Features
Steve’s Picks
By Steve Harvey
Oct 7, 2007, 00:19

Broadcast audio is well represented at this year’s AES Convention, with technical tours, tutorials, workshops and sessions focusing on topics from building a facility to planning a strategy for the transition to fully digital operation. With the convention at its halfway point, there are still plenty of opportunities to catch the remainder of a strong broadcast program.

The major networks have adopted differing dialnorm values, a factor that has the consumer reaching for the remote to change volume levels between programs and even from one commercial to the next. At 11 a.m. on Sunday, panelists from Dolby Laboratories, Linear Acoustics and CBS will examine a topic that is key to ensuring that consumers enjoy a consistent viewing experience in “Audio for HDTV: Dialnorm” (Room 1E10).

Later in the day, at 2 p.m., equipment manufacturers including Dolby Labs, Linear Acoustics, Omnia, TC Electronic, Durrough Electronics and Translantech will gather to present their various solutions for processing digital broadcast audio. “Audio Processing for HD (Radio and TV)” is in Room 1E10.

Sports broadcasting is the first area to adopt 5.1 audio almost across the board and has been pushing the envelope with live multichannel mixing ever since. On Monday at 9 a.m., presenter Ken Hunnold of Dolby Labs will look at how multiple channels of audio fit into the sports broadcast workflow during “Innovations in Sports Broadcasting” (Room 1E08).

Top NASCAR/NBA event mixer Fred Aldous has said that he can look at a scope and tell what audio is where and how it’s going to sound without having to hear it. On Monday at 9 a.m., “Loudness Metering Techniques and Standards for Broadcasting” (Room 1E10) will present broadcasters and manufacturers with an opportunity to debate the issues and importance of metering in the digital broadcast world.

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