On the opening day of the 114th AES Convention in Amsterdam, surround audio technology leader DTS is hosting a presentation addressing the latest developments in high-quality multi-channel audio for digital broadcast.

Those attending the presentation will be treated to the first-ever public broadcast of DTS 96/24 Digital Surround, via Swedish Radio’s 1.5 Mbps DVB multi-channel satellite transmission. The digital audio service has been operating in test mode since February, and has been enhanced to handle the high-resolution DTS signal for the AES demonstration.

The presentation at 12 noon tomorrow (Mar.22) will be introduced by leading sound recording engineer and producer Stuart Bruce, who will also deliver this year’s keynote address at the AES Convention.

Mr. Bruce is a leading proponent of multi-channel audio production, with almost 20-years’ experience in stereo recording. His credits include work with artists such as Stevie Wonder, Roy Orbison, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Barry White and Bob Marley. He is based in his own production suite at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios.

The presentation will address all aspects of implementing high-quality multi-channel sound in the broadcast chain, including production, contribution and transmission issues.

Other participants in the presentation will include will Bosse Ternstrom and Lars Mossberg, senior engineers from Swedish Radio who have first-hand experience transmitting the first publicly available 96 KHz, 24-bit quality 5.1 broadcast service.

Swedish Radio’s DVB multi-channel test transmission service uses the DTS Coherent Acoustics compression/decompression algorithm. The free-to-air broadcast service is being transmitted across Europe using the Nordic and European beams of the Nordic Satellite AB (NSAB) Sirius 2 satellite (5 degrees East), on 12.245.34 MHz Vertical and 12.379.60 MHz Horizontal, respectively.

The test also includes terrestrial transmissions over DVB-T supplied by Teracom. SR’s transmission follows the inclusion by the DVB of DTS Digital Surround as part of its Digital Television specification.

DTS Web Site

Yamaha consoles made a strong showing in the 2003 MIPA Awards, presented at Musikmesse ProLight+Sound in Frankfurt.

Yamaha’s DM2000 digital console won the Best Mixing Desk (High End) award, ahead of the other category nominees – Solid State Logic’s XL9000K, and Yamaha’s own 02R96.

The Yamaha 02R96 came into its own in the Best Mixing Desk (Project Studio) category, where it won the award and finished ahead of Behringer’s DDX 3216, and the Soundcraft Spirit E.

The Yamaha DM2000 repeated in the Best Mixing Desk (Live) category, where it was up against DiGiCo’s D5 Live, and the InnovaSon SY40.

The MIPA Awards (Musikmesse International Press Awards) are the result of voting by representatives of 55 major music and audio magazines, published in 25 countries including the U.S.A., Canada, U.K, Germany, France and The Netherlands. The 2003 awards were given out in 40 categories, covering recording and live sound equipment; music and audio software; instruments including keyboards, drums, bass and guitar; and dance/groove-gear.

Other notable awards in the audio hardware and software categories included:

• Line6 Variax (Best Innovative Product)
• Digidesign Pro Tools HD System (Best Recording Hardware)
• Emagic Logic 5.5 (Best Recording Software)
• Lexicon MPX550 (Best Recording Effects – Hardware/Software)
• Waves 360 Surround Toolkit (Best Surround Tools)
• Dynaudio Acoustics Air-Series (Best Studio Monitor – Nearfield)
• Blue Baby Bottle (Best Studio Microphone)
• Neumann KK105-S (Best Live Microphone)
• AKG D 440 (Best Drum-Microphone)
• Nexo Geo (Best Large-Format PA System)
• Dynacord Cobra (Best Club PA System)
• Propellerhead Reason 2.0 (Best Software Instrument)
• Native Instruments Kontakt (Best Sampler – Hardware/Software)
• Vienna Symphonic Library (Sound Library)
• Pioneer DJM-3000 (Best DJ-Mixer)
• Stanton Final Scratch (Best DJ Software/DJ Tools)
• Numark TTX-1 (Best Turntable/CD-Player)

Complete List of 2003 MIPA Awards Winners & Nominees

More News from Musikmesse

Musikmesse ProLight+Sound Web Site

At Musikmesse, Sweden’s Propellerhead Software has been showing a new, updated version of its Reason virtual studio package – Version 2.5 – featuring several new software synth and processing modules.

Now Propellerhead is proud to announce that the current Version 2.0 of Reason has been awarded the Musikmesse International Press Awards (mipa) award for Best Software Instrument – for the second year in a row.

Propellerhead co-founder Ernst Nathorst-Böös accepts the 2003 MIPA Award for Best Software Instrument at Musikmesse in Frankfurt

The mipa awards are voted on and presented by a coalition of over 55 magazines from over 25 different countries. The awards were presented to the winners at a special mipa Party and Awards Ceremony, attended by more than 300 international representatives of manufacturers and distributors of musical instruments and audio equipment.

Reason is an enormously successful software program for both Windows and PC platforms that emulates a rack of electronic synthesizers, samplers, drum machines and recording equipment. Reason has been awarded Editor’s Choice Awards from Electronic Musician, Mac World, Remix, Computer Music magazines and cnet.com, mipa award for Best Software Instrument and the highly coveted TEC award.

The new Version 2.5 of Reason, which made it’s debut during Musikmesse, will be available in the second quarter of 2003.

Propellerhead Web Site

More News from Musikmesse

Musikmesse ProLight+Sound Web Site

Universal Audio, manufacturer of vintage audio hardware and DSP software plug-ins for digital audio workstations, will receive Blue Ribbon Awards from EQ Magazine for 2003 for its 6176 Channel Strip and 2192 Dual D/A & A/D Converter.

The 6176 combines two of Universal’s most successful products – the 2-610 tube-based mic/instrument preamplifier, and the 1176LN compressor – into a single “channel strip” product.

Universal's 6176 combines the quality and character of the 2-610 mic pre with the tone, lightning-quick attack and release times of the legendary 1176 compressor

The 2192 is a single rack unit analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converter with simple front-panel controls. It supports sample rates up to 192KHz, and transcodes between AES/EBU, S/PDIF and ADAT digital formats in realtime, with single- and dual-wire AES modes.

Universal Audio's 2192 offers tremendous flexibility in signal routing and monitoring

EQ Magazine’s Blue Ribbons are presented in 22 categories, with the winners selected by EQ’s panel of editors and industry experts. Winners were chosen from the new products introduced at the Fall 2002 AES show and between the months of September and December 2002.

Universal Audio Web Site

More Universal Audio 2192 Info

More Universal Audio 6176 Info

Radian Audio Engineering’s MicroWedge series of low profile, ultra-compact monitor wedges have been winning friends recently, in live performance and broadcast applications.

Artists such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Linkin Park and Blink-182 have adopted the MicroWedge for their onstage monitoring, while the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 in the UK also use them regularly.

Now Event Tech, the Maryland-based event production company, has discovered that MicroWedges are well suited to corporate events as well.

The company has used them in a series of fundraisers across the U.S., including the Tour de Friends, a four-day, 330-mile bike ride from North Carolina to Washington D.C. to raise funds in support of people living with HIV/AIDS.

Event Tech has been using MicroWedge stage monitors to provide podium foldback in its standard mobile stage setup for the tour.

“We use the Radian MicroWedges for foldback for the presenters at the podium, and to fold back audio from the video that we play on a large outdoor LED wall,” explains company president and owner Eric Maynard. “That way, the presenter has some foldback of the information that the audience and event participants are hearing.”

With all of the audio equipment transported on a Stage Line SL250 Mobile stage and with many events attracting local and national TV coverage, it is important for the onstage monitors to not only sound good but also look good and be discrete, notes Mr. Maynard.

“These 12-inch MicroWedges were brand new, clean, low profile, and clear, which is helpful as far as fidelity goes. For a 12-inch speaker they sound great.”

“They’re very clean, and the design isn’t so boxy – clients like the way they look. They’re durable, but we also put them in a padded case, because we don’t want any problems with the way they look.”

For the events, the Radian MicroWedges join a compact package of high-end audio components on the Stage Line trailer.

“We have 12 flown JBL VerTecs, a very small mix arrangement with an Allen & Heath GL3300 console, and a pair of EV Polar Choice podium microphones,” says Mr. Maynard.

In addition to the Tour de Friends, Event Tech has supplied equipment to fundraising events in Boston, Cincinnati, Chicago, and San Francisco this year, with further events scheduled for Portland, New York and Los Angeles.

The company is a supplier of services to a huge number of corporate and political events, which have recently included the 2003 Capital Pride Festival, the Johns Hopkins University 2003 Commencements, Barney and Friends in Concert, and the 2003 MD Governor’s Inauguration. Event Tech regularly services the American Red Cross National Headquarters in Washington, D.C. for their public events.

Radian Audio Engineering Web Site

Event Tech Web Site