FEATURE BROADCAST WORKFLOW
The aim with Strictly Come Dancing is to achieve both a stereo mix and a surround output
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tape workflows, written cue sheets and notes were vital in not only identifying what a recording was of but also which takes were good. Just like the recording, editing, and mixing functions, this job has moved into the virtual, databased world. In the case of Pyramix, says Wadsten, this began with media-based markers that could be used to flag a good take within a file. “Now metadata is written into all files,” he says, “which allows the production notes to flow down the line to the editors. The idea is to make the process as simple as possible because losing the information is almost as bad as losing the recording itself.”
LIVE CAPTURING Comprehensive details on what sources are coming in during a live production or what is on a recording are crucial for all sizes of production. This is the experience of sound recordist Ian Sands, who works on live
24 February 2014
events ‘broadcast’ to digital cinemas and online as well as high-end shoots for television drama. Among Sands’ theatre
projects have been Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing starring David Tennant and Catherine Tate during 2011 and the Sondheim musical Merrily We Roll Along, which was both filmed and broadcast live to cinemas in October 2013. Sands says such productions can involve in the region of 28 radio mics, plus effects play-in and an audience mix, with musicals or operas also calling for a sub-mix of the orchestra. “I ISO everything as well,
so we’ve got access to individual elements,” he explains. “We usually have three nights on a show, so I can try out mixes on the first two and am ready by the third night. We’ve also developed a filmic/TV way of working if a line on the recording is obscured by
clothes rustle or something by getting the actors on stage with no audience to repeat the words – as in ADR – without the action. These can then be edited in later.” Sands usually sets up a
control room in the theatre or venue, often in the sub- basement; his equipment includes an Allen & Heath iLive Series digital console and either a SADiE LRX2 location multi-track workstation or JoeCo Black Box multi-track recorders. Sources come in on MADI connections, with, Sands says, Dante IP technology starting to be used in some cases as well.
Metadata comes into its
own when a recording is sent for post production. Merrily We Roll Along involved a live orchestra taking up 25 to 30 feeds, 8 to 10 audience sources, and a cast of 25, with sound effects coming in from the theatre. Sands says he also generated ISOs, which were recorded onto hard disk with
all the other signals. “That was about 64 tracks with track names and other metadata,” he says. “And because I’m a dinosaur I always write up my notes and scan them into a PDF file, which is for my own peace of mind but would be helpful at the post end if anything went wrong with the files.”
STREAMING REVOLUTION Internet streaming webcasts span a broad range of production types and, perhaps most important of all, budgets. For shows where the money is tighter manufacturers have introduced all-in-one audio- video systems, which provide facilities for both sound and vision, while taking up the minimum amount of room possible in a make-shift control room at the venue or in a small van. Among these are Sony’s Anycast Touch AWS-750 and the Roland VR-50 HD. The Anycast
“I think it would be nice to find a way to better ensure that AV
synchronisation is more carefully considered.” Mark Pascoe
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