In Broadcast June 2012 - 31

ISSUE 9 - JUNE 2012 | WWW.INBROADCAST.COM

InSOUND
HD Voice Provides A Secret Weapon Cont.

HD Voice Transcoding

To achieve 7kHz audio bandwidth, HD Voice enabled mobile phones must be present at both ends of the call and the connection must be capable of supporting HD Voice. Glensound HD Voice Broadcasters’ mobile phones sample at 16kHz giving a maximum audio bandwidth of 7kHz. Standard mobile phones have a sample rate of 8kHz which limits their audio bandwidth to a maximum of 3.4 kHz, thus removing the possibility of making HD Voice calls.

Currently the service is only available within the same network and within the same country. These restrictions are mainly due to call setup compatibility and transcoding. During call setup, the network negotiates with the phones at each end to ascertain the best quality codec with which they can both operate. The network can then connect the call transparently without transcoding. HD Voice calls can only be connected if supported by the entire

link; the gateways between different mobile phone operators do not yet offer that support. When routing a call through the public switched network, the mobile network has to transcode as the codecs are always incompatible. The potential for HD Voice coupled with the Glensound HD Voice Broadcasters’ mobile range within the broadcast arena is enormous. Commercial HD Voice has been launched in just under half of European countries.

Links of 7kHz can now be achieved from locations previously unobtainable without massive pre-planning and infrastructure. Furthermore, normal call tariffs apply enabling users to take advantage of free calls within the same network offered with many contracts facilitating low cost broadcasting. Remote contribution, back up links and talkback are just some of possibilities offered by HD Voice. ■

SoundField Mic System Delivers In-Stadium Experience
Capturing surround sound in a big stadium environment requires a balanced miking system that is big enough for the task…
Wohler Technologies has provided Mix Engineer Jonathan Freed with the SoundField DSF-2 microphone and DSF-3 digital surround processor for his work on NBA games and Monday-night NFL match-ups. “I’ve known about SoundField microphones since they were invented, and I have always wanted to experiment with one,” said Freed, who has been mixing audio for broadcast for more than 25 years. “The SoundField capsules have an extraordinarily smooth and wide response, at least equal to the very best microphones I have heard in 40 years of mixing, with a tremendous sense of detail and the sonic illusion of being located inside the stadium. The front-side pickup provides a heightened sense of size and place while the rear channels pick up a natural and convincing sense of being surrounded by the excited fans in the stands.” Freed is responsible for capturing and sub-mixing all of the ﬁeld-side audio on the Monday night football games, and he has been miking in 5.1 surround since he ﬁrst began working on NFL’s weekly coverage three seasons ago. SoundField’s multi-capsule microphones capture audio from a single point source, rendering it completely phaseWohler’s SoundField DSF-2 microphone and DSF-3 digital surround processor

coherent. This is an advantage in 5.1 audio capture, as the surround ambience captured by SoundField mics can be collapsed to stereo or even mono for legacy broadcast without introducing any phase artefacts. “Audio from the Soundﬁeld DSF2 always folds down well,” said Freed. “I am a fan of coherence where possible, and I always arrange my arrays so that my audio will fold down well to mono, stereo,

or LtRt. SoundField ﬁts right into that philosophy.” Freed also credits the DSF-2 for its ability to be reoriented, once rigged, by adjustment of the mic’s control box. “If you get an unexpectedly loud section of the crowd in, say, the right rear of the soundstage, you can tip the microphone away from that area electronically. “Before I had the DSF-2, I had to shut off one mic array to achieve the same thing, and that could unbalance the sound.” ■

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In Broadcast June 2012

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