BBC Radio 2, Radio 1, and 6 Music move into new Broadcasting House studios featuring PMC6 active monitors and PMC8 Subs as their main audio reference.

BBC Radio 2 has relocated from Wogan House to nearby BBC Broadcasting House, London, into newly designed studios by broadcast systems integrator IPE. These four new studios are part of Broadcasting House’s Popular Music Hub, expanding its total studios to 10 and catering to the UK’s most popular radio stations.

Ben Relf, Senior Project Engineer at IPE, says: “IPE has a long history of working with the BBC on several technology projects, installing Yalding House Radio 1 studios in 2005 and later installing the original Popular Music Hub studios when Broadcasting House was being built in 2012. At the time, these were fitted with Studer mixing consoles and multiple pairs of PMC TB1S loudspeakers.”

The studios are centered around an Audio over IP infrastructure, featuring DHD audio consoles with local audio I/O for microphones and speakers. The main studio loudspeakers are PMC6 active monitors paired with PMC8 Subs.

Additionally, the studios include Radio Visualisation facilities, Live Music performance areas, DJ Positions with Pioneer DJ Decks and Technics Turntables, and an IHSE KVM System for seamless operation between studios.

HHB, the pro audio technology provider, collaborated closely with IPE to deliver the equipment despite challenging market conditions.

Ben Relf says the expansion of the Popular Music Hub was a huge success, despite everyone working to incredibly tight time constraints. “We have received very good feedback from users, who are impressed with the new studio facilities provided,” he says.

PMC’s own history with the BBC dates back 30 years, although the company’s founder and Chairman Peter Thomas has an even longer history with the corporation, having joined as an engineer in 1977. He eventually became Engineering Manager, a role that involved developing new products and providing technical and engineering support for BBC Radio’s Music Studios.

In the early 1990s, Thomas and PMC’s co-founder Adrian Loader (then working at FWO Bauch), were asked to design a full range loudspeaker capable of handling very high SPLs for live music performances taking place at Maida Vale. The result was the BB (Big Box) series of transmission line prototypes. “It took five prototypes before the studio was happy,” Thomas says. “By the time we got to the BB5 we had something they really liked, and they decided to buy two pairs. However, I couldn’t sell them and remain an employee because it was deemed a conflict of interest, so I left my job and set up PMC with Adrian. That was in 1991 and the BB5 became the industry’s first large active speaker with genuine resolution and accuracy. Their design is still in use in studios globally, with the BB6 Active being the latest evolution of the design in production today.” He expresses pride in PMC’s monitoring being selected for the new studios, renowned for their clarity, resolution, and neutrality, especially in low frequencies.

According to the information provided by the company, PMC’s reputation extends to concert halls, mastering studios, and recording studios globally, including Capitol Studios and Hollywood’s film scoring elite, while artists like Stevie Wonder, Calvin Harris, Elton John, and Kraftwerk rely on PMC for their studio needs.