AudioMedia - October 2008 - (Page 20)

IBC ‘08 Show Report Going Dutch PAUL MAC selects a few highlights from the exhibition floor of the 2008 IBC, held in Amsterdam. Starting with unfeasibly large numbers of microphones Of all the trade shows and couple of other things in. First, link from an attenuated LR sum, and the whole lot is provided as a complete, conferences this year, the halls of the array and camera up to a dual discrete, 5.1 output (Limo) with no IBC 2008 were among the most screen control panel with trackerball – simply move a cursor over the additional processing required. vibrant. This year the mood area you want to listen to – the play- The demo on the DPA stand was average was definitely up. Whether ers’ conversation, the skates around popular as it involved both a video the world of broadcast continthe ice, anything you like. Set preset of a sports car whizzing around a ues to feed off the equipment cursor positions, boundary limits, car park, and a live game of table markets like this over the mediand more to aid the broadcast, and football – with audio provided by um term remains to be seen – the even lock onto a target and have the 5100. From the demo, you could mitigating words of the moment the system follow it. hear a good front-rear balance and were ‘credit crunch’, ‘advertising Next, continuously record, with the advantage of directional front revenue’, and so on, though mostly timecode, all 300 channels of audio mics (especially relevant if you opt surrounded with satisfaction at the from the 300 microphones so that for camera mounting, for example). whenever a replay is required, you Holophone, on the other hand, show’s attendance. Indeed, there showed the new H2 5.1 mic was a time when IBC and audio can re-focus the audio by processing the raw array exactly as before. (the H2-PRO provides 7.1), with really didn’t seem to hit it off (the I’m not sure I need to spell out discrete 5.1 outputs, again with no audio crouton in a big bucket of video the usefulness and attractiveness processing required, and in the now soup); but this year, if you squinted of this kind of system in sports familiar ‘egg’ housing with omnis a little, ignored anything with a and event broadcasting, nor the all around. For the ultra-discerning, lens, and mostly hung about Hall 8, potential implications for privacy, Holophone also announced the you could almost believe that audio libel, and broadcasting standards new H5-X, billing it as the ‘top in was everywhere. rules. In-fact, there may have to be the Holophone line when it comes Square Head, Round Disc a whole new rule. But put this kind to sonic quality and sensitivity’. When asked the usual ‘have you of focus inside the more ambient Soundfield had a developseen anything good?’, I couldn’t overall surround field of HD sports ment or three up its sleeves help getting verbose about a new broadcast business and it has to be – one strictly microphonic, one a product, from a new company. a viewer draw. preview that shows exceptional That product is AudioScope, by Surround And About promise for many fields of stereo/ Squarehead Technology. And then to surround. The cursurround broadcast and even post Imagine a large disc suspendrent heavyweights – Holophone production, and another that’s just, ed above your head (or above a and Soundfield, both had new well, a good idea. First was the basketball court, or football pitch, or offerings (more in a mo’), but they production version of the skating rink ) with an array of 300 were joined by DPA Microphones, long-awaited SPS200. It’s the microphone capsules (yes, 300), plus which launched its new 5100 familiar Soundfield array of a wide angle camera in the middle. mobile surround microphone. four microphones but in tiny These 300 microphones make up The 5100, which looks like a very package for convenient singlethe ‘super-directive array’ – one that small, triangular cushion, has both camera (or even no-camera) can be steered to any position in top and bottom mounting holes location recording. Rather than the camera’s field of view with through the soft, smooth (squashy), having a bulky bit of hardware to a polar pattern that’s simply weather resilient covering. decode the B-format, the SPS200 amazing. -30dB attenuation at This hides time coincident, direccomes with the cross platform somewhere between eight degrees tional, LCR miniature microphones (PT HD or VST) Surround Zone and 20 degrees either side, depend(with interference tubes and acousdecoder plug-in. ing on your ‘focus’ preference. DK_MSD100C_Audio Media Qtr:Layout 1 6/2/08 omnis for left tic baffles) and spaced 16:26 Page 1 More intriguing though was a Now, that’s good, but add a and right rears. The LFE is derived run-through I got in-front of the ‘in-progress’ UPM-1 ‘upmix processor’. Intended for HD broadcasters who want an acceptable 5.1 up-mix of stereo material for use inside HD programming, it certainly has a promising set of controls, including ‘Ambient Sound’, ‘Direct Sound’, ‘Width’, and ‘Front Divergence’, which suggests there is some very clever stuff going on inside to derive those controls from the mush of stereo material. I did ask about the possibility of pre-sets, but at that moment it wasn’t implemented. Even without that though, it should turn a few heads, and not just in its target live broadcast market, I suspect. For simplicity though, the new Soundfield SMP200 is hard to beat – a set of four gain matched pre-amps in one box thanks to a ganged master gain control and matched, simultaneous pre-amp facilities. Intended primarily to support the SPS200, the box can be used with any microphones when matched gain control is critical. Current thinking on a release date is November. Microphones, Continued Had enough new microphones? Not yet. Sennheiser was also in with its new MKE 1 mini microphone. And it really is miniature. The capsule has a diameter of only 3.3mm but is built for high quality speech applications where small is beautiful (theatre, TV, conference, and so on). It’s shipping now (I brought one back for a forthcoming AM review), and it comes with a whole variety of caps (acoustic and protective), plus a clip mount. Also along the microphone theme, Rycote showed two new (and bigger) additions to its in- > IBC Review “Solutions in Audio & Video” Features • Economical, dedicated loudness meter • AES3 & Stereo Analogue Inputs • Meets Loudness Standard ITU BS1770 & 1771 • Software upgrade also available for MSD600m++ including graphical display and PC interface. Email: info@dk-technologies.com • Web: www.dk-technologies.com • Tel: +45 4485 0255 • Fax: +45 4485 0250 DK-Technologies A/S, Marielundvej 37D, Herlev DK-2730, Denmark. 20 AUDIO MEDIA OCTOBER 2008 http://www.dk-technologies.com http://www.dk-technologies.com

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Audio Media - October 2008 Content Recording Post Broadcast Geofocus:�Portugal &�Spain What's Up UK IBC Report Microtech Geffel UM 930 Steinberg Cubase 4.5 ADK�Hamburg &�Vienna Final Cut: House of Fallen Lexicon PCM96 Review The Conch Awards Feature Sound Devices 788T Review Lexicon PCM96 Allen &�Heath Zed R16 Power: Fact & Fiction, PT.2 Product Sampler Plug-ins Video Guide AMSR Plasa Report Audio Technica IEM�M3 Rushes Live Mixing Techniques:�Bruce Johnston Drawmer 4x4 Kickbox

AudioMedia - October 2008

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