In Broadcast - March 2012 - 48

WWW.INBROADCAST.COM | ISSUE 6 - MARCH 2012

InAUDIO
Audio Production And Monitoring Much More Than Just A Phase Cont.

Glensound GS-MM83

BCD Managing Director Mike Law explains that because the units were designed for newsroom operations, there is no need for surround sound and so eight-channels of audio is adequate. “In theory we could add more channels using extra switching,” he adds, “but the idea was to keep everything simple.” BCD’s other new product is the (DAVE Digital Audio/Video Editor). This is for use at journalists’ desks and features HD video, with the capability to strip out the audio into an integrated sound mixer. BCD designed the mixer but the audio monitoring component was supplied by Newbury Systems. Newbury’s newest audio monitor is the BGM8-2HD, an eight-channel unit, with a Dolby option.

Audio Monitoring 48

A recent installation featuring equipment from the Sonifex Reference Monitor (RM) range was at CRTVG (Society of Radio & Television de Galicia), a regional radio and TV station in Spain. This included the RM-2S10, which has two LED meters, 10 stereo channel inputs. Seven of the units were supplied by Lexon SA, Sonifex’s Barcelona-based Spanish distributor for both CRTVG’s studio and outside broadcast operations. “We needed several digital audio monitors for each video server that we installed in our studios and mobile units,” comments Victor Argibay, the Head of CRTG’s audio department. “Each of the servers has four independent channels, each with four AES/EBU outputs, so we needed a monitor unit that had plenty of AES/EBU inputs.” Sonifex was originally a radio equipment manufacturer but in recent years has expanded into TV.

Another company following a similar path is AEQ of Madrid. Director of International Sales Gustavo Robles says 85 per cent of the company sales are still in radio but AEQ is moving into TV with its commentary systems and AM03/AM04 audio monitors. The AM-03 was designed for analogue audio signals, while the AM-04 has features for monitoring digital AESEBU and embedded audio in SDI video signals, as well as analogue. With audio production now more likely to be carried out by producers and journalists, as well as engineers, there is now a wide range of monitoring equipment, with systems that can be used easily by non-technical staﬀ, as well as more technically sophisticated units. Martin Dyster, Audio Applications Manager at manufacturer and systems integrator TSL, observes that audio monitoring is still vital in ingest and lines areas and master control rooms (MCRs). Two TSL audio monitoring products are the PAM2-3G16 and the new AVM-T-MIX. The PAM2 is a step on from the PAM1-3G8 and features dual hi-resolution OLED screens, 16 bargraphs and optional Dolby decoding. The T-MIX was developed in December 2010 for BBC Sport and features a touchscreen for ease of use. Systems integrator Dega Broadcast installed an initial 80 units into BBC Sports’ new headquarters in Quay House at MediaCityUK, where they are used by production staﬀ, including directors, PAs and editors. All have a unit at their desks, giving access to material from SDI and AES routers, as well as local analogue sources. These can be selected using an integral router and fed through a pair of 20-channel audio mixers.

OLEDs are used increasingly for screen displays in general broadcasting operations, including on audio monitoring devices. Contrary to this, BEL Digital Audio has opted to stick with what Barry Revels, who looks after UK sales for the company, calls “more traditional methods”, including LEDs and bargraphs. Revels says BEL is “bucking the trend” to oﬀer units that are easy to read and use. To this end, Revels adds, the company is not following other makers in oﬀering menu-driven monitors. BEL monitors featured in the broadcast production chain during the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, while Gearhouse B ro a d c a s t used 52 B M - A 1 monitors for its facilities d u r i n g coverage of the recent Australian Open tennis championship. During IBC 2011 BEL l a u n c h e d the BM-A2E 1 6 S H D , which uses 16 individual high resolution LED bargraph meters to display deembedded audio channels. It can handle 3G, HD and SD or SDI bit streams and includes a Dolby decoder.

Multiple Channels

Regardless of what type of front panel display they use, audio monitoring devices have to deal with multiple channels. These can include diﬀerent languages and audio description that are now a necessary part of day-to-day services. There is still a tendency, however, to think of multi-channel audio purely in terms of surround sound. While broadcasters like Sky in the UK and Premiere in Germany have led the way with 5.1 transmissions, surround is still not
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DK Meter

TSL AVM-T-MIX

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