The audio booths were busy at this year’s NAB Show, with seemingly more new products on display than in recent years. With loudness issues now largely under control in the United States, the focus appears to have turned to networking and transport methodologies.
AUDIO MIXERS
AKG announced its 12-input DMM12 BC digital automatic microphone mixing unit, which is scalable up to 10 units. It filters, compressor/limiters, ducking and routing.
Calrec demonstrated Artemis Light, the newest member of its Artemis family of Bluefin2/Hydra2 audio consoles, in a new compact processing rack for delivering DSP and routing.
DiGiCo’s new SD9B upgrade adds surround capabilities to the standard SD9 live sound production system, providing 48 stereo channels, up to 5.1 bussing, a full studiostyle monitor matrix, and multiple mix-minus buses.
Solid State Logic added enhanced capabilities with the launch of v4 software for its C10HD console. SSL also announced v6 software for its C100 HDS console.
Chris Nicolaou (C) with Verizon Broadcast Center and Kent Bubbenmoyer (R) with Bubbenmoyer Audio Services learn about the Wheatstone D2
IP-based TV console from Brad Harrison. Studer launched a new range of low-cost hardware control panels for its Route 6000 and Studer Vista and OnAir consoles. They offer single key crosspoint switching or X-Y style operation. Studer also debuted Vista- Mix, a software upgrade offering automatic mic mixing for any Vista with a SCore Live DSP engine.
TSL Professional Products introduced TouchMix Combo, integrating TouchMix and TouchMix Pilot and comprising two 20-channel line-level mixers that can act as a backup to a larger console or as a standalone mixer.
Wheatstone’s new L-8 control surface is based on the design of the popular LX-24 but scaled for news production, voiceover booths or similar studio applications and interfaces seamlessly with the WheatNet-IP Intelligent Network.
AUDIO EDITING
Avid Pro Tools 11, built on an all-new, 64-bit audio engine, integrates Avid’s Media Composer video engine and features flexible offline bounce functionality, low latency input buffering, dynamic host processing and GUI enhancements, including expanded metering selections.
DTS and Fairlight jointly announced the release of Fairlight’s new 3DAW, based on Fairlight’s Crystal Core Media processor that provides 3D panning and monitoring in both object-based (DTS MDA) or channel 3D mixing methods. Fairlight also announced the latest release of its Dream software, now with mouse-based editing, single-screen interface with new mix panel choices and, optionally, a multiclient ASIO bridge.
AUDIO RECORDING & PLAYOUT
Avid announced a pair of iOS-compatible audio interfaces, Fast Track Solo and Fast Track Duo. These directly connect to iPads for recording and also include Pro Tools Express licenses for Mac and PC.
DiGiCo, Soundtracs and Waves Audio showcased DiGiGrid, a new range of audio hardware/ software offering 128-channel recording to laptop/desktop over MADI plus flexible audio processing and networking configurations.
Lawo’s Jade is a new PC-based audio control center that integrates Ravenna AoIP network technology with remote control and automation options enabling operation from other devices, such as Lawo radio mixing consoles.
Roland Systems Group now provides 40 x 40, 96 kHz/24-bit REAC multichannel recording via SONAR Essentials to registered users of its V-Mixer consoles via a Cat5/6e cable.
AUDIO MONITORING & METERING
Blackmagic Design showed its Audio Monitor, a 1RU device with a 6G-SDI video input that provides audio monitoring from SDI feeds.
The latest release of Digital Nirvana’s Monitor IQ complies with new FCC Web captioning mandates, enables recording by program as well as by time segments and allows users to mix and match different signal inputs in one server.
RTW unveiled new software for its TM3 series of TouchMonitors, adding PPM, VU and new loudness moving coil instruments in vertical or horizontal orientation, numeric level information and peak indicators.
TSL Professional Products announced the implementation of new features from the Dolby CAT 1100 decoding card into its PAM2 MK2 multichannel audio monitoring unit, enabling loudness measurement on two channels simultaneously.
Wohler Technologies debuted its next-generation iON monitoring system, which enables broadcasters to access monitoring capabilities via remote PC, Mac, smartphone, and tablet devices.
MONITOR SPEAKERS
Genelec debuted the M030 and the M040 energy-efficient M Series bi-amplified active monitors, a main component of the company’s green initiative.
JBL Professional showcased the M2 master reference monitor, integrating new transducer technologies and patented innovations in a two-way system delivering inroom response of 20 Hz to 40 kHz.
AUDIO DISTRIBUTION, ROUTING & CODECS
Cobalt Digital has added fiber units to its recently released Blue Box Group range of throwdown modular signal conversion bricks.
DTS announced its new DTS-HD Layered Audio technology, designed to enable online media services to offer adaptive bit-rate audio streaming from a single encoding.
Fraunhofer IIS and Unified Streaming (USP) announced a partnership combining USP’s adaptive streaming expertise with Fraunhofer’s High-Efficiency AAC (HE-AAC) multichannel audio codec, enabling users to deliver the best possible MPEG-DASH (Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP) streaming experience.
Logitek introduced an upgrade card for the company’s Audio Engine router. The new AE-IP card enables operation of the Audio Engine on an AoIP platform and makes it compatible with the JetStream audio networking platform.
Optocore launched a range of MADI switches, each with two redundant high-speed 2 GB fiber uplink ports that are equipped with 10 or 18 MADI ports and offer distribution via Cat-5, MADI-over-fiber and MADI-over-BNC.
Riedel Communications has extended its line of AVB-capable products with the half-rack, 1RU Connect A8 (eight analog I/O) and Connect C8 (eight AES on BNC), which enable audio transport via AVB-capable LANs.
MICROPHONES & HEADSETS
Andreas Hilmer demos the Riedel iPad level Meters for the Artist Intercom. AKG launched the B48 L, the successor to its B18 condenser microphone battery power supply. It features a very low noise level and a polarity protection feature.
Sanken introduced its new generation CU- 55 cardioid microphone with a side-firing 16 mm capsule and the same diaphragm material as Sanken’s CO-100K and CUW-180.
Shure’s LensHopper VP83 and VP83F camera- mount condenser microphones are ultra-compact shotguns with Rycote shock mounts for capturing highly directional audio with DSLR cameras and portable video/ audio recorders.
Thomas Banks of Shure (C) points out the features
of the new VP83F recording microphone to Vina Cera of Laney Tower. TSL PPL showcased its SoundField DSF-B digital broadcast package—a DSF-2 surround microphone, DSF-2 controller and DSF-3 processor—that provides simultaneous digital surround and stereo soundscapes of large-scale outside broadcast events.
INTERCOM & REMOTE CONTRIBUTION
Barix unveiled enhancements which eliminate the need to configure IP addresses and servers on its Partyline Intercom and flexible push-to-talk Annuncicom PS1 AoIP solutions.
Studio Technologies launched the new Model 240 Producer’s Console, a four-channel IFB master station combined with a twochannel party-line intercom user station.
Clear-Com debuted the Eclipse HX-Delta matrix frame, offering the connectivity and high capacity of a larger matrix system in a 3RU frame. The company also introduced a new Tempest900 BeltStation equipped with an advanced Planar Inverted-F Antenna (PIFA) for increased range and improved wireless coverage.
RadioActive Designs’ UV-1G wireless intercom system combines VHF and Enhanced Narrow Band (AM with DSP) technology to pack more than 150 channels into a 6 MHz TV channel.
Riedel Communications released its Artist Level Meter app for iPad, which monitors and controls up to eight assignable audio inputs of an Artist digital matrix intercom system.
The new RTS ADAM OMNEO interface cards transform the RTS ADAM intercom system into a flexible, IP-based intercom network with OCA control and with AVB media and IP-based transport.
AUDIO PROCESSING
Audionamix demonstrated how its ADX technology can separate dialog from a full mix for foreign reversioning, or remove and replace music cues from TV shows while preserving the dialog and effects in the original mix.
DaySequerra demonstrated their Multi- Merge2 product for upmixing stereo or encoded stereo content up to a 5.1 channel configuration using the DTS Neural Surround upmix process.
Jünger Audio’s V*AP is a new two-channel voice processor specifically designed for voiceover work. It includes HP/LP filtering, dynamics, parametric EQ, de-essing and a dedicated voice leveler.
Vinnie Macri (L) with Clear-Com talks to Craig Olmstead from Dub Productions about the HelixNet digital network partyline. TSL PPL’s new SoundField X-1 multichannel combined upmix/downmix processor provides flexible, transparent interoperability between 5.1 and stereo audio, controllable from any PC and can perform two completely independent audio stream processes simultaneously.
LOUDNESS
Cobalt Digital added new SpotCheck versions: the 2000, with four licenses and a 16 program capacity; 3000, with 16 licenses and 64 program capability; and the 5000, with 64 licenses and a 1,024 program capacity.
Linear Acoustic introduced a new loudness management system and loudness meter. The AERO 2000 loudness manager is a successor to the company’s AERO.air and provides support for up to 16 channels with upmixing, downmixing, watermarking and extensive I/O features. The LQ-1 loudness meter supports ITU-R BS.1770-1/2/3 loudness metering standards and includes selectable Dolby Dialogue Intelligence automatic speech gating.
Minnetonka Audio Software showed its new AudioTools Focus family of standalone software processors for broadcast, film, OTT, and mobile/handheld (M/H) applications. It’s designed for automated, intelligent loudness control with simple operation.
Nugen Audio previewed MultiMonitor, a new standalone software program that enables users to monitor loudness on 16 different channels at once and can measure up to 96 audio inputs in mono, stereo, or 5.1 surround sound in a single window.
TC Electronic’s DB6 one-step loudness manager allows processing of up to three simultaneous SD/HD/3G streams, with two 5.1-capable processing engines per SDI stream delivering to any platform and codec.
TSL PPL introduced the PAM PiCo Five Audio and Loudness Meter that provides real-time logging of all relevant loudness parameters, including high and low loudness levels, peak-level and corresponding peak channel, as well as integrated loudness.
