In Broadcast - July 2014 - 31

WWW.INBROADCAST.COM | ISSUE 33 - JULY 2014

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

N E W S

InSOUND

Audio Developments - Keeping The Peace
After years of audiences scrabbling for the remote control to turn down the volume during shouty adverts,
loudness regulations are finally starting to make a difference...

By Kieron Seth
Contributing Editor

ntroduced by the CALM Act in
the USA, the American code
prevents the audio element in TV
commercials from being broadcast
at louder sound volumes than the
TV programme it accompanies.
Similarly, in the UK the Digital
Production Partnership (DPP), is
introducing a common technical
standard for the deliver y of
programmes which includes
loudness regulation.
These guidelines are being taken
seriously. As Rapahel Samad,
Business Development Director
of Emotion Systems notes: "The
market is good and is being driven
by the introduction of loudness
compliance regulations in different
countries. Where loudness
compliance regulations are not in
place, many of the more forwardthinking broadcast organisations are
introducing loudness compliance,
ahead of future regulation, and to
deliver a higher quality of service
to their customers."
Andreas Tweitmann, CEO, RTW
concurs: "As audio technologies
continue to advance, loudness
metering and standardisation has
become even more critical across
multiple industries and in multiple
applications, both large and small."
Samad observes that there is
still work to do: "Many broadcast
suppliers remain unsure about what
is required from them in terms of
loudness compliance and are very
concerned about what the loudness
compliance process is going to do
to their creative content."
He continues. "Loudness and

associated technologies are evolving
fast. First of all, in terms of loudness,
there is a move to fully automate
the loudness compliance process
within an automated workflow.
Additionally, whilst loudness is being
taken care of, there is an increasing
demand for additional functionality
within the workﬂow such as audio
channel remapping, copying and
Dolby E encoding."
As an area of the business that is
growing fast, investment is evidently
resulting in considerable innovation.
Meters are maturing to fit the
individual needs of broadcasters and
post facilities. Hardware solutions in
desktop and rack conﬁguration are
now joined by dedicated software
and plugins; diverse solutions are
available for live and post produced
content. In many products, loudness
compliance is one feature among
many, while dedicated, specific
meters are still preferred by many.
At this year's NAB - and earlier
expos - a vast range of new and
recent loudness products were
demonstrated.

Aero.x from Linear Acoustic

Cobalt Digital's SpotCheck
measures and records loudness
and provides an organised system
of logged data verifying CALM
compliance, while also providing
ready access to loudness records
if an issue arises. The tool can also
provide transport stream quality

The main user interface for Nugen Audio's MultiMonitor

Minnetonka Audio's AudioTools

checks, such as presence of CEA
708/608 closed-captioning, as
well as transport errors, frozen/
black frame, and audio silence
checks. Upgraded capabilities
include H.264, AAC stereo and EBU
R128 compliance.
Linear Acoustic demonstrated
the Aero.x loudness metering and
control device. It contains up-to two
processing engines which can be
applied to SDI inputs or Livewire
audio IP streams for a maximum of
16 channels. The unit also offers dual
compensating video delay to ensure
that audio/video synchronisation
is maintained.
Nugen Audio showed the
MultiMonitor software with 16
dedicated real-time meters, each
capable of mono, stereo or 5.1
formats. The system is fully
compliant with CALM Act legislation,
ITU-R BS1770/1, ATSC A/85, EBU
R128 and other localised regulations.
The company also unveiled its new
MXF ﬁle-handling option that allows
direct analysis and correction of
audio within the MXF container.
Minnetonka Audio demonstrated
the AudioTools Connector for
Vantage which adds loudness
controls to the Telestream Vantage
transcoding and processing
platform. The audio specialist also
premiered its ﬁle-based RealTime
OEM Loudness Management
Module. The SDK now available
will allow manufacturers to integrate
the module into third party systems
and software.
For RTW, inputs and outputs are
also important areas of development.
Andreas Tweitmann, CEO, RTW
notes: "As we continue to discover
new uses for our metering products
it is important for RTW to provide
a solution to ﬁt everyone's needs
regardless of budget or skill-set.
The TM3-Primus is the perfect
entry-level option for those working
with a digital audio workstation. It
comes fully-loaded and is the ideal

RTW's TM3 Primus

plug-and-play device for creative
professionals." The TM3-Primus
has the footprint of a business
card, and simply plugs into a
workstation via USB.
TSL's new PAM range of audio
monitoring solutions are also very
well featured in terms of inputs.
Aiming to be a complete monitoring
/ loudness compliance solution, the
range supports audio over IP, SDI,
AES and analogue audio formats.
Its broad connectivity means,
according to Martin Dyster, TSL's
Head of Audio, that it "can be
used extensively within Production,
QC, Ingest, Master Control,
Post Production and Playout
environments, as well as supporting
functions such as engineering and
technical support."
E m o t i o n i n t ro d u c e d i t s
Emotion Engine software. It is
designed to meet the demand
for a comprehensive file-based
loudness compliance solution
which can operate faster than
real-time, support a wide range of
media ﬁle formats including MXF,
QuickTime, DPP, AIFF, P2, LXF,
WAV and supports channel layouts
CONTINUED ON PAGE 32

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