In Broadcast - July 2013 - 36

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

WWW.INBROADCAST.COM | ISSUE 21 - JULY 2013

N E W S

InSOUND

Audio Mixing Consoles
Getting to grips with the nuances of Audio over IP and
loudness metering are two challenges facing broadcasters…

By Adrian Pennington
Contributing Editor

M

36

irroring the trend in the
consumer world for one device
to be used to accomplish many
different tasks, there’s an increase
in the desire to interface audio
mixing consoles to vision mixers so
that the vision switcher can operate
the desk, perhaps saving money on
a person driving it.
Avid’s Pro Tools has epitomised
the idea of being able to do
everything, including mixing, ‘in the
box’. “Broadcast clients are dealing
with ever more sophisticated media
deliverables and tight deadlines,”
comments Tom Graham, Worldwide
Marketing Manager, Pro Audio & Pro
Mixing. “They have therefore needed
a more sophisticated, integrated
audio mixing solution, not just a
mixing solution that operates as
an island. As a manufacturer, it’s
not enough to just understand and
provide one facet of the broadcast/
post process.”

Tom Graham,
Worldwide Marketing
Manager, Pro Audio
& Pro Mixing

“

…It’s not enough to
just understand and
provide one facet of
the broadcast/post
process.

”

As Avid now produces control
surfaces for Pro Tools and has
integrated Euphonix’s consoles,
along with the EUCON Ethernet
control protocol into its ranges, the
company does not dismiss mixing
desks completely but does see
the digital audio workstation as a
capable standalone device in certain
circumstances.
“In post and broadcast, mixers
like to have some sense of the DSP
involved for monitoring, as well as
having a second layer of processing
for the DAW,” says Graham. “This
hybrid capability is the best of
both worlds in being able to mix in
the box with EUCON or using the
console’s DSP, which also gives full

monitoring control.”
The other area taking off is the
use of IT infrastructure to carry
broadcast audio (AoIP). The AES is
soon to announce an AoIP standard
which Logitek and a number of the
other manufacturers such as Axia,
Lawo and Wheatstone have been
involved with. The difﬁcult part will
be adding the control protocol to
that standard.
“We need to understand that
IP is not as timely as a real-time
analogue signal or AES/EBU, and
that delays will occur and can be
variable,” says Keith Edmondson,
MD, DQ Solutions. “This has never
been much of an issue with video
but certainly can be with audio; try
delaying the announcers headphone
feed by more than 15ms and see
what happens.”
Wheatstone introduced its ﬁrst
IP-networked TV audio console at
NAB, the Dimension Two. Based
on Wheatstone’s Gibraltar mix
engine technology it delivers any
source or console bus to any audio
network destination over its IP
or TDM network.
“The connected world of IP is
growing, and at some point, you
might want your TV audio console
to be a part of it,” the company
says. “Already, standards are being
developed, like IEEE’s AVB for
moving audio and video around the
studio using IP network protocols.
With AVB standardisation you’re
going to be able to distribute a whole
lot more multimedia a whole lot
faster. But to get there, you’ll need
an audio console that can tap into IP,
if not now, eventually. Having some

The DiGiCo SD10B provides a potent
blend of features, performance,
ﬂexibility and sonic clarity

experience
in audio over
IP (it introduced
WheatNet-IP in 2003),
we knew it could be done affordably
now so that later when you were
rolling out the content in droves,
you’d be ready.”
DiGiCo ﬁnds that larger channel
and bus counts are required as
productions get bigger and the
demand for HD and surround sound
increases. “Our broadcast range is
aimed at the more budget sensitive
projects, where the demands are
increasing but the budgets are not,”
reports Ian Staddon VP Sales. “This
is where our consoles can offer real
beneﬁt with a straightforward user
interface and feature sets to deliver
against the latest demands.”

Henry Goodman,
Head of Sales and
Marketing, Calrec

“…Future expansion
is always a
consideration
when designing or
upgrading a facility.

Avid’s Euphonix consoles
are integrated with EUCON
Ethernet control protocol

Henry Goodman ﬁnds
more broadcasters
“looking at the bigger
picture regarding audio
networking and integration
into the broadcast work-stream.”
Calrec has developed proprietary
audio networking solution Hydra2,
over which broadcasters can share
all I/O resources in a multiple console
environment. “Future expansion
is always a consideration when
designing or upgrading a facility,
and Hydra2 allows more consoles
and I/O resources to be easily added
to the network,” says Goodman.
“In an attempt to drive movement
toward greater interoperability
into broadcast workﬂows, Calrec
users can now send audio signals
from the Hydra2 network via
an interface card in a modular
I/O rack to other AVB compliant
equipment. Greater interoperability
can be achieved easily at a lower
cost as communications between
equipment are made over a LAN,
many of which already exist in
broadcast infrastructures.

”

The DiGiCo system, which uses
FPGAs (Field Programmable
Gate Arrays), allows it to have
just a surface and racks, without
the additional hardware and
connections to DSP cores. This,
says Staddon, has proved very
popular for sports events where
access is more difﬁcult, such as
the X-Games.
The company has added a lot of
new software to its consoles in the
last months ahead of plans to offer
further integration with other devices.
For example, it has just begun
shipping an SDI card developed in
partnership with Junger.
For Calrec the console still has
to meet technical speciﬁcations in
relation to channel count, number
of faders, discrete surround mixing
capabilities, I/O resources and so on,
but Head of Sales and Marketing,

Artemis’ integrated router means all
I/O functions can be performed by
Hydra2

Studer’s clients are looking for
simpler integration and networking
solutions, such as links to newsroom
automation or production systems,
and more ﬂexibility in operation.
Other key topics include loudness
control and managing multiple
surround sources.
In response, the developer
introduced loudness metering as
standard on its Vista 9 and Vista
5M3 consoles, and on its Vista
Compact Remote so users can mix
CONTINUED ON PAGE 38

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