Broadcast Audio Guide 2013 by Future PLC

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BROADCAST • INTERNET AUDIO • MULTIMEDIA • POST PRODUCTION • RECORDING

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CONTENTS

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It’s with great pleasure that we present for the first time ever, Broadcast Audio 2013 – an International Buyers Guide dedicated to audio in broadcast.

August Issue 2013

Broadcast Technology Location Recording List Trends: Stereo, 5.1 & Live Sport Foundation in Loudness Loudness Tools London 2012: A Year Later Manufacturers Directory

Advertiser

Page

Calrec

Genelec

Media Logic

Nugen

Olympus

Orban

Riedel

Sennheiser

Studer

ADVERTISER INDEX

TC Electronic

Yellowtec

Broadcast Audio – An International Buyers Guide 2013

Alongside extensive listings of gear for a variety of applications you will find in-depth articles on some of the biggest issues facing anyone working on audio in broadcast. Yes, there’s a heavy focus on loudness, as you can’t talk about the industry without acknowledging the changes it is currently facing due to legislation such as the US Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act (CALM) and the new technical standards recently set in the UK by the Digital Production Partnership (DPP). Yet beyond this hot topic, we also focus on a varying range of issues facing this ever-changing industry. Kevin Hilton looks past loudness and focuses on the future of broadcast audio, using examples of some recent builds, both traditional studios and OB trucks, to see how technological changes such as networked connections and digital consoles are changing the way broadcasters work both in Europe and abroad. As an ex-BBC producer, Alistair McGhee has years of experience recording sound in diverse conditions and locations and runs us through his list of must-have gear for the location recordist. Don’t know which field mixer will stand up to the most demanding situations? Curious about handheld recorders but unsure where to start? Alistair shares his years of wisdom and makes your choices that much easier. We’ve also included everything you need to know about loudness, with expert advice from TC Electronic’s CTO for Broadcast and Production, Thomas Lund, and extensive information on a number of loudness tools. If you work in broadcast audio this is a publication tailored specifically for you. From loudness to location recording, Broadcast Audio 2013 has you covered. Broadcast Audio 2013 is a project developed by Audio Media the magazine that focuses on the business of production and production technology for professional creative, operators, technicians, and engineers everywhere. Jory MacKay, Audio Media

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August 2013 3

AUDIO FOR BROADCAST

Broadcast Boom

Calrec 40-fader Artemis Light desks feature in the control galleries of the three main studios at BT Sport’s new home

New studio and OB facilities continue to be built, with no sign of economics or market saturation slowing them down. Behind the design, high-tech visual and HD/3D/4K production values, audio is playing a vital role in making sure everything gets to where it should be, as KEVIN HILTON reports. NEW STUDIOS and OB trucks usually have one big design or technological selling point that can obscure everything else. In both cases, high-definition pictures with 5.1 surround sound and digital audio consoles have been highlights over the past decade. On an infrastructure level, 3G is becoming the norm but, particularly in the OB market, this is seen as a means to offer 3D, with 4k for Ultra HD production lurking in the background. For both, bigger is better as expanding side vehicles and four-wall spaces are built to accommodate larger, more intricate programmes. Behind this are implementations of technology that are making installations easier and quicker with, as always, an eye on budgets. This is happening particularly in the audio department, where new approaches to signal routing and connectivity are being taken to reduce both costs and the amount of rack equipment needed. BBC Studios and Post Production (BBC S&PP) took this approach for its new sound galleries at Elstree Studios, where it is based while Television Centre (TVC) is being redeveloped. The audio area for Studio D at Elstree has been enlarged and refurbished, while control rooms have been built for sound stages at nearby Elstree Film Studios (EFS). A great deal of equipment has been transferred from TVC, including Studer Vista 8 and OnAir 3000 consoles. The installations in the sound galleries of Studio D and the 4 August 2013

George Lucas Stages at EFS are “almost identical”, according to Danny Popkin, BBC S&PP’s Technical Development Manager. Instead of an AES router, all studio inputs and outputs are routed through the OnAir 3000 using MADI over fibre. Sound Supervisor Andy Tapley explains that this is a move away from connecting the gallery and studio with copper lines. Five wall boxes have been installed for multiple connections. The sound control room is able to accommodate up to 240 mic circuits and can be

“We’re particularly seeing Ravenna being used to send large chunks of audio on lowcost Cat5.” Wayland Twiston Davies adjusted to suit individual production requirements. “We can take multiple feeds,” Tapley observes. “The days of running single cables are long gone.” Popkin adds that this new approach means there only has to be three audio bays in each control area. “These days there’s more Cat5 cable than audio cable.” The continuing growth of Cat5 is confirmed by Wayland Twiston Davies, OB specialist with Sony Professional’s systems integration division. “There’s a lot of fibre being used because it’s relatively inexpensive to break out

from. Coachbuilders are used to putting in large amounts of cable but these days we’re reducing how much is put in.” Twiston Davies comments that audio over IP (AoIP) is becoming “more significant”, while another trend is the closer integration of sound and vision. “We’re particularly seeing Ravenna being used to send large chunks of audio on low-cost Cat5,” he says. He adds that another part of this new approach is the increased availability and affordability of digital consoles over the past five years, to the point where they are the standard for new builds. “We’ve seen the control surface become separate from the mix engine, which means I/Os can be separate as well,” he observes. “An advantage is that you can have a stage box nearer the mics and mic amps, giving a better signal-to-noise ratio. It also means there is less wiring to the console itself. What clients are asking for is a lot more I/O than before. In the bigger trucks we’re seeing systems like VSM [virtual studio manager] being used to control the various ins and outs.” The major desk manufacturers have embraced this methodology, either, in the case of companies like Stagetec, starting at the matrix end and working backwards to the controller; or, as with Calrec Audio, extending their technology from the mixer into networking and routing. Calrec now produces the Hydra2 networking system as well as a range of digital desks.

Broadcast Audio – An International Buyers Guide 2013

AUDIO FOR BROADCAST

All studio inputs and outputs in the George Lucas Gallery at Elstree Film Studios are routed through an OnAir 3000 using MADI over fibre

UK systems integrator C2S has recently completed a four-studio broadcast centre in Nairobi, Kenya featuring Yamaha LS9 consoles and Avid Pro Tools

While the company is expanding its export reach, the UK remains a key market. Recent installations include the BT Sport studios, which went on air this month; dock10 studios at MediaCityUK in Salford; and OB contractor Telegenic’s 4k truck, T25. Henry Goodman, Head of Sales and Marketing at Calrec, says they have “been doing networking as long as anybody”, going back to its early Alpha digital desk and the first version of Hydra. “With Hydra2 we’ve created a router to meet the demands of the market as we see it,” he says. “That’s being able to handle large numbers of channels and give good bandwidth across networks with low latency.” As well as multiple signal paths over fewer cables, today’s DSP-based networking systems offer broadcasters and facilities operators more because of the level of computer control involved. Goodman gives the example of dock10, which, although it was built with the BBC in mind as a primary user, is also a commercial studio centre for general hire. “The galleries and studios there are being rented out to different customers,” explains Goodman, “so you could have the BBC in one gallery and studio and ITV in another. The last thing you want is for them to be sharing microphones and other inputs and equipment.” To prevent any eavesdropping or feeds going astray, Hydra2 is based on the principle of access rights, with the network divided and partitioned to ensure individual technical areas remain separate. In contrast, the BT Sport studio centre on the Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park has been designed to allow as much crossover as possible between its three channels - BT Sport 1 and 2 and ESPN. Calrec 40-fader Artemis Light desks feature in the control galleries of the three studios. These are linked to an Artemis Beam rack as a routing core to create a Hydra2 network. Instead of hiring a conventional ‘fourwall’ studio for presentation, BT Sport decided to take over part of what had been the International Broadcast Centre used during the London 2012 Olympics. The result is Studios 1 and 2, a 14,000sq ft space claimed to be the biggest L-shaped studio in the world. Within www.audiomedia.com

this is the mezzanine presentation area, behind a screen that allows the studio’s most striking visual feature - a glass floor inset with LEDs that can be configured to create the pitch markings for different sports, including football, rugby and tennis. “We had the opportunity to create an environment that was about being live on air with more than one channel at a time,” says Jamie Hindhaugh, Chief Operating Officer of BT Sport. “We want our presenters to be able to move between the studios and channels.” This ability to roam extends beyond the recognised on-air areas. To allow this kind of freedom, 16 RF aerial arrays have been installed throughout the centre. “We’ve wired the entire building to work with the radio mics and radio cameras,” explains Dan McDonnell, Managing Director of Timeline Television, who managed the design and build of the BT Sport production facilities. “You can send a radio camera with a radio mic up to a dressing room or office and walk through the facility without the RF signals being disturbed.” The radio mic system is based on 16 Wisycom MRK960 dual true diversity receivers, which give 32 channels of wireless, 24 MTP40 belt packs with DPA 460 microphones, and eight MTH400 handhelds. In-ear monitoring is critical and this system comprises Wisycom’s new MTK952. Four dual mono/stereo transmitters have been installed along with 24 MPR30 receivers - all supplied by Raycom, Wisycom’s UK distributor. The studio spaces, production areas and

post-production suites in the centre were designed and built by Studio Schemes, with technical installation by Megahertz Broadcast Systems. Greg Hoskin, Managing Director of Megahertz, comments that the common approach to building studio facilities today, once the technical particulars have been set, is to develop the central apparatus area (CAR) and then work outwards. “It’s a building blocks approach,” he explains. “Once we have the CAR and routing established, the individual rooms can be designed almost in isolation.” Megahertz works on OB trucks as well as studios, with an estimated 66 percent of its contracts outside of the UK. Technical Director Steve Burgess observes that installations of all sizes, from big studio centres to small 12-to16-camera OB vehicles, are not just using MADI over fibre but are connected to big hybrid routers. “This is giving us and the clients greater ease of installation, with fewer cables. Once everything is in MADI they only need to break out when they really have to.” The next big potential leap forward in the industry is 4k production for Ultra HD. This has triggered debate on both the video and audio sides as to what technologies will best suit the new format. In sound terms, spatial surround - with sensations of height, depth, width and length - is seen as the right aural partner to higher resolution pictures. Whether this will be the NHK prescribed 22.2, or variations on Ambisonics or objectbased technologies being developed by the BBC and others, remains to be seen.

EMERGING MARKETS Another emergent territory in terms of broadcast technology is Africa. UK systems integrator C2S has been active in the continent for some time, producing trucks and studios for pan-African pay TV network M-Net and its sports channel, SuperSport. Its most recent project was a four studio broadcast centre in Nairobi, Kenya, which had to fulfil the requirements of both drama production and live sports broadcasting, with the added complication of working in two languages: English and Swahili.

The facility features Yamaha LS9 consoles, with Avid Pro Tools for recording and editing. Jonathan Lyth, Systems Manager of C2S, says that on the OB side, different consoles of varying sophistication are used depending on what the truck will be doing. “In Nigeria, for example, there is a truck equipped with a Lawo mc256 for 5.1 work, which is available for international productions,” he says. “They also have a vehicle with a Yamaha M7. In East Africa the LS9 is the main desk, although there is one with a DM2000.” August 2013 5

LOCATION RECORDING

Location List Veteran location sound recordist and ex-BBC producer ALISTAIR MCGHEE runs us through his top choices for location recording gear, from mixers and microphones to batteries. LOCATION RECORDING has its wellestablished names with SQN mixers, Nagra recorders and Sennheiser microphones being some of the most recognisable brands still going strong. However, the market is anything but static. The application of digital techniques is rapidly changing the market’s landscape with Filmtech and Cooper Sound just two of the much-loved mixer manufacturers no longer in business. First, digital recorders replaced quarter-inch tape on a one-for-one basis (out with the Nagra, in with the DAT) but the move to hard disk and now USB and/or card-based systems has lifted the two channel limit and portable multi-tracks are the order of the day. I’ve just reviewed the Roland R-88 (see Audio Media August 2013, page 40), which brings eight-track recording with time code under the two-grand mark. In professional location recording terms that’s very, very affordable. Of course, if you want the full range of pro features then Sound Devices’ 788T and Zaxcom’s range of Diva and Fusion recorders will fit the bill albeit at a higher price. RECORDERS For those working with a bag over the shoulder, the Sound Devices 788 has been massively popular, and with add-on fader packs like the CL-8 and CL-9, it is a system that has flexibility and power. For those working on cart tops, the Zaxcom Deva has revolutionised workflows on TV and film sets around the world. And neither Sound Devices nor Zaxcom are standing still. Sound Devices replaced their industry standard 442 mixer with the 552 mixer/recorder adding a fifth channel and the ability to make a stereo recording built right in. And in short order the 552 had a bigger brother the 664. Here SD really has blown the bloody doors off – six mic inputs, four output busses, 10 record tracks (that’s all six inputs and all four outputs), ambient time code and recording to Compact Flash and SD card. And if all this wasn’t enough, add in the CL-6 for another six line level recordable inputs. The Sound Devices 788T

Zaxcom Nomad 6

Not to be outdone in this battle for the bag, over at Zaxcom they have a range of Nomads, from four tracks up to 12, and a new Nomad Lite model on the way. Not all the action is from the USA though. Alongside the eightchannel Roland there’s Tascam’s HS-P82 eight-channel recorder and the complementary RC-F82 offering linear fader control and talkback facilities for location recording.

“One aspect of location recording that gets everyone hot under the collar is the quality of the mic preamps with some people willing to shell out for premium brands.” Back in Europe we still have some big hitters. The eight-channel Nagra VI is much favoured in location music recording and offers six tracks and a stereo mix. The arrival of the Nagra EMP allows Nagra VI owners access to a full six channels of Nagra mic input preamplifiers. I should also fly a tricolour for the AETA recorders. I reviewed the Mixy for Audio Media a year or so ago and while I can see it is an acquired taste, I grew to love it. Sadly I’ve never had a go at the 4Minx – the Mixy’s bigger brother – but it looks splendid and offers a range of time code and track options. Staying in France but looking up the price slope, Aaton is promising an X3 version of the Cantar next year. Hopefully the company’s financial problems will prove temporary and the Cantar will get the upgrade it deserves, as it is an engineering masterpiece and the world is a better place for its existence.

FIELD MIXERS With all this excitement in the world of recorders it’s easy to forget that the humble mixer is alive and kicking. SQN offers a fivechannel flagship in the 5S series II, but if it will forgive me, I still get a bigger kick out of the 4S mini mkII. I have the older version but it is so tiny and beautiful that grown men weep even while mixing tedious regional news items. The 4S mini is the most fun you can have in a bag, allegedly. Having been suitably impressed by its Solice cart top mixer, I was thrilled when I saw that PSC is introducing a six-channel over the shoulder mixer for 2013. Bravo I say, and the Alexis looks pretty fine from what I have seen so far. Talking of cart tops, again we lament the passing of Cooper Sound but here in Blighty, Audio Developments continues to set the standard. It was no surprise when I talked to Simon Hayes of Les Miserables fame that on top of his carts sat Audio Developments mixers – limiters specially tweaked, of course. Take a seat before reading the prices, but laugh in the face of danger while mixing. Talking of cold hard francs, Sonosax is another legendary name in mixing, not least because I have yet to lay my hands on one of the company’s products. They do, however, have multi-track recorders and over the shoulder and cart top mixers in their range and all look fantastic on their website. Call me if you see one.

Audio Developments’ AD149

More affordable are the mixers from Fostex. I found the four-channel FM-4 and its smaller brother, the FM-3, to be very serviceable. They have on-board digital DSP (if you like that sort of thing) and are a bit cheaper than some of the options I’ve mentioned so far. PREAMPS One aspect of location recording that gets everyone hot under the collar is the quality of the mic preamps with some people willing to shell out for premium brands. Of course even

6 August 2013

Broadcast Audio – An International Buyers Guide 2013

LOCATION RECORDING

more people are willing to argue the toss on audio forums and you could spend the rest of your life balancing claim and counter claim, be my guest. This week I’m mostly recording with the preamps of the CS104 and the Nagra LB. TWO-TRACK RECORDING Speaking of the LB – what about two track recording? Suppose you want neither mixer nor multi-track, but just two tracks of pristine stereo. Well, the LB is hard to beat. Nagra preamps, milled aluminium finish, FTP server and client on-board, really nice physical format, made like a Swiss watch – it is a thing of beauty. However, you may prefer the Sound Devices 702/722 range – the units have more of an industrial feel and are very reliable, probably more useful in a fight, but then the Nagra has not one, but two colour screens – tres jolie as we say in Cardiff. Mind you there’s a multitude of handheld recorders on the market these days. I’ve had Rolands and Zooms and Olympus versions, and all have been a pleasure. Personally I think they are built on the same chipsets – just look at the control layouts, all suspiciously similar to me. I do like the Olympus just for their approach to finish. Shiny works for me. HANDHELDS Step up from the standard handheld mob and there are some interesting options. Yellowtec has picked up the baton in baton-shaped recorders from HHB with its iXm. I like the format, except I couldn’t see the meters on the HHB while recording. The iXm doesn’t have meters so don’t worry about that (its DSP system takes care of levels for you). Nagra has some mid-range mobile phone-type machines of which the SD looks the most interesting. Fostex has the now venerable FR2-LE and more recently has taken up the challenge of DSLR recording with the very interesting looking DC-R302. I’m cheating a bit here as it has a threechannel mixer but in one cute little package. And maybe Fostex is onto something – a whole new market maybe? Tascam now has the DR-60D billed as a DSLR recorder and Audio Developments offer its Olympus’ new LS-14 AD071 DSLR mixer. A little further afield, I recently reviewed a very 8 August 2013

well engineered DAC from Swedish outfit Marenius (see Audio Media August 2013, page 46). It too has a Compact Flash recorder and some high-spec battery-powered mic amps.

Fostex FR2-LE

MICROPHONES Finally we come to microphones. If people are talking outside get a Sennheiser 416 and a Rycote windshield system, and make sure you get their lyre mic mounts as these will actually make you a better location sound recordist. There’s quite some choice in gun mics – DPA, Schoeps, and Sanken all have their fans. Why not hire some from the Richmond Film guys before you buy, that’s got to make sense. Going indoors? Grab a hypercardioid. The Neumann KM 185 sounds good but watch out for handling noise. Again Schoeps probably has the best reputation. No one ever got shot for buying a Schoeps, unless it was by the accounts department. The Sennheiser MKH 50 has a lot of followers too. Omnis – again it’s the usual suspects. DPA and Schoeps look good in front of musicians. My last word on mics is ribbons for figure of eights, Royer Labs and Coles. Small is now officially beautiful. With Les Mis being done on personals, anything is possible. DPAs were used on that production but if you’re into docs Trams has a great rep. I

use Sanken Cos11s. Mind you, I was very impressed by the Sony ECM 88 when I reviewed it many moons ago. BATTERIES Which brings me finally to the most important thing on location: batteries. They say naïve photographers argue about cameras, those in the know about lenses, and real professionals about tripods and heads. Well, in audio terms, that means newbies debate microphones, pros the mic preamps and old lags the batteries. I reviewed the Audioroot battery system recently and it is a work of genius, really, genius.

Sanken Cos11

Broadcast Audio – An International Buyers Guide 2013

TRENDS

Stereo, 5.1 & Live Sport By ANDY STOUT THE STEREO audio mix is an integral part of live sport, and not one that 5.1 is going to consign to the history books for a while yet. Despite the undoubted advances that 5.1 represents and growth in the amount of sport captured in the format, the demand for stereo is still there, and not just for SD transmissions either. “There are transmission platforms and other destinations that will always require stereo such as Red Button [UK interactive services], SD channels, radio, web streaming, stereo archives, stereo audio recorders, and some broadcasting partners,” said BBC Sport’s Dave Lee. “Then there is content which contributes to programmes that can come from a wide range of sources, including some elements that are only stereo – such as music CDs/downloads, stereo edit suite outputs, and archives.” With the market still requiring stereo audio, OB trucks have to provide it. As the European fleet of HD production vehicles are mainly kitted out for 5.1 this typically means integrating a stereo downmix into the workflow. “Just as SD versions were eventually created via down conversion of superior HD signals, downmixing is fully capable of handling the stereo path,” said Linear Acoustic President Tim Carroll. “The burden of carrying both 5.1 and stereo is enormous, it 10 August 2013

is expensive, and it is usually a compromise. Mixing in 5.1, while checking the downmix and adjusting the 5.1 if necessary, absolutely works.” Realities of budgets and space constraints within trucks means that separate stereo and 5.1 audio areas are impossible. As CTV’s Technical Head Hamish Grieg points out, the biggest problem is “the quality of the respective mixes

“The burden of carrying both 5.1 and stereo is enormous, it is expensive, and it is usually a compromise. Mixing in 5.1, while checking the downmix and adjusting the 5.1 if necessary, absolutely works.” Tim Carroll being compromised, as you only have one set of ears and can only listen to one thing at a time.” However, there are some good and established workarounds. During the London Olympics, US giant NBC decided to use an eight-track model that eliminated the stereo workflows used in the past. Instead, NBC used either six channels for full surround, or a subset of just the first three channels. This three-channel mode

contained just the original Front L&R from the surround signal (used as stereo FX), and the mono announce channel on track three. Central to the new workflow were Linear Acoustic upmixers with software loaded for automatic detection of three-channel or six-channel content. The boxes would seamlessly change between upmix or bypass mode to provide a consistent six-channel output. Of course, it helps that mono sources can be ‘positioned’ anywhere in the surround arena, while stereo needs to be unravelled and processed using occasionally fiendish algorithms to position its elements as desired. It is also important that any upmix doesn’t break the stereo as the majority of viewers will still end up listening to a downmixed stereo signal at home. Also, as Carroll points out, upmixing is not a substitute, either short- or longterm, for a good 5.1 channel mix. “It may not always be practical to do it though, and so an excellent stereo mix that is then upmixed may be an acceptable solution,” he said. “However, this is not the best use of upmixing technology. Instead, upmixing can be used to help build a 5.1 channel foundation quickly where fully discrete elements are then added in. This is particularly useful in time-constrained situations where a truck arrives in the morning and is on air by late afternoon.”

London in 5.1 The 2012 Olympics not only allowed viewers the world over to hear a range of new sports in 5.1, it also gave the production teams carte blanche to spread their wings and apply it in areas they hadn’t tried before. The fencing competition was a good example of this in practice. Theo Schulte was the Calrec engineer tasked with the technical set-up. “Each piste [the fencing match area] had its own Artemis 40-fader console, which were all networked via a central router so that every console could pick every microphone and do its respective mix,” he explained. “It was the mixers’ decision to attenuate the signal coming from the surround microphone by 18dB below the other mics. This was due to the many fights going on: the reaction of the audience could not always have been allocated to the respective picture you saw because it might have been a reaction from the other pistes, and the microphone would have picked that up. This would have been distracting.” The surround channels were used to create an immersive experience. Anything that could be characterised as ambience was routed to them. No additional reverb was used. Announcements and music from a playback source were sent to the centre channel as well as slightly to the left and right, in order to broaden the front. The subwoofer was not fed anything since it proved to be too disturbing to amplify the footsteps of the fencers. “Networking the consoles not only allowed (a mixer) to pick any microphone, but also allowed for easy exchange of programme material,” said Schulte. “If an operator has made a good mix of the general venue atmosphere on one console, the other consoles could pick up that output bus via HydraVirtual Patchbays, an ingenious way to spread any form of signal throughout the Hydra network for further use.”

Broadcast Audio – An International Buyers Guide 2013

LOUDNESS

Loudness Foundations You know loudness is important, you know the world is putting limits on LUFS; but are you well enough prepared and equipped to ensure your deliverables don’t get returned to sender? It’s time to exchange your sausages for Toblerones. TC Electronic’s THOMAS LUND breaks down the basics... 1. WELCOME LOUDNESS NORMALISATION The days of the Loudness Wars – where the mantra was ‘the louder the better’ – are coming to an end. Thanks to ITU, a non-commercial organisation under the United Nations, audio professionals from any genre can work against a transparent Loudness Target. If you’re systematically below that Target, the programme or track will get turned up. If you’re always above, it will be turned down. The concept is called ‘loudness normalisation’. It works great, is based on open standards, and it’s finding a way into TV, mobile TV, radio, iTunes, gaming, and even cinemas and IMAX theatres. Loudness normalisation also allows entirely different types of programmes to sit back-to-back because it defines a best fit gain offset. 2. GOODBYE SAUSAGE PROCESSING Having the same loudness programme-forprogramme, track-for-track doesn’t mean that each of them has to be the same shade of grey from start to finish. On the contrary, because level is no longer constantly banging against the ceiling, a wonderful quality is being rediscovered: variation. Once again, loudness variation can become part of the storytelling in music, drama, and broadcast. The EBU standard even includes an objective measure of how much loudness varies inside a programme or a track, allowing you to objectively balance contrasts and suit a certain audience or a particular listening situation. Old sausage compressors and sausage limiters can still be used for creative reasons, but chances are that your music track or commercial will appear dull and not very appealing if you overdose it. Using more words from the food vocabulary: like liver paste among other programmes with Gruyère, Jamon Iberico, and Truffles. After loudness correction in broadcast or in iTunes, a sausaged audio file will actually appear to be softer than most other programme material, drawing less attention. 3. DELIVERY SPECS: PROGRAMME LOUDNESS If the end destination for your production is HD broadcast, be sure to know the delivery specifications you’re up against. Nearly all broadcasters in the world are now rooted in the same ITU standard named BS.1770. It’s tightly followed by Brazil, China, Europe, Japan, and others, but there are still a few things to check: 12 August 2013

5. UNIVERSAL HD BROADCAST DELIVERY 1. Use a BS.1770-3 meter to hit -23 LUFS. Most countries accept between -26 and -22 LUFS, except for Europe where you should be between -24 and -22 LUFS. 2. Make sure you don’t have true-peak level higher than -2 dBTP. 3. Make sure that solo of regular speech doesn’t fall below -25 LUFS.

Thomas Lund, TC Group

the default Target Loudness in Europe is -23 LUFS; everywhere else it’s -24 LUFS. Using an EBU R128 compliant meter, your programme should measure one of those as ‘Programme Loudness’. Uncertainty only really creeps in if you’re delivering to a US broadcaster, where requirements could be according to the local ATSC A/85 standard specifying speech level to be measured instead of Programme Loudness, unless it’s a commercial. For these stations, hit -24 LUFS when soloing normal speech in regular programmes. For a US-bound commercial, measure all audio like with BS.1770. Until the next revision of ATSC A/85, US stations may also ask for measurements to be carried out using an obsolete version of BS.1770. On a loudness meter, the outdated version might appear as ‘Leq(K)’ or ‘BS.1770-1’. 4. DELIVERY SPECS: TRUE-PEAK LEVEL Loudness measurement is by far the most important part of the new broadcast standards. A user is even encouraged to disregard peak level unless there’s a risk of overload. Still, the ITU standard includes a more precise way of measuring peak level in the digital domain than the old sample-by-sample measure called ‘true-peak’. To maximise headroom, which is a defining factor in music clarity and in speech intelligibility, as high true-peaks as possible should be allowed. The EBU R128 standard sets the bar high at -1dBTP, which is ideal for linear audio, while most other regions require true-peak to stay below -2dBTP.

6. MIXING FOR MOBILE TV, ITUNES, AND WEB If your production is not targeted at broadcast, but for instance iTunes, mobile TV, or online streams, it is still recommended to use the new and efficient loudness tools when mixing. Apple’s iTunes has a fine function called ‘Sound Check’ which is able to normalise music tracks and podcasts. Research has shown that its Target Loudness is close to -16 LUFS on a BS.1770 scale; so tracks softer than -16 LUFS are boosted, those louder are brought down. Another recent study proved how -16 LUFS in general is a good target to aim for, where the user of mobile TVs from any vendor, iPods, iPads, etc..., is able to turn up the level high enough, while it still allows for essential transients to survive. Fortunately, it’s not a problem to convert an HD broadcast programme normalised at -23 LUFS to a fine sounding, mobile TV version normalised at -16 LUFS. It can easily be done without destroying the discrimination between foreground and background sounds or without custom metadata and codecs. For consumers with flatpanel TVs and matchbox-sized loudspeakers, personal platforms and headphones are the closest they get to a decent audio experience these days. Let’s make sure that possibility is preserved by putting an end to sausage processing and to lossy data reduction where we can. Bottom line: there’s no reason to make mobile TV, iPod, and web mixes louder than -16 LUFS. Thomas Lund is CTO for Broadcast and Production at TC Electronic, one of the leading manufacturers of loudness meters and audio processors. With perceptual studies as the background, Thomas has played a significant role in the development of several broadcast standards such as ITU-R BS.1770, BS.1771, BS.1864, EBU R128, ATSC A/85, and others. www.tcgroup.tc

Broadcast Audio – An International Buyers Guide 2013

TECHNOLOGY

Loudness Tools Loudness in broadcasting is subject to increasing government legislation, recommendations from standards organisations, and a growing array of software and hardware solutions. If you need some guidance on how to make loudness less of an issue, you need this Tech Focus.

TC Electronic’s DB8 MKII and DB4 MKII (pictured) units are state-of-the-art transmission processors. They allow users to measure loudness, correct accordingly to various broadcast standards, and to convert seamlessly between formats. The only difference between DB4 MKII and DB8 MKII is the number of processors. Both units have dual power inlets, dual Pabst fans, and dual fuses. Both units also feature a wide variety of I/O formats and physical connectors, including SDI, AES/EBU, Coax, BNC, and Sub-D. The TC Electronic Radar Loudness Meter is included with both units, and TC Icon hardware can be connected for hands-on control. The units offer standard compatibility with ITU BS.1770-3, EBU R128, and ATSC A/85. The DB2 puts ‘all tools necessary for troublefree broadcasting into one rack-mountable unit’. It features automatic loudness correction, is compliant with the latest metering specifications, and can be easily upgraded. www.tcelectronic.com

The LM2 from TC Electronic offers a fullfeatured stereo loudness and true-peak level meter. The front panel gives instant access to figures for broadcast standard compliance and for more detail, the user can connect LM2 to a PC or Mac via USB and get a full, real time Radar screen picture. LM2 facilitates precision normalisation and optimum use of dialnorm metadata in AC3 transmission. It comes preloaded with factory presets compliant with ITUR BS.1770, ATSC A/85, EBU R128, NABJ, OP-59, and BCAP guidelines. A variety of 24bit resolution audio inputs and outputs are offered, including AES/EBU, TOS, SPDIF/AES3 id, ADAT, and analogue. Also available is the LM2 Radar Loudness Meter, a native plug-in that measures loudness and true-peak on stereo tracks in all major DAWs. It features a Radar Display that gives loudness history, momentary loudness, true-peak level, programme loudness, and loudness range (LRA) in a single view. www.tcelectronic.com www.audiomedia.com

Junger Audio’s T*AP Television Audio Processor is compliant with all current broadcast audio loudness recommendations. It features loudness normalisation and dynamic range processing for up to eight channels of audio. Optional Dolby decoding and encoding including metadata management are also provided, along with 5.1 downmix and upmix features. The M*AP Monitoring Processor combines an audio monitor controller with networkenabled loudness measurement features. It supports up to eight speakers to allow for A/B checking of stereo compatibility of a surround downmix through alternative speakers, as well as via L/R front speakers. A Dolby production toolset emulates a coding and decoding process.

The D*AP series of digital audio processors consists of two products with 1 x stereo or 2 x stereo programmes. The LM2/LM4_2ch offers two channels of processing with AES and optional analogue I/O, while the LM4 can handle four channels with on-board AES I/O and optional 3G SDI or analogue I/O. Cards available for the C8000 modular system include a 16-channel HD/SDI deembedder and embedder; MADI in and out cards; AES in and out cards; analogue mic in, and XLR and Sub-D in and out cards. www.junger-audio.com

inter-sample levels, ISL protects against distortion that can be introduced by downstream codecs such as MP3 and AAC. It is mono through 5.1 surround compatible. www.nugenaudio.com

RTW’s compact TouchMonitor TM3 consists of a display unit and a remote interface box. It handles analogue or digital stereo signals (TM3) and digital six-channel signals (TM3-6CH). The TM3’s user interface allows the selection of up to 10 presets with a finger swipe. Local presets can be configured using the Devicer DC1 software application, allowing existing presets to be personalised and adapted. Devicer DC1 allows the creation of several configuration sets with different presets. The TM3 features comprehensive loudness measuring features, conforming to all relevant international standards. Loudness instruments include singlechannel and summing bargraphs, loudness range and numerical displays. The TouchMonitor TM3-3G offers loudness, true-peak and PPM metering for 3G SDI audio, with optional 16channel de-embedder outputs and monitor controller. The TM3-3G has an integrated 3G-SDI de-embedder interface, and displays level and loudness of any eight 3G-SDI audio channels. Independently from this, up to 16 SDI audio signals can be sent to eight AES3 outputs. www.rtw.de

ISL from Nugen Audio is a transparent lookahead limiter that uses the standardised truepeak algorithms of ITU-R B.S 1770 and related standards, and is suitable for the control of audio for post production and broadcast applications. ISL differs from traditional approaches to limiting by measuring inter-sample peaks and allowing the user to set the true-peak limit, rather than the traditional threshold at which limiting begins. By measuring and correcting for

Nugen Audio’s VisLM features detailed, objective loudness measurement, history and logging facilities, offering an ITU, ATSC, and EBU standard compliant way to measure, compare, and contrast loudness. It offers true-peak level metering (intersample accurate level monitoring), loudness range (to help decide if and how much dynamic compression to apply), momentary ‘instantaneous loudness’ for mixing by ear, shortterm loudness (three-second time window), and program loudness (long-term integrated loudness measurement); and is a comprehensive tool to help users deal with the complexity of loudness compliance. It is available in two versions: VisLM-C (compact) and VisLM-H, with history view and data logging options. www.nugenaudio.com August 2013 13

TECHNOLOGY

The RTW/TC Electronic TM7 and TM9 TouchMonitor units are equipped with highgrade seven or nine-inch touch screens and an easy-to-use GUI, which is controlled by either a finger or a mouse. Instruments can be scaled, randomly positioned, and combined in almost every way for optimised use of available screen space. There is 16-channel audio interfacing, including analogue, AES3 and AES3id (depending on hardware version). On the TM9, there is a 3G-SDI interface for up to 32 input channels. TouchMonitor TM7 is available with housings for 19-inch/3U standard racks, or into standard 19-inch rack-mount cabinets for waveform monitors for video studios. The latest firmware enhancement now gives the possibility to measure and to display signals of the 7.1 DD+ surround format, plus RTW’s Surround Sound Analyzer has been expanded to display the balance and the subjective impression of the 7.1 DD+ format in a clear graphical overview. www.rtw.de

The TSL PAM PiCo, developed with DK Technologies around its Loudness Meter, is a compact standalone audio and loudness meter. Designed for use in any operational position where ‘at a glance’ audio metering is required, PAM PiCo is available in four formats; to display stereo, multi-channel or surround sound audio from analogue, AES or embedded SDI signal sources, all measuring loudness to international standards. No bigger than a smartphone, PAM PiCo handles stereo or 5.1 metering with an array of user-selectable bargraphs, moving coil emulation, and StarFish surround sound displays for use in diverse audio monitoring applications. Built around proprietary hardware, the PAM PiCo does not rely on a third party consumer electronics platform and is self-contained. It displays integrated and sliding scale loudness measurement simultaneously with an option to show loudness history across an extended graphical display. Parameters are fully configurable via a comprehensive set-up menu. www.tsl.co.uk 14 August 2013

DK Technologies’ Loudness Meter is a ‘one box solution’ to audio and loudness metering. The DK Meter complies with all major broadcast loudness standards and has a fully-featured audio meter package including bargraph, optional FFT, vectorscope, phase correlation, StarFish, JellyFish, and moving coil emulation. Features include a unique loudness reclaim factor, which allows users to optimise loudness results; real time true peak PPM – an optimised level with no hidden ‘digital overs’; and an optional ‘eye width’ SDI signal quality indicator. The touch user interface allows plug-and-play use, and the flexible, user definable display set-up allows personalised viewings for individual workflows.

The optional screen grabber gives instant documentation of loudness levels. The 4.3in screen offers vertical and horizontal viewing, and the unit can be powered from the included PSU or directly from a computer USB port. www.dk-technlogies.com

The Waves WLM Loudness Meter plug-in is an all-in-one, cross-platform, multi-format loudness metering software solution. It provides precision loudness measurement and metering for broadcast, movie trailers, games, packaged media, and more.

Fully SoundGrid-compatible and compliant with current ITU-R BS.1770-2, EBU R-128, and ATSC A/85 specifications, the WLM offers comprehensive momentary, short term, long term, and true peak readouts, plus a warning and logging system that keeps track of levels and lets the user know when they have exceeded them – or fallen short. Waves recommend the WLM for content creators and post-production houses, as well as cable head-end facilities. The Waves Loudness Meter offers three measurement methods. EBU uses foreground audio as the loudness anchor; LM1 measures and averages loudness across the whole

programme; and DIAL uses dialogue as the loudness anchor, measuring, and averaging loudness only when dialogue is detected. It features mono, stereo, and 5.1 components. www.waves.com

The Wohler 1RU AMP1-16 Series monitors 16 channels of audio from 3G/HD/SD-SDI and AES audio, while the AMP1-E16V-MD includes Dolby D and Dolby E capability. All channels can be selected for simultaneous display and concurrently monitored on an LCD screen. All serial audio channels are de-embedded and available on the rear panel as eight unbalanced AES signal pairs or eight analogue channels. The system can also output a re-clocked 3G/HD/SD-SDI. The AMP2-16 Series is a modular 16channel audio/video workstation with a complete suite of tools for analysing and managing audio quality, level and loudness, metadata and more. www.wohler.com

Wohler’s Pandora loudness analyser is a solution for monitoring and identifying inconsistent loudness levels from channel to channel, and from programming to commercials. Standards addressed are ATSC A/85 (ITU-1770 and 1771), EBU R128, and ARIB TR-B32. The Wohler Loudness application, when used in conjunction with Wohler Pandora, allows the user to monitor and analyse loudness levels from stereo up to eight channels extracted from either an SDI input or four AES embedded pairs. Pandora enables users to set up their own reference parameters including over/under limits, as well as gating, integration time, and metering modes. Configuration is done via a touch screen interface that runs on an iPod touch. Features include logging, with the ability to email log files

in .csv format; integration, histogram, and loudness range setting menu; and adjustable integration periods with histogram display of loudness over time. It is available as a tabletop or rack-mounted unit. www.wohler.com

Broadcast Audio – An International Buyers Guide 2013

TECHNOLOGY

Linear Acoustic’s AERO.2000 combines loudness control, AEROMAX audio processing, Dolby encoding/decoding, upmixing via UPMAX II and extensive I/O features. AERO.1000 is a high-density, metadata-based transmission audio loudness platform that comprises up to eight AEROMAX audio processing engines in a single 1RU package. The AERO.1000 features CARBON Hybrid Processing, a hybrid between multi-band techniques and metadata control. The 1RU AERO.one comes in four versions. The two-channel AERO.lite is aimed at broadcasters who do not require handling multichannel audio. AERO.mobile addresses audio quality for those watching and listening on mobile devices. AERO.qc is a comprehensive quality control system that allows users to fix loudness problems automatically and in real time as audio enters the plant and is fed into the ingest server or in live production environments. www.linearacoustic.com

Insight from iZotope is a comprehensive metering suite for post production and broadcast applications. Insight provides an extensive set of audio analysis and metering tools, for visualising changes made during mixing and mastering, troubleshooting problematic mixes, and ensuring compliance with broadcast loudness standards. Fully customisable and scalable, Insight allows the user to visually monitor all relevant

information from a mono, stereo, or surround mix in a floating window. A complete set of metering tools is provided, including true-peak meters, loudness meters, a loudness history graph, stereo vectroscope, surround scope, 2D/3D spectrogram, and spectrum analyser. It is compliant with current loudness standards. Insight is also part of iZotope’s Ozone 5 Advanced, which is a complete mastering system including eight mastering tools. Ozone 5 Advanced also includes extended features and controls for every module, as well as individual component plug-ins for DAW use – including Insight.

MeterPlugs’ LCAST loudness meter for broadcast is available in stereo or surround versions, and supports all major loudness standards, with easy-to-use presets for the most popular. Mono, stereo, and surround formats are all compatible (surround only in LCAST Surround). LCAST can be used with Logic, Final Cut Pro X, Soundtrack Pro, Cubase, Nuendo, Reaper, and others. The primary display, the history plot, shows a timeline of a programme’s loudness and allows loudness peaks and valleys to be spotted quickly. It records up to 24 hours of loudness history. The history plot displays all standard loudness measurements: momentary, short-term and integrated loudness. LCAST features a custom variance measurement that gives the user an idea how dynamic the audio is. LCAST’s true peak meters accurately detect inter-sample peaks and warn of potential clipping by internally quadrupling the signal frequency and interpolating between signals. www.meterplugs.com

www.izotope.com

The Flux Sound and Picture Pure Analyzer System is a network-driven modular RTA system providing an extensive range of analyser options for a multitude of audio analysis and measurement applications. Pure Analyzer presents the option to separate the signal acquisition from the analysis, utilising a Sample grabber plug-in, and also provides I/O support for ASIO and Core Audio. The foundation of the system is a standalone application, Pure Analyzer Essential, which can be extended with modules for live, metering/loudness and surround analysis, performing the graphic analysis rendering using a GPU-efficient 2D/3D graphic engine. The Pure Analyzer Essential application receives the sample feeds from the Sample grabber and analyses them in real time. Pure Analyzer Metering provides an extensive set of measurement tools adapted for broadcast and post production facilities, presenting the metering tools for a range of standards such as true peak, RMS, ITU-1779, EBU-R128, history, and more. www.fluxhome.com 16 August 2013

Minnetonka Audio’s AudioTools’ AWE is a lowcost, complete solution for the automated alteration of digital audio assets. Existing files can be post-processed or repurposed quickly and easily in a completely pre-defined way.

AudioTools AWE allows users to specify an end-to-end file handling and DSP chain of actions that can be run unattended. Via the Output Sets feature, a single interleaved source file can be de-interleaved, processed through a DSP chain including VST plug-ins and then delivered as multiple output files in multiple formats simultaneously.

The Qualis Audio Sentinel surround sound audio monitor measures and monitors loudness to the latest ITU-R BS.1770, ATSC A/85 and EBU R128 standards. The Sentinel logs all measured parameters and can be configured to preserve the data as a continuous measurement history in a long-term storage repository. When loudness problems are found, the Sentinel can send problem specific notifications via email, contact closures, or audible alarms. All measurements, alarms, and logs are accessible via its network connection using a standard web browser. Dual Stream technology measures interleaved commercial and programme segments – when pausing the loudness measurement on a programme, it automatically performs a separate loudness measurement of the commercials. The Loudness and QA Forensics toolbox is a comprehensive set of tools to investigate loudness exceptions and QoE issues. Quantitative downmix analysis identifies stereo and mono downmix issues.

www.minnetonkaaudio.com

www.qualisaudio.com Broadcast Audio – An International Buyers Guide 2013

TECHNOLOGY

simultaneous measurement for 5.1 surround and auxiliary stereo inputs. With the HD/SDI option, eight channels of de-multiplexed SDI audio can be routed to the AES outputs. The iLM8 Live uses a DSPbased processing platform to avoid broadcast disruptions caused by operating system lockups. www.daysequerra.com

The Trinnov SmartMeter V3 is a software option based on Trinnov Audio stereo and multi-channel monitoring platforms that now synchronises loudness measurements to timecode. All Loudness and truepeak values are constantly recorded and time stamped, allowing recall, inspection and verification at any time without having to manually pause, resume or restart a measurement. In combination with four integrated loudness meters, multiloudness management, momentary loudness statistics, dynamic alerts profiling, sessions save and recall capabilities, and SNMP traps, Trinnov says that Smart Meter V3 is “One the most comprehensive loudness metering solution available on the market”. Industry standards from mono to 7.1 are supported, as well as forthcoming multichannel formats up to 24 channels. Session-specific thresholds can be chosen from the standard alert profiles – EBU R128, ATSC A/85, CST RT17, ARIB TR B32 – or user-defined to comply with the custom delivery requirements. The event log is constantly updated and can be filtered to display the alerts of a specific source and/or type of alert. Users are notified about LTC drops and therefore potential measurement errors.

Nugen Audio LM-Correct is a loudness quick-fix tool, available as a standalone model and also for Avid

AudioSuite. LM-Correct offers automatic correction to international standards, including ITU-R BS17702, ATSC A/85, and EBU R128; plus immediate finalisation of audio mixed using real-time loudness meters. Loudness jumps are eliminated by consistency assessments and programme loudness matching. It offers true-peak measurement and is mono through 5.1 surround compatible. LM-Correct works faster than real time and offers a clear intuitive GUI, with a two-click solution to loudness normalisation and conformance. www.nugenaudio.com

www.trinnov.com

DaySequerra’s iLM8 Live Intelligence Loudness Monitor measures perceived loudness of eight channels of programme audio using ITU-R BS.1770/1 and DTS Neural Loudness Measure (NLM) algorithms, and displays the results in an easy-to-read numerical format with a moving average over time. Four AES inputs and one HD-SDI input (optional) are provided for 18 August 2013

Nugen Audio’s LMB Loudness Management Batch processor is an off-line, file-based loudness analysis and correction program designed for assessment and correction of files for loudness and true-peak content to ITU-R BS.1770 and EBU R128based specifications. It has a dragand-drop interface, a ‘hot folders’ facility, and it checks and conforms files to multiple broadcast criteria. www.nugenaudio.com

Broadcast Audio – An International Buyers Guide 2013

SPORT

“We discovered by accident how much better an upmix sounds when you don’t include the announcer in that mix.” Bob Dixon

NBC Tackles Dual 5.1 Stereo Production

Credit: Panasonic

One year on from the London 2012 Olympics we look back at how NBC managed the event, including a new way of handling audio tracks. By MARK HALLINGER. EXPERIENCE SHOWS when mixing 5.1 audio, and in London the third time was the charm. The experience gained by NBC’s crew mixing the Beijing and Vancouver Olympics in 5.1 – coupled with increasing work in 5.1 between the events – was a big factor in helping produce “the best sound we’ve had yet”, said Bob Dixon, Director, Sound Design for IBC, venues and communications. “This is a very pleasant show to listen to,” said Dixon. “I don’t care what venue you tune in on; by and large it’s really comfortable and it’s fun. I think we’ve come a long way.” Dixon was quick to credit host broadcaster OBS as a partner in developing mic plans and more. “They’ve been very handy to work with, and this year we have gotten all of our stems and mic splits from them as MADI signals, which made the work so much easier for them, and for us.” The big audio news from London was a change in the way NBC handled audio tracks. During recent Games where 5.1 audio was a factor, the network moved 16 tracks of audio around. In London a simpler eight-track model eliminated the Stereo workflows that were used in the past, and used either six channels for full surround or a subset of just the first three channels. This three-channel mode contains just the original Front L&R from the surround signal (used as Stereo EFX) 20 August 2013

and the mono announce channel on track 3. According to the NBC Olympics IBC tech manual and the broadcaster’s experience in London and at pre-Games test events, this “split track” signal is far easier to upmix to surround and sounds better than upmixing from a full two-channel stereo mix. Central to the new workflow were Linear Acoustic upmixers with special software for automatic detection of three-channel or sixchannel content. The boxes would seamlessly change between upmix or bypass mode to make a consistent six-channel output. “We discovered by accident how much better an upmix sounds when you don’t include the announcer in that mix,” said Dixon. “The sound image we got out of mixing all these sound effects was stable; didn’t collapse to mono. It stayed full and open.” Dixon said that if editors – who have a variety of audio comfort levels and are often working in rooms not ideal for 5.1 – were uncomfortable working in 5.1, they could work in 3.0. In these situations, the editor would have access to a Miranda iSolo, which, when an HD/SDI signal is put into it, gives the user the ability to do a downmix. It will put the centre in the centre automatically, and left goes to the left, the right goes to right, and the centre goes to both. “It comes out of there as a stereo mix,” said

Dixon. “We give [the editors] two speakers and they will edit just as they always have in stereo. The thing is that they’re cutting across three channels, instead of two. So the announcer’s always separate. “There are still some editors that want to work in 3.0, and that’s fine,” said Dixon. “Now that we have Tim’s box [Linear Acoustic’s Tim Carroll, on-site in London] we don’t even have to worry about, ‘is this coming to us as a 3.0 or a 5.1?’ because it doesn’t matter – the box will pass it through if it’s 5.1 or will upmix in stereo effects only and pass the announcers if it’s 3.0.” Sky Taps Ensemble Italian satellite TV provider Sky Italia used Ensemble Designs Avenue and BrightEye gear for its coverage of the Summer 2012 Olympic Games in London. Ensemble’s Avenue audio embedders and frame synchronisers played a key role in the Sky Italia signal processing chain. Super Hi-Vision Taps SIS LIVE SIS LIVE supported the BBC and NHK in their deployment of Super Hi-Vision (SHV) technology at the London Olympics. Selected events from the Games that were produced and shown in SHV included the Opening and Closing ceremonies and the men’s 100 metre final, which were broadcast live in SHV at special screenings around the UK, as well as at locations in Japan and the USA.

Broadcast Audio – An International Buyers Guide 2013

BROADCAST AUDIO MANUFACTURERS DIRECTORY 2013

AEA Technology www.aeatechnology.com

Fairlight www.fairlight.com.au

AETA Audio Systems www.aeta-audio.com

Flux www.fluxhome.com

AEQ www.aeqbroadcast.com

Focal www.focal.com

AKG www.akg.com

Fostex www.fostex.com

Allen & Heath www.allen-heath.com

Genelec www.genelec.com

Aphex www.aphex.com

Glensound www.glensound.co.uk

Audio Arts www.audioartsengineering.com

Grace Design www.gracedesign.com

Audio Technica www.audio-technica.com

Heil Sound www.heilsound.com

Audix Broadcast www.audixbroadcast.co.uk

iZotope www.izotope.com

Avid www.avid.com

Junger Audio www.junger-audio.com

AXIA www.axiaaudio.com

Lawo www.lawo.de

Bel Digital Audio www.beldigital.com

Linear Acoustic www.linearacoustic.com

beyerdynamic www.europe.beyerdynamic.com

Marantz www.marantz.co.uk

Blackmagic Design www.blackmagicdesign.com/uk

Marquis Broadcast www.marquisbroadcast.com

Broadcast Bionics www.bionics.co.uk

Mayah www.mayah.com

BW Broadcast www.bwbroadcast.com

Maycom Audio Systems www.maycom.nl

Calrec www.calrec.com

MediaLogic www.media-logic.de

Clear-Com www.clearcom.com

Merging www.merging.com

Clyde Broadcast www.clydebroadcast.com

MeterPlugs www.meterplugs.com

Coles www.coleselectroacoustics.com

Microtech Gefell www.microtechgefell.de

DaySequerra www.daysequerra.com

MicW www.mic-w.com

DBX www.dbxpro.com

Minnetonka Audio www.minnetonkaaudio.com

Delec www.delec.de

Miranda Technologies www.miranda.com

DiGiCo www.digico.biz

Mogami Cables www.mogamicable.com

Digigram www.digigram.com

Nagra www.nagraaudio.com

Digital Nirvana www.digital-nirvana.com

Neumann www.neumann.com

DirectOut www.directout.eul

Nugen Audio www.nugenaudio.com

DK-Technologies www.dk-technologies.com

Olympus www.olympus.co.uk/audio

Dolby www.dolby.com

Omnia Audio www.omniaaudio.com

DPA www.dpamicrophones.com

Orban www.orban.com

Drawmer www.drawmer.com

Preco www.preco.co.uk

DTS www.dts.com

PreSonus www.presonus.com

Dynaudio www.dynaudioprofessional.com

Prism Sound www.prismsound.com

Electrovoice www.electrovoice.com

Qualis www.qualisaudio.com

Eventide www.eventide.com

Quantel www.quantel.co.uk

22 August 2013

Riedel www.riedel.net RØDE Microphones www.rodemic.com Rohde & Schwarz www.rohde-schwarz.com/en Roland RSG www.rolandsystemsgroup.co.uk RTW www.rtw.de Rycote www.rycote.com SADiE www.sadie.com Samson www.samsontech.com Schoeps www.schoeps.de Sennheiser www.sennheiser.com Shure www.shure.co.uk Sonifex www.sonifex.co.uk Sonnox www.sonnoxplugins.com Sony www.sony.co.uk Soundcraft Studer www.harmanpro.com Sound Devices www.sounddevices.com Soundfield www.soundfield.com Stagetec www.stagetec.com Studio Technologies www.studio-tech.com SSL www.solid-state-logic.com Tascam www.tascam.com TC Electronic www.tcelectronic.com Telos Systems www.telos-systems.com Trinnov www.trinnov.com TSL www.tsl.co.uk Waves www.waves.com Wheatstone www.wheatstone.com Wohler www.wohler.com XTA www.audiocore.co.uk Yamaha www.yamahaproaudio.com Yellowtec www.yellowtec.com Zaxcom www.zaxcom.com Zoom www.zoom.co.jp

Broadcast Audio – An International Buyers Guide 2013