Vizrt, the leader in real-time graphics and live production solutions for content creators, has partnered with London-based multi award-winning music charity World Heart Beat, to bring TriCaster to its new studio in Wandsworth.
The video production technology is being used to create and stream a wide variety of content including live performances, help launch new artists’ recordings and enable remote learning sessions.
“High-quality streaming of classes and performances are an integral part of World Heart Beat’s vision for Embassy Gardens, and we are honoured that our TriCaster solutions are making a major contribution to supporting this vision,” remarked Marise Plater, channel sales manager, Vizrt.
World Heart Beat was established in 2009 to meet the need for affordable music education for disadvantaged young people, as well as opening pathways into music and creative industries. With an open-door policy to intake, World Heart Beat teaches approximately 425 students per year from South London and beyond; providing over half (55%) with bursary support and with 76% of all learning activities provided for free.
Earlier this year, the charity expanded into a second site in Nine Elms, located in the prestigious Embassy Gardens on the South Bank. As one of the cultural anchors within the Nine Elms’ £15 billion regeneration scheme (dubbed ‘London’s mini-Manhattan’) World Heart Beat Embassy Gardens has raised the bar significantly in terms of its facilities and technology.
Designing and fitting out its new 750m2 space to become one of, if not the UK’s most highly technical 200-capacity auditorium and music venue, complete with multiple teaching spaces and a state-of-the-art recording studio.
Vizrt has joined other AV and media technology’s leading names – including Solid State Logic, Focusrite, and d&b Audiotechnik – in donating equipment to World Heart Beat Embassy Gardens.
Specifically requested by the charity, which wants to optimise its accessibility and audience reach regardless of distance, the donation includes a TriCaster Mini 4K video creation system and TriCaster Mini Control Panel. The TriCaster products are being used to deliver remote learning, on-site relay of master classes and recitals, and streaming of live performances to a worldwide audience.
From the beginning of the design process for Embassy Gardens, there was a determination to achieve “a significant increase in our streaming capabilities, launching young, emerging artists and connecting the music-loving community to World Heart Beat even further,” according to World Heart Beat CEO, James Gero.
In the final deployment, the TriCaster Mini 4K is being used in conjunction with multiple BirdDog 4K cameras, including several located in the auditorium to capture concerts. The two TriCaster solutions are installed in the HEARST Broadcasting Suite and connected to the building’s cabling network, which includes more than 80km of Fiber Optic, Cat 6a and Analogue cables, installed by internationally renowned firm, White Light.
“It’s extremely exciting when you take delivery of a piece of sophisticated equipment and realize that you can get to grips with it very, very quickly,” said Gero. “It shows the workflow has been superbly well thought out. The TriCaster has so much more power and capabilities than what’s on the surface; it’s really quite brilliant.
“It can be operated with relatively little pre-training but there are layers of complexities that open the doors to endless possibilities. The TriCaster is exactly the piece of equipment that will enable young people on our program to find opportunities in audio-visual and production. It’s a win-win also for emerging performing artists who require more exposure, as TriCaster can live stream across multiple social channels simultaneously.”
Gero also emphasised the contribution that TriCaster is making to the overall facility where the focus was to build a superbly highly tech, acoustically beautiful, boutique venue while optimising AV technology.
“We ended up with a high-end facility, equipped with 21st-century infrastructure and capable of taking us as far into the future as possible,” he said. “We have created an ingenious way of utilising space and inspiring the younger generation to explore the realm of creative opportunities; TriCaster is a core component of that forward-looking infrastructure.”