In Broadcast - February 2013 - 71

ISSUE 16 - FEBRUARY 2013 | WWW.INBROADCAST.COM

I N T E R N A T I O N A L

N E W S

InTEST
On The Level For Legitimate Sound Cont.
well as broadcasters;
anyone breaking them
faces penalties of up to
2% of revenue.
By contrast the UK
has guidelines, based
on 1770, that, at the
moment, apply only to
levels on commercials,
not programmes. This
is likely to change this
year as the Digital
Production Partnership
(DPP) intends to
implement common
standards for programme
exchange and QC between all
the main broadcasters, including
the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Sky.
These will include loudness for
programmes, working to R128.
‘Media logistics’ company IMD
(Independent Media Distribution)
distributes commercials to
broadcasters in the UK, Republic
of Ireland, Germany and France
and so has first-hand experience
of the different attitudes towards
loudness monitoring and control.
Director of Broadcaster Relations
and Development John Bolton
comments that IMD’s recently
opened facility in France has to work
to “Nth degree tolerance”, with an
accuracy of 0.1 of a LUF.
IMD delivers material in R128,
working with a mixture of hardware
and automated software systems.
These include DK-Technologies
meters, Tektronix waveform
monitors – which Bolton says are
used by “most French broadcasters”
– and IMD’s own file-based program,
which operates at the end of the
delivery process. “We’ve tweaked
our algorithm for the Paris office,”
Bolton says, “to get as close as
we can to what they want. We do
the analysis at the end of the chain,
including transcoding, with the
levelling set using our own device
as part of the QC process.”

Setting Levels
With his background in sound
engineering, Florian Camerer
advises that correct loudness
levels should be set at the start of
the production process, in the mix,
with the operator using his or her
ears and experience and referring
to a meter for final checking. While
this is the ideal, there are situations
where audio is coming out of video
edit suites with little time for full
audio post or old material is being
transmitted from the archive.
As a result a full range of products
is now available to meet all
applications. On the metering side
DK-Technologies has expanded its
DK range with the DK4, which, like
the earlier DK3, has de-embedding
of SDI 3G input channels and a

DK-Technologies
DK Meter range

StarFish
display.
It also
offers three AES and two analogue
inputs, plus FFT spectrum analysis,
screen grabber and MSD meter
landscape view.
The first result of the strategic
partnership between DK and TSL
Professional Products Limited (PPL)
was launched at IBC 2012. The
PAM PICo audio loudness meter
is based on the DK Meter and is
part of TSL PPL’s Precision Audio
Monitor (PAM) range. It is designed
to deliver “simple, cost effective”
audio metering.
While the PAM PICo has a specific
loudness measurement application,
TSL PPL Director and Head of Audio
Martin Dyster says it is “not purely
a loudness meter”. He explains that
the StarFish display allows signal
energy to be measured, while 5.1
surround sound signals can be
monitored simply and easily.
German manufacturer RTW
used IBC to introduce new
options and enhancements for its
SurroundControl 31900/31960 and
SurroundMonitor 11900 ranges. The
firmware now supports 7.1 Dolby
Digital Plus, while all the main
loudness standards, including EBU
R128, ITU-R BS.1770-2/1771, ATSC
A/85 and ARIB, are catered for.
Another German developer, Jünger
Audio, produces the Level Magic
system, which is used in its audio

TSL PPL Director
and Head of Audio
Martin Dyster

“…PAM aPiCo is “not
purely loudness
meter

”

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