this are still relatively few. It was a workflow that would have been difficult to realize without Blackmagic Design products. While Studio Extreme Tokyo is capable of music streaming, we hope to see many people using the facility for various purposes beyond music streaming," Yamaguchi said. www.blackmagicdesign.com
