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January 2013 l 29


broadcastfeature FASCINATE AND UHDTV 22.2


ULTRA-HIGH DEFINITION television (UHDTV), developed by NHK’s Research Labs, and the fully immersive stereoscopic 3DTV produced under the FascinatE banner are two possible next steps on from HD. In both, sound is a major part of the experience. The 4k or 8k resolution


pictures of UHDTV are partnered by 22.2-channel audio, which gives spatial sound in the vertical plane for a sensation of height as well as front left and right and rear left and right information in the horizontal plane, plus two sub-bass channels (the .2). All this is captured using


a microphone comprising 22 mic capsules round a football-shaped housing. This sits on a stand with two arms either side of the central ‘Globe’ containing the two low-frequency pick-ups. The first UHDTV live


transmission was in 2006. More tests have followed, with the BBC trialling the technology during the London 2012 Olympics. As with all 22.2 productions, audio feeds were taken from every host broadcast mic in a venue to be combined with sources from the Globe rig, which is usually positioned near the camera to give an impression of what is being seen. UHDTV and 22.2 were designed for home viewing and a NHK spokesman says viewers are not expected to set up 24 loudspeakers according to the


the “super advanced” systems, going from 7.1 up to 22.2, and the often less than impressive performance of 5.1 for live TV. “The new technology with all the channels is interesting and sounds incredible but I don’t know whether it is realistic or not,” he says. “On the other side I’m often very disappointed in 5.1 when it is live. It sounds fine after post- production but in many live situations it is disappointing, despite being in controlled environments and having a lot of money behind it.” Poulsen observes that the distinction now needs to be between not surround or non- surround but live audio production and post-produced work. “For live the future has to be combining a single surround


Eigenmike (front) and SoundField kit used on the FascinatE Project


SMPTE 2036-2 standard. Instead broadcasters will transmit 24 discrete audio signals to the home, where the 3D spatial sound will be rendered over arbitrary arrangements of multiple loudspeakers, including 2.0, 5.1, 7.1, 9.1, 10.2, 16.2 and 22.2.


The first field test in the FascinatE Project was at the


sound mic for the ambient signals with close mics like the ones DPA is famous for,” he says. “By using those with the 5100 everything can be EQed to sound the same. I can understand that nobody wants headset or lavalier mics and would prefer a centralised mic but you need the combination for quality. Mono TV studios didn’t work with one mic but there is still the thought that something like 22.2 can be done with a single device.” Other manufacturers have


built their businesses on producing self-contained mics. “Surround sound capture from a single point source is here to stay,” comments Jonathan Godfrey at Holophone. “What most content producers are looking for is a simple means of


“I’m often very


disappointed in 5.1 when it is live. It sounds fine after post- production but in many live situations it is disappointing, despite being in controlled environments and having a lot of money behind it” Christian Poulsen, DPA


English Premier League football match between Chelsea and Wolves in October 2010. The basic microphone lay-out followed the standard configuration used by most European broadcasters, including Sky Sports for Premier League coverage, comprising 12 shotgun microphones (Sennheiser 416s and 419s) round the pitch and a SoundField surround mic in the stands for ambient crowd noise. This was augmented by an Eigenmike in the main stand and an additional SoundField opposite. The Eigenmike was used to


capture ambient sound in a higher order Ambisonic (HOA) format, working up to fourth order Ambisonics, as opposed to the SoundField’s first order. Rob Oldfield, research assistant at the University of Salford’s Acoustics Research Centre, worked on the project and explains this offers a “much higher spatial resolution”.


creating the most effective and immersive surround sound mix as possible. Earlier methods of surround capture required complicated set-up and


calibration, specialised training and complex post-production. Often the most straightforward approach is the best.” Schillebeeckx at TSL PPL/SoundField says broadcasters are looking for a “you are there” surround ambience for their viewers and that a single, phase coherent mic brings advantages to all live broadcasts. “Traditionally multiple microphone arrays have been used to capture surround soundscapes but the set-up, trouble-shooting and de-rigging of those arrays takes time,” he explains. “For broadcasters of major sporting events or concerts a single SoundField mic can generate simultaneous stereo and 5.1 for SD and HD transmission.”


BEST OPTIONS BBC R&D has been working with a single SoundField mic on its surround experiments and Dr Chris Dunn says this approach “can yield convincing results” and is effective for capturing hall ambience. There has, however, been criticism among fans of classical music in particular that sometimes such a set-up produces muffled recordings with poor spatial resolution. While acknowledging the BBC has not spent much time investigating the options in detail, Dunn comments that the optimal arrangement for


AMBISONICS ON THE RED CAMERA


TODAY THE epitome of single point video and audio production is the digital single lens reflex (DSLR) camera, which is being used widely for low-budget film and TV programme making. Manufacturers including Rode, Shure and Sennheiser have addressed this active market by producing small shotgun or stereo mics that fit into the hot shoe on top of the camera. The big sign that surround sound – and Ambisonics in


particular – has entered the mainstream will be when it is being used on DSLRs. Len Moskowitz at Core Sound, developer of the TetraMic, says there is the potential for that now. Although DSLRs are not involved just yet, TetraMics and SoundFields are being used for Ambisonic recording in the Netherlands in


conjunction with the RED One digital 4k camera. Filmmakers working


through the Trans-dimensional


Portal on Facebook (www.facebook.com/ TransDimensionalPortal) have been recording the four channels produced by a TetraMic directly on to the audio tracks of the RED for Ambisonic surround. “Four-tracks are all you need for B-format,” explains Moskowitz. “Everything they’re doing is shot in surround. Where this is going is ultimately towards Ambisonics on DSLR.”


3D recordings might be “a hybrid where spot mics are used to record individual instruments or voices, mixed with ambience signals captured using a single 3D mic such as a SoundField or Eigenmike.” Len Moskowitz of Core Sound is keen to point out that while the TetraMic can be used for surround, it is in fact a stereo mic, or, more specifically, a Blumlein array. “With a pair of TetraMics you can do surround, including height, up to any number of channels from only four tracks,” he says. The tools for capturing and


producing both live and post- produced surround have been available to broadcasters for years – and the number of mics able to do this is likely to only increase. Talk of immersive audio may threaten the long- established phrase ‘surround sound’ because it just implies the sounds going around the listener. Immersive gives the impression of being within the sound but as ‘surround’ mics are being used to create the feeling of height as well as everything else, perhaps we need a new term. My vote goes to ‘enveloping sound’. Let’s see if it catches on. n www.core-sound.com www.dpamicrophones.com www.holophone.com www.mhacoustics.com www.tsl.co.uk


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