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

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 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