Once a consumer has invested in a 40 inch flat-panel display, or larger, the motivation to add the paraphernalia of surround-sound becomes much stronger than it ever was with CRT-based receivers.
IBC2006 in Amsterdam recently provided a useful base from which to check out the latest developments in audio post-production for television. As the weather was good, I began by nosing into a massive new Unit 11 HD production truck exhibited in the outside broadcast zone by the aptly-named company Outside Broadcast, based near Brussels. The audio suite is located at the front of the trailer, as far away as possible from the power generators. Less conventional is the use of two side-by-side Yamaha DM2000 multi-track audio mixing desks configured both for live sound mixing and post-production. Using two identical desks allows much more flexible working than a single desk and, if one goes down, the other is available as a standby. The monitor loudspeakers were by Genelec who seem to have their kit in practically every audio post suite on the planet.
Soft solutions
Inside the Amsterdam RAI Centre, Adobe demonstrated the latest additions to its Production Studio suite of software including the increasingly powerful Adobe Audition. Originally launched as Cool Edit Pro (before Adobe bought the rights), Audition was adopted by the BBC in London as a successor to traditional razorblade editing and tape-based audio playout. This decision contributed to some interesting glitches in the early days as BBC staff came to terms with PC-based playout, but few, if any, would wish to go back to the old way. The latest version, Adobe Audition 2.0, includes low-latency mixing, the ability to record parameter changes in real time, and tools for audio visualisation and frequency-space editing. Audition 2.0 is available stand-alone or as part of Adobe Production Studio.
Dolby demonstrated the latest additions to its range of audio mastering tools - Dolby Media Producer consists of three separate Apple Mac applications running on a G5 platform. These are available individually or as a package. Dolby Media Encoder offers comprehensive encoding and job control capabilities in a client-server environment, while Dolby Media Decoder provides reference decoding functions, including all Dolby decoding and listening modes. Dolby Media Tools offers bitstream and metadata editing features, eliminating the need to re-encode previously encoded audio files. The Dolby Media Producer suite supports Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, and MLP Lossless, for the new HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc formats as well as DVD-Video and DVD-Audio formats.
As its initial-based name implies, CEDAR was a pioneer in computer-enhanced digital audio restoration and was used in many video post suites long before competition came snapping at its heels.
Following the recent introduction of Retouch, Auto Dehiss and Declip for CEDAR Tools (PC), the company announced four more modules at IBC.
Supplied as three separate packages (auto declick and manual declick together, plus decrackle and dethump), all the processes are provided as individual plug-ins. The entire suite is licensed using a single USB dongle, to which additional licences can be attached as and when the user wants to add processes.
CEDAR claims its processes can remove many unwanted sounds without damaging the desired audio or introducing unwanted side-effects and artefacts. The latest additions are designed to be applied when speed and throughput are the paramount considerations, or for operation by non-expert users.
Auto declick detects each click, removes it, and then fills the gap with the best estimate of the material that existed (or would have existed) had the click not occurred. The maximum click length is 100 samples at 44.1 kHz or 200 samples at 96 kHz.
Manual declick removes the clicks that Auto Declick cannot. It achieves this by allowing users to specify the audio that constitutes the click. The manual declick interpolator is optimised for longer clicks and scratches, and the maximum click length handled is 2,048 samples at 44.1 kHz or 4,096 samples at 96 kHz.
Dethump eliminates the low frequency disturbances that cannot be restored using either declick process. It allows users to identify and describe the audio that constitutes the thump. The maximum thump length handled is 50,000 samples (a little over one second) at 44.1 kHz or 100,000 samples at 96 kHz. Decrackle removes crackle and reduces various types of buzz and distortion. It automatically detects the tiny disturbances that comprise the unwanted sounds, removes them, and restores the audio with the best estimate of the material that existed (or would have existed) had the problem not occurred.
Dedicated hardware
Studer's Vista console has proved popular both in post-production studios and OB vehicles. The company recently upgraded the DSP backbone of the entire Vista range with the introduction of the smaller - yet much more powerful - SCore Live DSP platform. Occupying a relatively compact 6U, it accommodates up to 10 DSP card slots and can also hold up to 12 interfaces cards in various formats. A new facility in the DSP allows delays of up to 10 seconds to be added to signals, to compensate for video delays such as those occurring in satellite links.
Another mixer manufacturing offering more crunch in a smaller space was Calrec. The company's Bluefin audio processor is claimed to provide 200 percent more processing power in 92 percent less physical space and at no extra cost. It provides 480 equivalent mono signal paths and is capable of providing 78 x full 5.1 surround channels on just one card.
Doubling the processing power of the largest Calrec Alpha console, Bluefin generates less heat, uses less power and reduces back-plane activity. System resilience is provided by 100 percent redundancy of all processing elements through the provision of a second card; the equivalent of having another console as a hot spare. It is fully retrofit-able to existing Alpha consoles.
The growing popularity of computer-based audio workstations has encouraged Solid State Logic to develop a new large-format production console that combines the analogue processing of the company’s E, G & K Series consoles with extended DAW integration capabilities. The Duality console has a split channel path that enables channel processing to be placed in the input or monitor path of the workstation. Operation is via VCA-style or moving fader automation, including complete control over DAW parameters from the console channel rotaries. There are multiple stereo busses or multiple 5.1 stems to make the best use of a full set of 5.1 pan/positioning controls on each channel. Duality features an engineer-familiar hardware control surface and adds TFT display across all channels.
Hard/soft hybrids
SADiE introduced the LRX2 location audio workstation, based on its LRX laptop-based flexible location recorder. The LRX2 combines professional audio input and output modules with a tactile hardware control surface and the ability to use a standard PC. Up to 48 discrete inputs can be recorded at 48 kHz/24-bit (or up to 32 tracks at 96 kHz/24-bit) from a variety of dedicated input cards identical to those used in SADiE's PCM-H64/H128 multitrack editing workstations. A new dedicated MADI interface card is also under development for the LRX2, allowing easy connection of up to 64 tracks to studio or live digital consoles.
Avid’s Digidesign suite is almost a commonplace in television post-production facilities. The new Digidesign Mbox 2 Pro is a portable, high-definition audio/MIDI production system including Pro Tools LE recording, editing, and mixing software. Powered via FireWire or an included mains adapter, it supports 6 simultaneous inputs and 8 simultaneous outputs at up to 24-bit/96 kHz resolution. 48V phantom power is provided for capacitor microphones.
The Edirol division of Roland exhibited the latest in its line of USB mixers and audio interfaces which turn any modern laptop or desktop PC into a respectable sound processing system. The UA-101 interface allows simultaneous recording of 10 channels of audio at 24-bit/96 kHz, or up to 6 channels of audio at 24-bit/192 kHz. Two microphone pre-amps allow recording directly into the UA-101 via XLR/TRS combo sockets. A further 6 TRS jack sockets provide balanced inputs switchable between +4 or -10 dBu, allowing matched input from any line level source. Optical S/PDIF in and out ports are also provided for digitally-equipped sources.
Looking ahead
The declining cost of professional audio and video kit, combined with the ever increasing cost of transportation and real estate, is making online working an increasingly attractive option for practically everyone in broadcasting. Audio post is no exception. At its most basic, all you need is a reasonably powerful PC, Adobe Audition editing software plus a USB sound mixer and a couple of capacitor or electret microphones. The choice of dedicated or virtual control surface boils down to simple issues of cost and deskspace. A lot of broadcast activity can be performed very easily indeed via a GUI but virtual audio mixing, even on a LCD touchscreen, is unlikely ever to be as easy as fully tactile controls. As for communication, broadband Internet speeds are now satisfactory for sending or receiving audio clips. Longer files simply take more time or, if deadlines permit, can be snail mailed on CD. Electronic commuting is the future. For many people in broadcasting and post-production, that future has already arrived.
