Europe 1, one of France's top radio stations, has equipped its studios with a couple of OnAir 3000 digital consoles from Studer.

The systems were sold through Audiopole, Studer’s distributor for France.

Around since 1955, Europe 1 is owned and run by Lagardère Active – a subsidiary of the Lagardère Group – and recently, as part of a redesign of its studios, Europe 1 was in need of an audio system overhaul.

After considering numerous console options, the network eventually opted for a Studer solution.

The desks are Modulo types – with rack-mountable mainframes that house the power supplies and host processing – and mounted into the studio desks.

“We already have had good experiences with an OnAir 3000 a couple of years ago; the console is reliable, modular, flexible and robust,” said Michaël Allouche, Europe 1’s head of engineering. “So it was quite natural to stay with the same model.”

The OnAir 3000 design is based on a fully modular desk and a new DSP engine. The fader module includes six fader strips, and up to eight fader modules may be fitted, offering a maximum console size of 48 faders.

Layout options range from an engineer-operated continuity console to a single fader panel for DJ and newsroom use, and even a PC-operated system with no physical desk controls.

The new set-up has been well received by the whole Europe 1 team.

“The console is very easy to use and the users are happy to get extensive talk-back capabilities on the console from the control room to the headphones in the studio and to external phone lines and codec as well,” Allouche revealed. “Using the snapshots is also very useful, there are many different users and they have all their own configuration.”

TAGS: Broadcast, Installation, studer, france, onair 3000