26 l November 2013
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broadcastfeature
acoustic designer or at least a decent CAD program to make sure everything will fit and sound good.
In TV 5.1 is still the norm for
surround, even if not all broadcasters are providing a multichannel service. As 7.1 has become the base standard in cinemas any OB operators looking for work in the lucrative live event/cinema broadcast market should bear extra speakers in mind. There might be need for even more loudspeakers if spatial sound takes off in conjunction with Ultra High Definition television. UK OB company Telegenic’s new 4k truck, T25, was built by Sony Professional with two speakers in the ceiling of the audio area to provide the necessary height information in any immersive mixes. Malcolm Robinson at
Broadcast Network says the company’s design team is working on using the available space in the vehicles to look at creating a better environment for spatial sound, for example by moving equipment bridges or racks out of the audio area or building them into the walls of the production section. The choice of equipment and
where it is installed can make a great deal of difference in OB audio sections today. New digital mixing desks are often much smaller than their analogue ancestors and even more immediate digit-based predecessors. And modern routing generally calls for less rack space in the mix area. Which leads on to...
GEARING UP The console remains the heart of any OB audio department but its importance and role now goes beyond the mixing of incoming signals. Digital technology had already changed the way desks were used, adding menus with different feature and function layers as well as automation and recall of settings, but today’s consoles are as much a means of routing and distributing audio feeds on site and to broadcast centres as they are a tool for balancing speech, effects and music. Of the manufacturers of desks commonly installed in OB scanner trucks, Lawo and Stagetec had a basis in audio routing that was brought to bear on the design of their mixing surfaces. Studer and Calrec Audio came more from the
One of the world’s first 4K OB trucks under construction, ahead of Telegenic and Sony’s live 4K trials at the Confederations Cup in Brazil
All shapes and sizes: German media and broadcast specialists Studio Hamburg MCI followed up the installation of four BroaMan routing systems for Sweden’s SVT by specifying the same brand for two NRK OB trucks in Norway
operational side but have produced their own router systems to work with the desks. In Calrec’s case the Hydra 2 system has been designed to meet the demands of the market; the capability to deal with a multitude of channels simultaneously while at the same time providing enough bandwidth on networks to give good quality audio but with low latency.
Most modern desks are modular; the mix engine and router are separate from the control surface, meaning they do not have to be installed in the main mixing area but can sit in an adjoining equipment room. The application of new chip technology has resulted in smaller consoles that still deliver on the channel count; the SSL C100, for example, squeezes 256 channels into 3U.
Modern electrical technology has also had a dramatic effect on a once expensive and draining component of a truck: power. Wayland Twiston Davies at Sony Professional says the use of LCD and OLED displays and other indication
equipment means the overall system is drawing a lot less power than in the past. This in turn puts less demand on the air conditioning, which is also very power hungry. Something else that can
reduced these days is the amount of cabling that has to go into trucks. Cable is still a crucial element but changes in how all the technical equipment is linked has brought about different approaches to basic design. Which brings us to...
GET (INTER)CONNECTED Digital audio connectivity is nothing new but the advent of faster and more efficient data communications, combined with AES, MADI and embedded linear audio, has led to a reworking of how signals are carried. Malcolm Robinson comments
that MADI over fibre connections is used “extensively” to both route within the audio department and link to hybrid routers, such as those produced by Evertz, which are used in the video department. All trucks being built today have 3Gbps core infrastructures
that make upgrading to emerging technologies easier. Another consideration for anyone designing a truck is IP, both for audio and video. Sony’s Wayland Twiston Davies says “large chunks of audio” are now being carried over low cost CAT5 data cable using audio over IP (AoIP) technologies such as Ravenna. He adds that fibre has become widely used because it is relatively cheap to break connections out from. Broadcast Networks is
currently designing an all-IP truck that will have, says Malcolm Robinson, “seamless” interconnectivity between the audio and video domains. Greater integration between the two once disparate and separate worlds is allowing material to get on air faster during live broadcasts. This is crucial in sports coverage, so any interconnection between the audio and video replay servers, typically the almost ubiquitous EVS system, will get clips transmitted all the quicker. Twiston Davies suggests installing a 32-way I/O for connecting to EVSs, saying that demand for I/Os in general is growing and shows no sign of stopping. All these signals flying round in the data world need to be traced and controlled. There are several control systems aimed at broadcast in general but Twiston Davies says packages like VSM (virtual studio manager) are now used in conjunction with the consoles to manage the different inputs and outputs round larger trucks. The rigours of live location
production has been recognised by a number of routing- networking manufacturers, which provide a selection of
systems that carry both audio and video over fibre. Among them is Riedel with its MediorNet network for routing and signal transport, processing and conversion. Riedel is also among the leading suppliers of intercom, along with Trilogy Communications, Clear-Com and RTS-Telex. Whether you call it intercom or talkback, communicating within the truck and to the crews - sound (both broadcast and live), camera and production - is absolutely vital. Hard wired systems are the most reliable but wireless is necessary where crews are working over a large area. Traditional four-wire systems still have their place but Ethernet, including AVB (audio-video bridge), and IP, with sophisticated trunking techniques for distribution, are now offering additional flexibility and possibilities. Another consideration in
general interconnection is the stage box; there should be at least one for connecting to remote inputs such as mic amps. And the nearer the mics and mic amps the stage box is, the lower the signal to noise ratio.
CONCLUSION As with everything there is a basic formula to designing and building OB trucks. New technology has brought greater opportunities to save money and reduce the amount of equipment installed, which makes for bigger, more comfortable working environments. But as much as many OB units do much the same kinds of production – sport, live music and events – one size or style does not suit every occasion. Planning is all if you want something that meets your particular requirements.
www.bcnet.co.uk www.c2ssystems.com www.calrec.com www.clearcom.com www.falsystems.co.uk www.megahertz.co.uk www.riedel.net www.riversidetelevision.com www.rtsintercoms.com www.sony.co.uk/pro/hub/home www.stagetec.com www.studer.ch www.trilogycomms.com
+ Thanks to Steve Burgess (Megahertz Broadcast), Andy Unsworth (FAL Systems) and Jonathan Lyth, C2S Systems for their help in preparing this feature.
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