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July 2013 l 27


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From a few random installs close to its Finnish HQ, non- studio install is now a sizeable part of Genelec’s overall business. “As is so often the case in this business, it has developed slowly over time,” observes Janflod.


MASTERING AUDIO FORENSICS


In 1994, Cambridge-based CEDAR Audio was merely five years into its existence. Although it had established its DSP credentials with impressive speed, the company’s directors were aware that the boom in its initial primary market of audio pre-mastering could not last indefinitely. Then, fortuitously, fate intervened in the shape of an enquiry from an unexpected quarter: the audio forensics department of a large, national police force.


“They had been to an AES


Convention and seen our original DOS-based CEDAR system, which was principally designed for cleaning audio from disks and tapes,” recalls CEDAR Audio’s managing director, Gordon Reid. “However, they realised that our system, used in combination with some existing filters they possessed, could deliver a better result than they could otherwise obtain. In particular, they found CEDAR to be very useful for getting rid of hiss; many of the other filters


“The days of economically being able to provide a console to do just one job are pretty long gone at this point ”


Keith Watson, Soundcraft Studer


until 2003 and the launch of the CEDAR Cambridge Forensic System that computer hardware was able to cope with the processing requirements of the filters the company wanted to implement. Six years later,


MAKING WAVES... IN CONSUMER AUDIO


For audio plug-in specialist Waves, the core philosophy is one of “creating the best IP possible and then looking for ways to deploy it in as many market segments as possible,” remarks international marketing head Udi Henis. But that’s not to say there haven’t been some welcome surprises along the way. For example, consider the


trajectory of the L Series limiters, which at the time of launch of the range’s first product – the L1 Ultramaximizer Peak Limiter – were primarily intended for use in pro mastering. But as new products have been added to the series – including, most recently, the L3-16 Multimaximizer – their appeal has spread.


“The L Series has become an industry standard used in almost every pro-audio field as


example of diversification in CEDAR’s history. Although developed for post and off-line broadcast applications, the DNS hardware proved so popular for cleaning dialogue live-to-air, as well as in auditoriums, HoWs and conference venues that, in 2012, CEDAR introduced the DNS 8 Live – its first product developed with live sound as the primary focus. The opening up of new


a solution for dynamic range issues,” says Henis. Waves’ evolution of limiter technology has also opened doors to the consumer market, specifically with manufacturers of laptops and mobile devices, “where dynamic range of speakers is very limited, and limiting the dynamic range of the signal is essential”. Core to Waves’ success is an R&D configuration that involves algorithm experts and sound specialists working in teams focused on different fields, such as mixing, gaming, film live and broadcast. “This approach enables Waves to supply the best solutions in sound processing for a diverse array of processing needs,” says Henis.


applications and markets, says Reid, is “ultimately what enables a company to survive. When we started 25 years ago, the pre- mastering sector was, by far, our largest market. If we were exclusively trying to sell products into pre-mastering today, we would be out of business. Our forensic and post activities continue to grow, but some other areas of business come and go, so you do have to be light on your feet.”


“I WAS A LITTLE SCEPTICAL MYSELF…” The need to be ‘light on your feet’ as a business is a sentiment with which the Soundcraft Studer group would surely concur. In days gone by, Soundcraft and Studer mixing systems tended to be most closely identified with live and broadcast, respectively. But during the


“The result is that most products we introduce now have been developed with three, maybe four markets in mind.” Indeed, purchased systems are


frequently deployed across applications; by way of example, Watson points to US houses of worship, where Studer Vista consoles are often used to handle both live performance and broadcast requirements. But one of Soundcraft’s most recent product developments, the Si Performer, arguably takes this hybrid philosophy to a new level by being the first audio console to integrate the DMX standard for lighting control. “For some time we had been thinking about ways in which engineers in smaller venues have to handle lighting and sound,” recalls Watson. “It was clear that in a lot of smaller venues – schools, gyms, churches – the sound engineer was, more often that not, obliged to handle the lighting as well.” With almost twice as much


DSP power as Soundcraft’s Si Compact range, and an input capacity of 80 inputs to mix on all models, Si Performer’s appeal still owes a great deal to the fact that it is a “very high spec’d audio console for its size”, says Watson. Nonetheless, the lighting control capability –


available 20 years ago were quite aggressive and could end up removing too much of the voice in addition to the noise that you wanted to suppress.” As Reid admits, “that could


have been that” for CEDAR’s excursion into audio forensics – except that the initial customer (who, like many in this sector, cannot be named) spoke to colleagues in other countries. One order led to another, police forensics led to national security and air accident investigation… to the extent that, by the turn of the millennium, forensics had become “an important part of our business, but without us having developed anything specific for that market”, says Reid. That’s not to say that CEDAR


didn’t contemplate a dedicated forensics solution, but it wasn’t


which, with the first release of software, provides four scene masters (A-D) with associated slave channels on the ALT fader layers, and the ability to easily store DMX settings alongside those for audio in the snapshot system – has helped to propel the console forward. “When we first previewed


Colchester Zoo’s very own hybrid — the zedonk!


CEDAR unveiled the similarly- specific CSS1500 and CSS3000 Surveillance Systems. Today, forensics is represented


by a dedicated division, perhaps inevitably known as CEDAR Forensic, and consistently ranks alongside post as one of the company’s top two markets. But it’s by no means the only notable


last half-decade, both brands have become more synonymous with (pardon the pun) mixed usage – and, as marketing director Keith Watson confirms, it hasn’t been by accident. “The days of economically


being able to provide a console to do just one job are pretty long gone at this point,” he says.


it there was something of a ‘Marmite reaction’ [ie, love it or hate it],” says Watson. “But we found that people were very quickly won over – not least by the fact that it was so easy to change layout and have the same user interface for both audio and lighting.” With admirable candour, Watson admits that he was, initially, somewhat resistant to the idea himself: “Well, I was a little sceptical, but when I saw the layout and workflow I rapidly became a convert!”


VERSATILITY IS THE NEW GOD Initially devised to be “the most versatile [studio] kick-drum microphone on the market”, the Lewitt DTP 640 REX’s high- quality dynamic and condenser elements ensured that it was “incredibly versatile” from day one. Even so, Steffen Grachegg admits that the company was somewhat taken aback by “the feedback from our customers and endorsers about how well the DTP 640 REX works on almost every bassy instrument… [hence the fact that] it has found its way to cellos, double basses, bass cabinets and even grand pianos!” Instances of genuine surprise


are few and far between, however. “Versatility is one of the main characteristics we have in mind for all our products,” affirms Grachegg. “Of course, we know there is no such thing as a ‘perfect microphone’, but we do want to cover as many recording situations as possible with our products.” The sector-specific product or customised solution will always have its place, but in a business that has registered several profound upheavals of late – the decline of the traditional studio business and the continued rise of post and live, to name but a few – the inherent logic of the ‘hybrid’ product becomes evermore incontrovertible. n www.cedaraudio.com www.genelec.com www.lewitt-audio.com www.soundcraft.com www.studer.ch www.waves.com


Photo: Sannse


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