When ABC's hit variety series, Dancing with the Stars returned to the airwaves for the fourth season on March 19th, TC Electronic processing also returned to the spotlight. This year's show is being broadcast in Stereo and Dolby 5.1 with the level control and surround processing provided once again by a TC Electronic DB-8. Additional reverb and pitch is being handled by a TC Reverb 6000, while the whole presentation will be monitored on a Dynaudio BM6A/BM14S surround system.
Along with the 11 celebrity paired couples competing on the dance floor, this year's show features TC's UpCon Stereo to 5.1 realtime conversion algorithm and TC's multiband level processing. The major change for this season is the implementation on the DB-8 of the new ITU BS.1770 loudness recommendations on the SD and SAP feeds. TC Electronic was the first processing company to implement the new loudness standard.
"Dancing with the Stars was the first live prime time competition series broadcast in HD and 5.1 sound," said the show’s audio engineer, Evan Adelman. "This presented me with some unusual challenges, but the TC DB-8 gave me the capability of processing the SD and SAP stereo feeds while upmixing and level processing the HD 5.1 feed, all on one box. The incredible control of the Upcon algorithm allowed me to create a surround sound that more closely matched a natural room sound than any 5.1 mix I have heard. A bonus of using this system was having the fold-down stereo match the original analog stereo mix. This was essential for those viewers watching an HD feed but listening in stereo."
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