In Broadcast - September 2013 - 78


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

WWW.INBROADCAST.COM | ISSUE 23 - SEPTEMBER 2013

N E W S

InAUDIO

Calrec Debuts Soccer Sidekick At IBC
A

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t IBC2013, Calrec will launch
its patented Soccer Sidekick
iPad app, an assistive mixing tool
designed to simplify the job of
tracking the on-ﬁeld audio during
a soccer game. It provides an
alternative approach for highly
experienced operators while
allowing those with less experience
to create a quality mix very simply.
One of the many tasks the audio
operator must manage is the
capture of all of the important onpitch events while minimising the
amount of crowd and venue noise.
The operator follows the action using
a mentally challenging workﬂow that
requires projecting a 2D location
on the pitch onto the 1D row of
faders on the desk, fading up only
the most appropriate microphones
for that moment in time. Soccer
Sidekick provides a more intuitive
and straightforward interface to
assist the operator in this task.
After defining the position and
direction of the pitch microphones
around an aerial image of a pitch
on the display, the operator simply
touches the corresponding area on
the screen to indicate one or more
locations of interest. The Soccer

Soccer Sidekick Audio Mixing Tool

Sidekick then calculates the optimal
contribution from each microphone
to best capture events at those
locations and moves the appropriate
faders on the desk. The operator
can take over control of the faders
manually at any time, maintaining
complete control.
Also at IBC2013, Calrec will
demonstrate Audio/Video Bridging

(AVB) via an interface card in a
Hydra2 modular I/O rack. This
interface allows signals to be sent
over standard networks to other
AVB-compliant equipment, such
as Riedel’s intercom systems.
Because communication between
equipment is made over a local
area network (LAN), many of
which already exist in building

infrastructures, users can achieve
greater interoperability more easily.
AVB is a Layer 2 protocol that
supports various channel and
latency options on 100 Mb or Gigabit
Ethernet. The unique innovation of
AVB is that it is designed to make
use of a number of extensions to
the Ethernet standard (referred to
collectively as IEEE802.1), which
are designed to support real-time
streaming services. This capability
means that bandwidth can be
reserved through network paths to
lock down switching resources and
ensure streaming-friendly packetqueuing and forwarding behaviour.
Henry Goodman, Head of Sales
and Marketing, Calrec said: “As a
member of the AVnu Alliance, Calrec
has worked closely with fellow
alliance members to come up with
a professional-quality standard
that addresses Ethernet’s most
serious shortcomings as a transport
stream for audio. At IBC2013 we will
demonstrate the fruits of that labour
and the power of AVB through our
Hydra2 audio routing system. By
incorporating AVB into Hydra2,
we’ve added a new and important
layer of versatility to the system. ”

DPA & Sound Designer Currie Captures ‘Charlie’s Country’
S

ound Designer James Currie
used a DPA 5100 Mobile
Surround microphone to capture
the audio for new feature film
‘Charlie’s Country.’
The ﬁlm was shot on location in
East Arnhem Land, in the Northern
Territory of Australia.

Directed by Australian ﬁlmmaker
Rolf de Heer and produced by
Nils Erik Nielsen and Peter Djigirr,
Charlie’s Country, starring iconic
Aboriginal actor David Gulpilil, is a
tragi-comic portrait of one man’s
struggle to deﬁne himself as an
Aboriginal in modern Australia.

Australian ﬁlmmaker Rolf de Heer monitors sound levels for ‘Charlie’s Country’

For James Currie, who has more
than 100 feature ﬁlms to his credit,
ﬁlming Charlie’s Country provided
the perfect opportunity to try a DPA
5100 Mobile Surround microphone
for the first time.
He said: “We decided, before
embarking on this production, that
our basic post position
was going to be Dolby 7.1
with a possibility of going
to final mix with Dolby
Atmos. A 5.1 microphone
for recording atmospheres
was therefore an essential
item in the structure and
vision of the soundtrack.
The DPA 5100 Mobile
Surround microphone was
the instrument that allowed
us to work with conﬁdence
and to approach the postproduction of ‘Charlie’s
Country’ with a strong
degree of certainty.”
Currie added that the
subject matter and nature
of the ﬁlm also dictated
his approach to the audio.
He wanted a discrete
array of tracks, along
with clarity and a faithful
representation of the sonic
world of East Arnhem
Land, so that no sounds
needed to be introduced

from elsewhere.
Filming in East Arnhem Land,
which is deep into Aboriginal tribal
land, came with its own set of
issues. Currie describes the area
as ‘Australian frontier territory’ and
says only madmen and obsessive
ﬁlmmakers would consider staying
there for any length of time.
He added: “Charlie’s Country
includes scenes that had to be
ﬁlmed in the rain so we knew from
the start that our equipment needed
to be versatile and rugged in order
to withstand the most demanding of
conditions and locations. The DPA
5100 microphone gave excellent
results and coped with all conditions
remarkably well.
“Humidity is always an issue but
the DPA 5100 sailed through without
a problem, although its rain cover
didn’t fare as well because quite a
few bugs enjoyed its texture and
ate holes in the fabric.”
The feature ﬁlm is now in postproduction in Australia where the
mixing team are dealing with the 300+
atmospheres recorded on the DPA
5100 Mobile Surround microphone.
‘Charlie’s Country’ is due to premier
at the Adelaide International Film
Festival later this year and may well
be the ﬁrst Australian production to
be mixed in Dolby Atmos.

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