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“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
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 six- channel 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
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.
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
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