The 23rd Sound Broadcasting Equipment Show will be held in Hall 19 of the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham - November 4-5, 1998. Call Point Promotions on Tel: 01398 323700, or web site www.i-way.co.uk/~dmcv/sbes.htm
We missed mentioning in the last issue that SSL had won its fourth Queen's Award for Export Achievement, particularly commendable at a time when the high value of the pound makes exporting difficult.
DTS have moved their European operation within the UK. They are now to be found at Unit 5, Tavistock Industrial Estate, Ruscombe Lane, Twyford, Berks RG10 9NJ. Tel: 0118 934 9199. Fax: 0118 934 9198
Microphone manufacturer Soundfield Research have introduced the novelty of a 5.1 microphone system. The Soundfield Surround Decoder works with the existing ST250 and MkV Soundfield mics which at present output four signals - X, Y, Z and W. The decoder will reconfigure these outputs to L, C, R, LR, RR, and mono sub-woofer output - plus the ability to output directly in Dolby matrixed surround. Instant premixed ambience tracks come to mind, although what you record them onto remains to be seen.
As all traces of the UREI company have finally disappeared within JBL and the Harman group, so has the source of their Limiting Amplifiers - a standard item in so many studios of all types. A small US company by the name of Purple Audio has tried to recreate the old UREI 1176 under the name of the MC76. Care has been taken to duplicate the physical and electronic performance of the now aging originals - except that the front panel is - purple! Those that have heard it say it comes close to the original. Meanwhile Purple Audio are working on resurrecting other obsolete signal processing. Purple Audio web site: www.purpleaudio.com. Available in the UK through Stirling Audio.
Marantz Professional has added a low cost CD-R player/recorder to their range which they suggest is a lower cost alternative to DAT. Priced at 749 inc VAT, the CDR630 records both CD-R and CD-RW discs while automatic indexing allows the machine to automatically translate indexes from CD, MD, DAT and DCC sources to CD track numbers. The unit is supplies as a standard rack mount unit with infrared remote control.
Have you worked at Elstree Studios? Talent Television are planning a TV series about the studios and are looking for ideas and leads - contact Libby Gregory, talent TV, 2nd Floor, Regent House, 235 Regent Street, London W1R 7AG. Tel: 0171 434 7836.
Zonal have just launched a new high performance analogue tape in a range of widths. Zonal 999 is a high output, low noise tape created to compete with the high end tapes from other leading makers.
dbx have introduced a digital dynamics processor - handling gating, compression, limiting and de-essing, The DDP is a 19 inch rack mount stereo unit that adds a large number of features to the basic functions including Tape Saturation Emulation and a Transient Capture Mode that introduces a 'look-ahead' sensor that functions in realtime - or within the digital delay inherent in the unit.
George Massenburg Labs have added to the variety of noise removal systems with their DNF, Digital Noise Filter. The unit contains 64 dynamic filters and a remote control equipped with 8 faders to set the relative levels of the filters. Flexibility can be extended by the addition of a Macintosh computer. Applications are listed as being in the dubbing, transfer and broadcast areas where there is a need for a 'get out of trouble' box.
The Japanese TOA Corp has acquired UK BBM Electronics, the manufacturer of Trantec wireless microphones.
Canford Audio have developed a series of tools that they refer to as "Quick Check" line-up and level reference disks/tapes. Available in CD, MD and DAT formats, they all follow the same format and are intended as simple line-up and level comparison aids. Beyond this is a further International Broadcast Standards Series that goes into further detail about standards and their use.
The APRS announced the death of Derek Faraday who had been their vice president for 51 years and was also a pioneer in sound recording and broadcasting in the UK. He began with BBC in 1932 and was the first in the UK to use magnetic tape in broadcasting in 1947, and helped to write the BBC training manual on the topic. He later founded his own studio, Star Sound which undertook extensive recording for the BBC and ITV companies.
Studio Audio Video have announced direct file interchange with Tektronix Lightworks systems. The SADiE software enables media packs from Lightworks, Heavyworks and VIP4500 editing systems to be connected directly to any SADiE workstation via SCSI interface allowing direct playback of all edits. Picture and sound consolidations from Heavyworks can be replayed instantly using a SADiE 24-96 workstation fitted with Portia, SADiE's random access video system.