Lawo powers Studio Berlin’s OB truck for Berlinale 2025 Film Festival
Bringing Lawo’s technology to the 75th Berlinale, Studio Berlin has revamped its OB truck Ü2 with the audio company’s latest equipment to support live broadcasts
As part of an ambitious effort to elevate its mobile audio capabilities, Studio Berlin has completely upgraded its OB truck Ü2 with Lawo’s latest Audio-over-IP (AoIP) technology. This enhancement was completed just in time for the 75th Berlinale Film Festival, which commenced on 13 February 2025.
Central to this upgrade was a 48-fader mc²56 MKIII console, A__stage units for I/O devices and the Home mc² DSP App, providing 256 DSP channels. The existing Lawo VSM system was also expanded for seamless control over the IP-based broadcast infrastructure.
This upgrade was crucial for high-profile live broadcasts, including the opening ceremony and awards gala of Berlinale 2025. In collaboration with X Verleih, the excitement of the festival was extended to seven cinemas across Germany, where the events were transmitted live.
One of the main hurdles during the upgrade was integrating the new technology into the truck’s existing 3G-SDI workflow. “The challenge was to replace a well-established infrastructure with emerging, continuously evolving technology,” says Leonard Weißhahn, audio engineer at Studio Berlin.
Despite the challenges, key features of the upgrade, like the integration of the Home mc² DSP App to ensure software-based signal processing, were successfully implemented. This upgrade now offers scalability for future developments.
“With the Home mc² DSP App, we can manage DSP resources flexibly and efficiently – an essential improvement for our workflow,” explained Mathias Heinrich, head of audio at Studio Berlin. “Virtualisation eliminates the need for dedicated DSP hardware, which not only saves space but also provides exceptional flexibility in configuration and scalability.”
The collaboration between the Studio Berlin and Lawo teams ensured installation, testing, configuration and programming were completed efficiently, making sure the truck was fully operational for Berlinale.
This upgrade has not only showcased Studio Berlin’s commitment to innovation but has also underscored Lawo’s role in driving the future of broadcast technology with its cutting-edge AoIP solutions.
Lawo technology has also supported the modernisation of other broadcasting equipment, like the update of Korean Broadcasting System’s HDTV-4 OB van.
Find out more about Lawo at lawo.com and Studio Berlin at studio-berlin.de
