Grammy Broadcast’s Surround Audio Production Relies on Effanel and Lexicon

The CBS telecast of the 45th Annual Grammy Awards from Madison Square Garden on February 23 marked a major step forward in audio production for television: the broadcast was the first-ever network broadcast prime-time awards program to be heard in 5.1 surround audio. CBS distributed Dolby Digital CD-quality surround sound in a number of major markets on its High Definition Television Network.

The 5.1 mix was supervised by the legendary Phil Ramone, chairman of The Recording Academy’s Producers & Engineers Wing; and Hank Neuberger, Advisory Council member of the P&E Wing. Randy Ezratty, president of Effanel Music, was the official 5.1 sound designer, music mixers included John Harris and Jay Vicari, and the production mixer was Ed Greene.

The HDTV/5.1 broadcast was mixed and monitored by a combination of top-tier remote facilities, including Effanel Music’s renowned L7 remote recording truck and Effanel’s new OSR1 truck, along with All Mobile’s “Resolution” high definition production truck.

The Effanel L7 mobile unit handled the 15-plus music performances during the show. The truck’s AMS-Neve Capricorn digital console allowed the audio teams to generate both a purpose-built stereo mix and a separate 5.1 mix simultaneously. The stereo mix from L7 was routed directly to one of the stereo control rooms in the All Mobile Resolution production truck, staffed by production mixer Ed Greene. The 5.1 mix from L7 was fed to Effanel’s new OSR1 mobile recording truck, where Mr. Ezratty added other mono and stereo elements and sweetened the surround audio. He then relayed the final 5.1 surround mix to the All Mobile Resolution truck where it was sent over fiber-optic cable for broadcast.

A Lexicon 960L multi-channel digital effects system was a key piece of gear for the surround mix production.

As Randy Ezratty explained prior to the event:”The 960L is being used on the 5.1 broadcast to enhance the room microphones that we are already using in Madison Square Garden. There are some room anomalies in that space that we do want, and some we would like to minimize for the sake of musicality. Because the 960L has an extensive number of 5.1 surround halls and room presets, we can use those programs and ‘feather’ them into the 5.1 mix.”

“In addition, I’m using the 960L’s LOGIC7® algorithm on some of the stereo pre-taped elements. Using LOGIC7 on a few of these prerecorded stereo snippets will help keep the continuity of a 5.1 show as well as increase the audio’s impact.”

“The 960L room programs are superb and we have had a tremendous amount of experience with them,” continues Mr. Ezratty.

“Because it’s a live show and we’re going to be thinking on the fly, I need to use equipment with which I’m very familiar. Effanel has used the 960L on many previous projects, including DVDs for Tony Bennett and U2. It’s really the tool of choice for a project like this.”

Lexicon Web Site

Effanel Music Web Site

More Grammy Awards News

HBO Pushes Dolby Digital Surround Audio with New Season of Six Feet Under

HBO is demonstrating a growing commitment to high-quality audio broadcasting by adding another high-profile show to its growing schedule of programs featuring Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound.

The upcoming season of Six Feet Under will begin broadcast in Dolby Digital 5.1 on HBO, beginning March 2. Technicolor Sound Services provides the editing and sound mixing for Six Feet Under.

“HBO has a commitment to the highest quality viewing experience for its customers, which is why we broadcast so much of our programming in Dolby Digital 5.1,” says Bob Zitter, senior vice president of Technology Operations for HBO. “That includes many Hollywood theatricals, most HBO Films, and HBO’s original series programming like The Sopranos and now Six Feet Under.”

Bruce Graham, senior vice president, Technicolor Sound Services adds: “Dolby Digital makes a big difference in the viewing experience. The clear, 5.1-channel surround audio allows the viewer to experience the show as the producer intended. We are really able to deliver the artistic integrity of the show.”

Six Feet Under won two categories at the recent Grammy Awards presentation in New York, for the musical soundtrack work of composer Thomas Newman. Mr. Newman’s “Six Feet Under Title Theme” (available on the album “Six Feet Under – Music From The HBO Original Series”) won the awards for Best Instrumental Composition and Best Instrumental Arrangement.

“Dolby Digital is an essential element to digital television, cable, and satellite broadcasting. More and more customers are expecting Dolby Digital surround sound when they watch TV and more and more broadcasters are meeting their customers audio demands with Dolby Digital,” says Tom Daily, director, marketing, Dolby Laboratories.

“Surround sound home theater systems have become very commonplace in homes and viewers want to utilize them whenever they watch TV.”

Dolby Laboratories Web Site

Secret Sound Adds All-Digital Lexicon 960L to Complement Extensive Pro Tools System

Composer/producer Chas Sandford is enthusiastic about computer-based digital recording. His personal studio, Secret Sound, is built around a massive Digidesign Pro Tools HD 7 system, with 48 channels of 192 kHz I/O and a 32-fader ProControl system with Edit Pack.

When it comes to reverb, though, Mr. Sandford finds that software plug-ins just won’t do. “A lot of plug-ins are great,” he says, “but on any digital audio workstation system it’s hard to allocate the processing power needed to make great, dense-sounding reverb effects.”

His solution is Lexicon. In January, Mr. Sandford installed a Lexicon 960LD Multi-Channel Digital Effects System at Secret Sound. He has been an ardent fan of Lexicon reverbs for many years, and feels that only the 960L could offer the classic reverbs and other audio effects he wants, while still matching the performance of Secret Sound’s all-digital environment.

Secret Sound has served as production venue for many top artists, including Chicago, Stevie Nicks, and Roger Daltrey. It has gone through several re-fits, both in its original location in Los Angeles and more recently in the Nashville area. Through the re-locations and re-designs, Mr. Sandford has stuck with Lexicon.

“No other outboard processor sounds as natural as a Lexicon. So as my recording system evolved and grew, I knew I wanted a 960L to keep up with it,” says Mr. Sandford. “The 960L does the dense-sounding reverb effects I need, and since Lexicon made a version without the analog I/Os, I can access that kind of DSP quality at a more cost-effective price.” (The 960LD is identical to the 960L, except that it provides digital-only inputs and outputs, no analog).

Dave Malekpour, president of Professional Audio Design, which supplied the Lexicon 960LD for Secret Sound comments: “No other system has ever achieved what Lexicon algorithms have. Engineers and producers can spot a Lexicon reverb on a record in a second. So it makes sense that when you’re working in an all-digital environment, especially one as complex and large as what Chas has at Secret Sound, you’d want a 960L, which can give you both the digital interface you need and the great-sounding effects that you want.”

The addition of the Lexicon 960LD at Secret Sound also had something of a back-to-the-future effect for Sandford. “I plugged it in and used it on some older recordings and it just brought new life to them,” Sandford remarks. “It’s just an awesome machine.”

Lexicon Web Site

Z-Systems New z-256.256r Detangler Pro Router System Tames Complex Digital Audio Routing

Z-Systems has introduced the latest addition to its highly-regarded series of Digital Detangler Pro™ Audio Routers.

The new z-256.256r Detangler Pro enables recording studios and post facilities studios to integrate and reconfigure their digital audio workplace. The unit accommodates up to 256 stereo/two-channel inputs, routing in any combination to a total of 256 outputs.

Asynchronous sources and destinations can be either 24-bit AES/EBU or S/PDIF format, at sampling rates to 192 kHz, and beyond. I/O crosspoint assignments can be selected via a dedicated serial port, using either Z-Systems’ dedicated hardware remote or networked Mac OS and Windows control software. The z-256.256r is modular in increments of 16×16.

“Our z-Series Digital Audio Routers are designed to eliminate the problem of interconnecting converters, effects processors, recorders, workstations, etc., that operate at different sampling rates and use different digital I/O formats,” explains Z-Systems president Glenn Zelniker.”

The remote control and computer interfaces allow the creation of multiple I/O presets, or salvos, that can later be recalled for instant reconfiguration.

“There are many different ways a studio or large installation might need to interconnect a number of digital sub-systems, recorders and playback sources,” Mr. Zelniker continues. “For example, a specific source might need to be connected to a targeted DAT machine, a workstation, a hard-disk recorder or a D-to-A converter.”

“Furthermore, if a single source needs to feed multiple destinations at the same time – for example, an A/D converter connected to several recorders, a workstation and a D-to-A converter for monitoring – daisy-chaining these destination devices can be unsafe and unreliable. The new large-format z-256.256r solves these and other problems.”

Rear-panel D-sub connectors require breakout cables identical in pin-out to the DB25-to-XLR breakout cables used by TASCAM DA-Series MDM Eight-tracks and related units. Z-Systems supplies pin-out designations or pre-fabricated AES/EBU breakout cables.

Z-Systems Web Site

Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Platinum EX Transforms the PC Into a Home Recording Studio

Music Creation Platform Enables 24-bit/96kHz Multi-Channel Recording

Creative Technology has announced immediate shipment of its new Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Platinum EX card/interface/software bundle. The estimated street price is $249 (US).

Creative is touting the new package as an ideal platform for aspiring musicians and home recordists, as well as PC users with a serious interest in sound quality. The company says the Platinum EX is the only THX®-certified consumer sound card capable of DVD-Audio quality 24-bit/96kHz recording in 5.1 channels.

The Platinum eX is now top-of-the-line in the Audigy 2 sound card family. Over the past year, Audigy 2 cards have won numerous awards and consumer enthusiasm for features such as DVD-Audio playback, Dolby Digital EX support for DVD movies, and 6.1-surround sound for games. The new package adds several capabilities and features that enable semi-pro recording and production applications.

6-Channel Low-Latency Recording

The Audigy 2 Platinum eX stands apart from the rest of the Audigy 2 family by offering 24-bit/96kHz recording capability for 6 channels, with a pure recording path and high-performance analog-to-digital converters to accurately capture the full quality and subtle details of any kind of music.

The package includes the Audigy 2 External I/O Module for studio quality connectivity through three analog stereo connections, plus optical and coaxial digital I/O, full-sized MIDI I/O and two SB1394 (FireWire) ports.

The included ASIO 2.0 driver enables direct monitoring and imperceptible audio driver latency values as low as 2 milliseconds.

ASIO provides audio routing between the Sound Blaster Audigy 2 and any ASIO-compatible multi-track audio-recording and playback software, such as Cubasis VST CE, which is included in the Sound Blaster Audigy 2 software bundle. It also ensures low-latency operation and provides a straightforward control panel to determine which physical inputs and outputs are used by the software and also how some of the internal signal paths (virtual inputs and outputs) within the Sound Blaster Audigy 2 card are routed.

The ASIO 2 driver allows users to record multiple analog and digital streams from any combination of the available sources. You can record several musicians simultaneously, recording each player in one multi-track session as opposed to recording one performer at a time.

Other home-recording-friendly features of the Platinum eX include a powerful effects processing engine powered by EAX ADVANCED HD; and a hardware-accelerated SoundFont synthesizer.

Comprehensive Music Creation Software Bundle

The Platinum eX comes with a compelling bundle of audio and video software, including the following music creation applications:

  • Steinberg – Cubasis™ VST 4.0 Creative Edition + Wavelab Lite 2.0 – the complete music production solution, with low latency multitrack ASIO recording and playback of up to 32 audio and 32 MIDI channels with integrated SoundFont™ support plus VST instruments and effects with mixer automation;
  • Sonic Foundry – ACID™ Style DJ 3.0 – turns the PC into the ultimate dance music production studio, to enable creation of club mixes;
  • Native Instruments – Traktor® DJ Creative Edition – provides dual outputs to cue up tracks in real time to create DJ mixes from MP3 or WAV tracks;
  • Image Line – FruityLoops™ Pro 3.5 Creative Edition – serves as a pattern-based sequencer with built-in software synthesizers and VST instrument support. This application also supports ASIO playback and VST and DirectX effects.Unparalleled Audio Playback Quality

Highest Quality Music Listening Experience

Sound Blaster 24-bit ADVANCED HD audio playback at 106dB SNR delivers up to eight times the clarity of motherboard audio. Its DVD-Audio playback capabilities introduce listeners to details and clarity in recordings that far exceed the limits of vinyl, tape or CD. Anyone with a DVD-ROM drive of 6x or greater can utilize the Sound Blaster Audigy 2 to experience DVD-Audio with full 24-bit/192kHz sound quality in stereo.

For MP3, WMA or CD playback, the Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Platinum eX includes Creative MediaSource™ the most comprehensive player for digital music transfer, library management and enhancements, including up-mix of stereo MP3 music into full 6.1 surround sound.

The Richest Surround Sound for PC Home Theater

The ultimate PC-Based Home Theater experience is created through Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Platinum eX’s certified support of Dolby® Digital EX. Compared with Dolby® Digital 5.1, this new technology adds a rear center channel, which provides better positioning of audio and effects coming from behind the listener. The additional rear speaker also creates a better overall effect of fly-bys and fly-overs making the audio experience more enveloping and immersive. Coupled with an impressive Signal-to-Noise Ratio of 106dB and lower harmonic distortion, a more balanced, crisper and richer movie audio environment results, thrusting you right into the heart of your favourite movies.

Creative Technology Web Site