26 l June 2014


www.psneurope.com SOUNDBITES broadcast EUROPE


The BBC is looking into what led to over 1,000 complaints from viewers who said they could not understand much of what was being said in the latest adaptation of Daphne du Maurier’s Jamaica Inn, produced for the broadcaster by Origin Pictures and broadcast on 21 April. Blame was laid at the door of the audio department, with a spokeswoman citing “issues with the sound levels” – an explanation disputed by many in the sound community, including freelance production sound mixer Ian Sands, who said the problems were likely artistic. www.bbc.co.uk


French radio station Europe1 has outfitted its studios with a pair of Studer OnAir 3000 digital consoles, acquired through Audiopole, Studer’s French distributor. Europe1 head of engineering Michaël Allouche praises the consoles as “reliable, modular, flexible and robust”. www.harman.com


Crosspoint has become the sole distributor for Sonifex broadcast products in Belgium. Bruno Van Hileghem of Crosspoint comments: “We are very glad to add Sonifex to our product catalogue; it fits our portfolio perfectly.” Richard Butlin, Sonifex sales manager for Europe, adds: “We are delighted to have Crosspoint on board as our new face in Belgium. Their specialist skills and knowledge of the Belgian market will make them a significant force within the Sonifex team.” www.cross-point.be


TVBEurope’s IT Broadcast Workflow conference, to be held on 8 July at Bafta in London, will feature a special session on loudness compliance. Taking part in a moderated discussion will be MC Patel, CEO of Emotion Systems, a specialist in loudness compliance software; Craig Russil-Roy from Adstream, who will talk about the challenges advertisers face in distributing loudness-compliant content on a global scale; and Simon Leppington of Ericsson, who will speak on file-based preparation and playout for broadcasters. www.broadcastworkflow.com


A big plus for second-gen DAB


As DAB+ spreads across the European mainland, the United Kingdom’s broadcast regulator, Ofcom, is consulting on proposals to upgrade to the enhanced digital radio format, reports Kevin Hilton


RADIO BROADCASTERS in Europe are continuing to adopt DAB+ for digital transmissions or considering making the move from its predecessor. New multiplexes are planned for Germany, while Monaco has started testing the format and Denmark will move to DAB+ between 2016 and 2018. In the UK, Ofcom, which regulates and licenses radio broadcasting, has included a section on alternative audio coding in the form of DAB+ in its recent Broadcast Digital Radio Technical Codes and Guidance Consultation on updates and amendments for transmission.


These were last revised in 2006 and while Ofcom says it tries to regulate “only where necessary,” it observes that “there have been changes


UNITED KINGDOM


SIS Live Mastersound truck bought by crew


By Kevin Hilton


AFTER BRITISH broadcast facilities and uplink supplier SIS Live announced that it was pulling out of the OB market, speculation began as to what would happen to its trucks. The key audio vehicle was Mastersound, which had long been used on the BBC’s coverage of The Proms, as well as being involved in other major live events, including the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge of 2011. It has now emerged that the Stagetec Cantus-equipped vehicle has been bought


by former SIS Live sound supervisors Andy Payne and Matthew Charles. The pair has formed a company, the Sound Alliance, which will continue to operate the truck and offer it for hire on big broadcasts requiring a dedicated mixing environment. “We’ve got eight weeks at the Royal Albert Hall for The Proms, so we won’t be looking to do anything with the market until after that,” Payne comments. “As well as broadcast and big events, there are opportunities in non-traditional areas like digital cinema and live music.” 


www.thesoundtruck.co.uk GERMANY


THE GERMAN Motor Sports Association (DSMB) has commissioned motorsports communications expert Racecom to manage the implementation of comms systems at races. Racecom chose a DELEC oratis intercom system to serve as “the heart of the communication system” at various


racing circuits. Two oratis matrix frames, connected via fibre-optic cable, are installed at the race management centre and in one of the two Racecom trucks. The system was first deployed in the ADAC GT Masters series (pictured).  www.delec.de


www.racecomnc.com


As well as valid bitrates, sampling rates and digital radio codecs, Radioscape’s Tritium Audio Encoder also includes IP distribution over EDI (electronic data interchange)


in both technology and the landscape of the radio industry” since then. DAB+ is based on high efficiency advanced audio coding (HE-AAC), which is able to support stereo services at much lower bitrates than existing MPEG-2-based DAB services.


Any introduction, it says, would have to be managed carefully, but Ofcom is proposing to make part of the planned second national digital multiplex available for DAB+ operation should any broadcasters need it, although this is not mandatory.


Among the manufacturers preparing for the coexistence of DAB and DAB+ is Radioscape, which recently introduced the Tritium Audio Encoder. This offers up to four stereo inputs on one unit and is designed to take source input and send compatible DAB or DAB+ streams to the multiplex. The rest of Europe has a headstart on the UK, with Bavaria Radio planning an additional 21 DAB+ multiplex transmitters by the end of 2015, Radio Monte Carlo Readiodiffusion in Monaco testing the format since the end of April and Denmark planning to have the foundations for its first DAB+ network in place during next year, ready for the start of a two-year transition that begins in 2016.  www.ofcom.org.uk www.radioscape.com


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