In Broadcast - March 2012 - 46

WWW.INBROADCAST.COM | ISSUE 6 - MARCH 2012

InAUDIO
Audio Production And Monitoring Much More Than Just A Phase
By Kevin Hilton
Monitoring has always been a crucial part of the audio production chain, even more so today with multiple digital video standards, discrete surround sound, various language channels, embedded audio and in many cases, mandated loudness control, as well as checking those old stalwarts, mono and stereo. Digital control and transmission have made a considerable diﬀerence to this ﬁeld but now monitoring equipment manufacturers – and the personnel who use the gear – are facing another step forward in new technologies as broadcasters gear up for full ﬁle-based delivery. The standard for this is AS-11, developed by the AMWA (Advanced Media Workflow Association). This is an international format for delivering completed programmes from production companies and distributors to the broadcasters and speciﬁes audio as either PCM stereo, AC-3 (Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound) or the compressed
AMP1-16M dual input 16-channel SDI monitor Kevin Hilton

The audio production workﬂow has become increasingly complex, yet ﬁle-based delivery demands ever more simple-to-use equipment in the production chain…

Dolby E format for carrying multiple channels over two-channel infrastructures.

Decode & Monitor

46

Dolby E is still used as a delivery carrier but for main production the trend is towards component audio, with 16-channels for every chain, which means there is no coding exchange involved. Tim Carroll, President and Founder of Linear Acoustic, which produces the LAMBDA-II digital audio and metadata monitor and LQ-1000 loudness quality monitoring unit, observes: “HDSDI carriage of 16 channels of baseband PCM audio is relatively standard these days”.

This approach is conﬁrmed by Terry Allford, Business Development and Channel Manager for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at Wohler Technologies. “This will include a minimum of two Dolby streams and two separate languages, also in Dolby,” he says. Allford, who was Head of Production Service at BSkyB before joining Wohler, believes there is still a requirement for traditional two or four pair monitors but says those would usually be used in small facilities. “Big production centres need at least the 16-channels,” he explains, “which means they can deal with a 5.1 mix, stereo and any analogue channels, monitoring them all on a single panel. In many situations people also need to decode signals

as well as monitor them.” Wohler’s latest product is the AMP1-16M dual input 16-channel SDI monitor, a 1RU rack-mount unit that handles embedded audio in combined 3Gb/s and HD streams or SD-SDI feeds. Various Wohler monitors have been installed at Sky’s new Harlequin 1 (H1) broadcast centre, along with equipment produced by Glensound Electronics and BCD Audio. Over 100 Glensound GS-MM83 units have gone into H1 and have been specially modiﬁed for the project. In standard form the GS-MM83 has eight mono and three stereo inputs in a 1U frame. Glensound’s Sales and Marketing Manager, Marc Wilson, says the digital processing on the unit allowed customised proﬁle presets to be created. “Because space and accessibility were important to Sky they wanted the I/O [input/ output] on XLR connectors and the unit to be as small as possible,” he explains. “We managed to get the eight mono inputs, two stereo inputs, and external loudspeaker outputs all on full size XLRs and one stereo output on 3.5mm jack, all into 1U.” As well as being part of the installation at H1, BCD Audio has supplied equipment for the BBC W1 project at Broadcasting House and MediaCityUK in Salford Quays. During February the company launched new products that were developed during these major installations. The AMU (Audio Monitoring Unit) is an eight-channel device with inputs for analogue, AES digital or embedded audio signals, which are monitored visually on PPMs (Peak Programme Meters).
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Sky Studios Harlequin Building

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