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NZ Television Industry News
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AUGUST 2015 Vol 216
For the audio side of Protel, we’re here with ( imagine a
very guttural and extended faux French accent ) Ren-e-e-
e from Protel.
Ed: Sorry René, I’m such a fan of ‘Allo ‘Allo! – I’m sure
you get it all the time?
René: I do, allo allo!
Ed: Now Protel – well known to us as being heavily into
the video area, you’re big in audio too. Let’s start with
COMSTAR who cover both?
René: Sure. COMSTAR are an American manu-
facturer of wireless communication equipment, for film
crews, theatres, sports and any scenario where wireless
communication is required. Effectively it’s full duplex
wireless coms for where you might consider using RTs or
the like, but you can get a much more reliable signal and
longer range out of one of these COMSTAR units. They
are available as single ear or double ear all-in-one
headsets with mics or as a beltpack with a range of wired
headsets. They transmit using DECT wireless frequencies
as opposed to your RF, so they have a secure reliable
transmission, not dissimilar to cellphone type technology.
Ed: But you don’t have to worry about picking a
frequency?
René: That’s correct, they are all up in the 1.9 GHz
range. The headsets are paired with the base station
which is in its own right like a little cell tower. Once they
are paired, they will then work within the range that’s
allocated to them and, once established, away they go.
Ed: And of course, they’re not going to interfere with
your standard radio microphones at those higher
frequencies that they normally use?
René: That is correct, yes. So the big benefits of
the COMSTAR system are that it can be battery powered,
Protel Pro Audio Show 2015
René with COMSTAR headsets.
so if you’re a film crew running your kit out of a van or
a truck, you can put the base station in the truck and
you’ll get over six hours out of the battery in the com
station itself, and about 10 hours out of the batteries in
the headsets. It can also obviously be powered via AC.
The range is about 400 yards from the base station …
Ed: We’ll say 400 metres shall we?
René: 400 metres, yes, the Americans quote
yards, and being an American product … but about 400
metres and the effective range is quite dramatic. I’ve
done tests with these where I have been a building
away from the base station in the bottom of a lift shaft
and still had good clear reception on the headset. So
they really are very effective.
Ed: We won’t ask what you were doing at the bottom
of a lift shaft Rene, that’s your own business …
René: I was testing a COMSTAR system! The
other benefit of these is if you have an existing wired
system, the base station can be optionally delivered
with an analogue interface to the wired system. So it
can effectively become the wireless node of your wired
system. Really good if you’ve got existing gear and you
want to hook into it.
Ed: And then?
René: Our next item is the Zaxcom product.
Zaxcom are a very innovative company; they produce a
range of wireless transmitters, receivers, IFB
transmitters, audio mixers and recorders. Some of the
key benefits of the Zaxcom gear is that all of their
transmitters actually record onto SD cards in the
transmitter itself, time stamped audio … so in the
unlikely event that you lose communication with the
transmitter, you do have time stamped audio on the
card which you can retrieve for use in production. Their
IFB systems also allows for their mixers and control
units to control things like mic gain and settings of the
transmitter remotely, as well as deliver confidence
audio to receivers for cameramen and people like that.
Again, a very innovative company – a lot of the stuff
they do is very much ground breaking and they are
Page 2
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excellent units in use on a lot of productions in New
Zealand these days.
Ed: At the higher end of the market?
René: At all ends of the market that value their
signal quality and integrity! The basic transmitter and
receiver type functionality and quality of audio is
premium.
One of the new Zaxcom devices this year is the
ZFR300. This is exactly the same recording system as
the beltpack transmitters, but it’s just a recorder, so if
you imagine going out without the budget of a sound
person, ( which I hope never happens ), you can have a
“run and gun” type scenario where everything is being
recorded, time stamped, on your talent. Rather than
mixing on the fly, you come back to your production
studio, pop the SD card, load the audio into your Media
Composer or Adobe editing system and away you go.
All you’ve actually purchased at that point in time is one
recorder and a microphone.
Ed: Well you’ve got the flexibility with this system?
René: That’s correct, it gives you lots of flexibility
to do that.
Ed: So who’s actually Zaxcom in New Zealand or
nearby?
René: This technology was used on all of TheHobbit films, Lord of the Rings; I know that it’s used forJono & Ben on TV3, Friday nights. A lot of localproductions are using these now and certainly in thefilm world you’d be hard pressed to find a film set thatgoes by without Zaxcom these days.
Ed: And is that really just assurance that they knowthat they’re going to have the best quality and thehighest likelihood of it surviving whatever treatmentthey give to it?
René: That’s partially it. It’s also as I mentioned,Zaxcom are very rich feature wise, so they certainlyhave the quality element and they have the reassuranceof the backup recording, but there are also some realclever attributes to the system that aren’t availableelsewhere.
Ed: That’s got to be good. Now from what I see here,
Zaxcom don’t make microphones, but you have
microphones that fit them nicely?
René: That’s correct. We can recommend mics
and sell you mics that are right for whatever job you’re
going to do. Just let us know what you are doing and
we’ll help you get what you need.
Ed: And that takes me on to Genelec because you
told me earlier that Genelec is one of the “brands de
jour” of Protel – it’s the only speaker brand you keep in
stock, but you can provide other brands if someone so
desires and wants to make a comparison?
René: Well, with everything we do at Protel, I
always like to say to people that we do everything from
the carpet upwards – we cater for all budgets; we cater
for all types of work and
production. So if a Genelec
is not the appropriate
speaker in a particular
instance, either through
personal preference or
restricted budget, then yes
we certainly can recommend
and provide other brands as
well.
Ed: I hope sound wouldn’t
be an issue unless they
wanted something really,
really expensive?
René: There are
applications, certainly in
audio production, where you
actually need something
that sounds really bad, and
there’s a certain element of
belief, and I adhere to this too, that if you can make
something sound really good on a bad speaker, then it’s
going to sound fantastic when it gets to a good speaker.
So even in my own studio I have some terrible speakers
sitting next to my Genelecs.
Ed: So you can make that comparison?
René: That’s correct.
Ed: And in the Genelec range, the littlest one here
you say is the latest thing for the video producer?
René: Yes, Genelec go through from very smallspeakers to very large film monitor speakers for controlrooms, but video guys tend to have a requirement morefor a small unobtrusive speaker, because they tend tohave so many screens around their systems that spacebecomes a key requirement.
Now one of the things that Genelec have done in recenttimes is that they have extended their world leadingDSP technology down into the smaller speaker ranges,so where previously we could only provide quite largespeakers with DSP technology, now we can go rightdown to our 8020 range, the previous analogue varietyof those which we’ve done in many video studios.
Ed: Can you tell me what “DSP” is?
René: Certainly. Digital Signal Processing in thespeaker that provides “on the fly” EQ and room correctprocessing. Genelec call this Smart Active Monitoring orSAM. So effectively, you calibrate the speaker to aroom or a listening environment and that provides aneven truer level of monitoring than you had previously.Over and above that, and possibly of huge benefit forthe video guys, is that with the SAM speakers, you canallow for any sync delay directly in the speaker. So ifyou’re getting a delay from your audio from the likes ofPlasma or LCD screens, or even just through thetransmission and processing equipment you’re using,you can allow for that delay in the speaker system,meaning sync becomes a very easy thing to manage.
Ed: Wow. That’s clever technology, and that I guessis software that’s in your computer?
René: The process of actually setting up the DSPcharacteristics is in the computer, but once they’vebeen set, they’re then stored in the speaker itself.Switch them on, switch them off – those settingsremain, and you don’t need to have the computer on tocontrol them, they operate just like any speaker would.
Ed: They’re Ethernet connected are they?
René: They are connected via the standard
balanced AES or Analog audio cabling as previously, but
what we call the “control network” is connected via
Ethernet cabling – it’s not actually an Ethernet network,
it just uses Ethernet cabling as a conduit for control.
Ed: So there is an Ethernet cable actually to the
speaker as well as the standard audio cables, but you
only have to have that on when you’re setting them up?
René: Yes, there are some smarts that you may
elect to retain that cable for. Once you’ve set them up,
you can remove those cables entirely, but there are
some benefits to leaving them in, for example, if you
have multiple listening positions, such as an editor
working position and you might have a director sitting
on a couch behind, you could have two calibrations set
up, one for each of them, and swap between the two
positions. Having that control cabling still in place
allows you to do that in the software just using, for
example, F1 F2 between the two different positions.
Ed: So that’s the cleverness of Genelec?
René: That is the cleverness of Genelec and, in
typical Genelec fashion, they lead the DSP world in this
sort of functionality. There’s not another brand that can
touch the functionality of Genelec’s Smart Active
Monitor range.
Ed: And you hear them at Protel?
René: Or we can bring them on site for you to
audition.
Ed: You can’t get better than that. Now we just had a
big chat with Philipp from Lawo and, as I said at the
start of that, Lawo came from the audio side and they
still continue … we have a very large audio mixer here
that, to a non-audio specific person, I just thought was
a big mixer like the Avid over there, but Rene, I am
quite wrong?
René: This mc2 36 is Lawo’s smallest console and
a very recent introduction. The beauty of this console is
that it brings the much renowned quality and
redundancy features of Lawo’s big broadcast consoles to
the “budget end” of the market, allowing smaller
productions, theatres and the small OB vans to benefit
from this leading technology.
Ed: So this is a direct to broadcast, or direct to
presentation console as opposed to the Avid one which
is a production studio console?
Page 4
the smarts of Lawo’s big consoles that
are used worldwide for TV, OBs and
sports production.
In particular, this console has
incorporated integrated I/O, so all the
analogue mic pre’s, line inputs and
digital I/O are actually in the console
itself.
This is a first for Lawo’s mc2 consoles
as the bigger consoles are effectively
large routers with DSP and faders!
In spite of this, the mc36 does
incorporate all the Lawo routeing
technology and it is exactly the same
control software that is on the larger
broadcast consoles.
Anyone interested in these exciting
products should feel free to call or
email any time.
We are always happy to talk about the technologies
involved. NZVN
Page 6
Avid Pro Audio Show 2015For Protel, we are at the Avid stand with Gil Gowing
from Avid in the States.
Ed: Gil, you’ve surprised me by telling me that, since
NAB, you’ve actually launched an update to Pro Tools
12?
Gil: It’s a point update, but one of the ideas behind
our new plans that we introduced with Pro Tools 12 was
subscription and our yearly support plan was to be able
to do faster updates, and 12.1 which released at the
second week in July is our first foray into that. So
within 3 months of introducing Pro Tools 12, we’ve now
got this “.1” release which, for regular Pro Tools users,
has added some functionality that used to be only
available in Pro Tools HD. So things like track input
monitoring where you can actually input monitor on a
track by track basis. That was a huge thing for guys
who are tracking music and doing overdubs and things,
being able to put their individual tracks into input, being
able to do simple things like “copy to send”, taking what
you have on your faders and then
choosing whether you want to put the
pan up there as well, and copying that to
a particular one of the 10 send slots.
That used to be an HD only feature,
that’s now available in the regular
version of Pro Tools. We’ve upped the
track count from 96 to 128 tracks …
Ed: How do people get by with only 96
tracks?
Gil: You know, I don’t know. I
remember back in the day when I had a
4 track and that was amazing what you
could do with that and now we’ve got
128 tracks in just regular Pro Tools and
that’s a great thing. Plus, for the
composers, we’ve gone from 64
instrument tracks to 512. So one of the
great things about the way we’re now
doing things with Pro Tools, is you’re
going to see us do a lot more feature
releases – probably in smaller chunks, but in a lot faster
timeframe.
Now the other big thing that we’ve done since NAB
timeframe is our flagship S6 control surface. We’ve
released the final version of the 2.0 software which is
probably the biggest update to S6 to date. We’ve
added things like spill zones, we’ve got an expand knob
which, when you “attention” a track to the centre, will
take over one of our knob modules with a particular
predetermined function. So this gives you kind of more
icon centre section functionality with the S6 that you
really didn’t have before. We’ve also got the ability to
see automation break point data on the waveforms on
our display modules with our M40D systems and then a
bunch of other small little features that are just really
big things that are going to help the workflow for the
guys who are using S6 in both music and
postproduction.
Ed: As a computer user in this field, I have a fear of
automatic software updates – that you’re right in the
René: That is correct, yes. So this is primarily a
broadcast console. In this small form, it still brings all
middle of a large project with some quite complicated
features and suddenly you get this little icon saying “a
new update is available”?
Gil: Absolutely, I understand that completely. With
Pro Tools 12, we did introduce our application manager
which does just that. It tells you if there is a software
update available. Now we don’t actually automatically
update your software; we’re not like OS companies that
will just automatically download it and install it without
you actually choosing “I want to get this.” You can use
the application manager to see what’s there and to
choose what you want to install or not. But also, all
these installers are tied to your master Avid account
and you can go back at any time, see these new
installers or any of the older installers that you have
tied to your account as well. So if you do choose to
update and you’re in the middle of a project and
something is not quite right and you need to go back,
you can always go back, get that older installer and
within minutes be back to where you were.
Ed: Or just wait until you’ve finished your project,
then you can do it?
Gil: Absolutely. Then you have the time to spend and
make sure everything’s the way it needs to be and work
all the little kinks, because obviously, when you’re
talking about something like Pro Tools, it’s not just Pro
Tools that you update – there might be plugins that you
need to update, you might need to update your OS, so
definitely a lot goes into it and we’d definitely not
recommend it in the middle of a big project. I would
definitely wait until you had some downtime to really be
able to make sure that everything went smooth.
Ed: Unless it was that update that you were waitingfor?
Gil: Well there’s always that one, right, and with thenew application manager it gives you a good idea ofwhat those new features are so you can kind of choosewhether it’s something that you want to go ahead anddo or not.
Ed: Because you can always save a copy of yourproject somewhere else can’t you?
Gil: Well absolutely – you’re not tied to it, you can
always do a “save session” copy off to another drive forsafety’s sake. And like I said, with these later versions
of Pro Tools, from Pro Tools 11 on, it really is easy to
keep even multiple copies of Pro Tools in the
applications folder – it’s just a matter of going in and
renaming, let’s say your current version, putting a
version number on it, and when you install the new
version, it will install it right alongside it. That way you
can go back and forth between the new version, see if
you like the new features or if something’s not thereyou can just double click and always go back to that
older version, without even having to reinstall anything.
Ed: A lesson for some of our other software vendors
there I think.NZVN
Page 7
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SennheiserPro AudioShow 2015
We are at the Sennheiserbooth with Daniel Rowe fromNew Zealand and ChrisSmith from Oz as a guestspeaker.
Ed: Now Daniel, we knowyou represent Sennheiser,but how is the industrygoing to meet you andreceive support for theirSennheiser product?
Daniel: For the enduser, it would usually be at ashow like this, but my dealerbase knows me well. I aman account manager and myprimary responsibility is tosupport my dealer base andall aspects of engaging withthe Sennheiser brand.
Ed: So these are the pro Sennheiser dealers who, ifthey run into a problem, or a customer wants to knowany specific information, they’ve got you to call on?
Daniel: Yes. I’m a point of contact for the dealersin all aspects of their Sennheiser related business.We’re also there as a level of support for their customerbase as well. So that could be technical support or itcould be product advice – all manner of things. But wetry, where possible, to keep dealers’ relationships withtheir customers; we are there as an additional layer ofsupport for them.
Ed: What about the dealers providing evenings andpresentations on new product. Do you get involved inthat too?
Daniel: Yes that’s something we’re doing more ofthese days. You know wherever a dealer needs toengage their client base with our products then we’llabsolutely step in and help support them there. It’s agreat way to meet the end user where we wouldn’tnormally, and to potentially give them a differentinsight or perspective on products we deal with.
Ed: I imagine that’s pretty relevant at the moment,because there are two very new and very good productsthat we covered at NAB this year, that are now justavailable in New Zealand. This is something that you’dlike your dealers to let their customers know about?
Daniel: Yes, absolutely. Look we’ve got two veryexciting products – both the AVX ENG on-camera kitand the Clip Mic Digital, our iPhone Lavaliere systemwhich is Sennheiser’s recent collaboration with Apogee.They’re already generating a lot of worldwide interestand our dealers are very enthused about their release.In fact, Sennheiser ANZ has the second highest dealerdriven pre-order number for these systems within theworldwide Sennheiser group, so there is a huge demandfor AVX on this side of the world. The trick for all of usis to keep getting the message out to the end user, andjust to reiterate, we’re there to help support thatprocess however we can.
Ed: I know my big question about the ENG kit wasthe latency in the voice and you very clearly showed mea graph how the latency is not an issue?
Daniel: 19 milliseconds is within frame sync, so
that is the critical parameter we need to consider. But
it’s not discernible in any real terms. If in-ear
monitoring was involved in this situation, then yes it
would be more of a problem, but it’s just not relevant to
this product group or the market it is aimed at.
Page 9
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Ed: And you’re actually finding a greater spread ofinterest for this particular product with its DECTfrequency range?
Daniel: Yes absolutely, that is one of the reasons.1.9 DECT band is licence free, future proofed, and isfree from digital dividend related frequency issues for astart. Sennheiser recognises that they sit in a numberof markets with this product. We’ve been very strongin professional broadcast systems and in ENG Newsgathering systems, but there’s an ever growingprosumer market as well that is there to be developedfurther, so products like the AVX and the Clip MicDigital, straddle that line between the professionalsystems and the prosumer systems, with guys who areaspiring to a more professional end result in what theydo. So with that in mind, they’re very easy systems touse; the video guy has enough on his plate in a givenday, as you well know, without worrying aboutcomplicated RF UHF setups and audio management.
Ed: It does depend totally on what you’re doing, butin that rapidly moving situation where you’ve just got tograb a sound bite and you’ve got to be out of therewithin a few minutes, you know that you just plug thisthing in and it works?
Daniel: Yes that’s right. It’s designed to manageits own frequencies, to automatically jump out of theway of any conflicting frequencies; your microphonesensitivity is set automatically as well so that doesn’tneed attending to either. It adapts its power outputrelevant to its proximity between microphone and thetiny plug on receiver, it will turn on and off withphantom power, so you power up your camera and theAVX system turns on or off with it … it really is a truly“plug and play” system with no compromise in audioquality. You turn it on, you start using it, you pack upand go home. That has huge advantages forprofessional users as much as the prosumers that it’sprimarily designed around.
Ed: So this is a good case of “go and find out fromyour dealer when Daniel’s going to be doing apresentation, or they’re going to be doing one of theirown, and see this mic in action.” The other questionthat I have also relates to the dealership network, andagain – and I push this – the choice betweenpurchasing something through your dealer or over theinternet. And there is a price perception there Daniel?
Daniel: Yes, that’s a hot topic for everyone, boththe consumer and the dealer. We have always had theviewpoint that purchasing through a dealer is ultimatelythe best way forward with any level of product, fortechnical backup and on-going support the whole waythrough the purchase process, and post-sale too.
Ed: Because part of your job is to handle warrantyclaims on Sennheiser product?
Daniel: Yes, that’s part of what we do.Warranty repairs are primarily handled locally butwe do get warranty claims coming in frominternational orders …
Ed: Because you look after the Sennheiserbrand, rather than just what’s sold in NZ. SoChris, if somebody has purchased a Sennheiserproduct overseas or via the internet …?
Chris: We generally find we get a lot ofwarranty claims coming back which are “no faultfound” and they’re generally setup issues. Wefind those are higher through internet purchasesthan through the dealer base, because generally,when people are buying off a dealer, their level ofinteraction with the dealer is higher. Obviously,we go out of our way to inform our dealers on ourproduct and they impart that knowledge to theircustomers. So if a customer is kind of knowledge-
able and knows how to use the product – especially in aUHF microphone style range – then they’re generally 10steps beyond someone who has just done the internetsearch and whatever is the cheapest price.
The other problem that we have is people buying fromeither Asia or US, with frequency bands that just aren’tgoing to work where they are – and that’s a real issueeverywhere these days. AVX systems coming in fromthe States will absolutely not work in Australia or NewZealand for example, and ANZ versions are notavailable through US resellers. So again, dealers tendto be much more au fait with what’s happening in theRF landscape locally to where they are.
Ed: You concur Daniel?
Daniel: I do. NZVN
Page 11
Sound TechniquesPro Audio Show 2015
We’re now with Stephen Buckland himself at a ratherlarge booth here at the Pro Audio Show.
Ed: Stephen, you’re a key part of this, you’re one ofthe drivers of this event, and by the crowds that arecoming and going, it’s obviously worth keeping goingbecause there are a lot of smiley people here?
Stephen: Thanks Grant. About a week ago I had mypre-show blues, but today it’s been impressive seeinglots of people that we don’t normally see and alsoseeing lots that we do.
Ed: We know you from your “audio for video” side,but there is another verylarge side of your businesswhich is the pure audio fortheatre and musicians. Soyou look after a big range?
Stephen: Yes we do,particularly the ADAM audiospeakers – well they take upa fair amount of room juston their own, and are themain thing we sell which isnot directly related to film ortelevision work.
Ed: Some of the productthat we talked about at NAB,you’ve now got it in stock?
Stephen: Yes we have.Firstly, the Sound Devices688 mixer with the additionof the SuperSlot SL-6 whichholds three Lectrosonics SRBreceivers. Now your readers will recall the SRBreceivers are a two channel receiver and they wereoriginally devised to operate as a link to cameras, butLectrosonics found that people were using them theother way round, as a two channel receiver with twotransmitters just as two standard radio mics.Lectrosonics and a couple of other companies havecombined with Sound Devices to produce a unit whichcombines the benefits of both. So it’s an excitingexample of how technology might advance when ineffect five companies talking together produce aproduct which benefits the end user.
Ed: And that’s something where, because you have awhole range of product from a number of differentmanufacturers, you can advise and put togetherpackages for customers who have a need that theymight not know about themselves?
Stephen: Well that’s right, or we can integrate stuff.You know you look at this – if you have a mixer with sixreceivers, you’ve got quite a bulky package. Now Iwouldn’t say by any means that it’s light, but it’s a lotlighter than them all being standalone, plus there areno extra cables so it’s very tidy, you don’t have toworry about a cable breaking and trying to track itdown, and it works well for its purpose. Plus, beyondall that, if you add the new SuperSlot modification to anSRB receiver you can control that SRB receiver from themixer. So you don’t have to be fiddling around withtwo sets of controls on the receiver or the mixer – it’sall integrated into the one platform.
Ed: So again, is this something that people reallyneed to come in and have a look at, have a play with,
Stephen: We’re looking forward to getting somestock because they do seem fit for the purpose, which issomething very simple to setup and they seem to workwell.
Ed: And visitors have a chance to compare it with theother brands that you have?
Stephen: Yes, that’s how Sound Techniques works.Generally we like to look at something first of allourselves, and then let people know we’ve got it, andlet you try it out and let us know how it works.
Ed: And product from the Lectrosonics range? Youare now “in stock” with the L-Series?
Stephen: About one spare!
Ed: And the mini?
Stephen: The Super Slight Micro (SSM) Transmitteris apparently about to become available. Whereas the L-Series could be used generally across the board inmost applications – certainly to do with filming, the SSMis designed for where you want a miniature transmitter,hence its name. Such applications might be in theatrewhere people are on a stage, or your reality shows likeI guess The Bachelor and stuff where having a bulkytransmitter is not permitted because of the nature ofthe clothes that people are wearing.
Ed: Or if you haven’t got any clothes, you could hideit in your hair?
Stephen: Well you could hide it in your hair orprobably between other parts of your body if you hadto. Sorry, I forgot this is a family magazine! Oh dear,can I retrace my steps there … I think you probablycould hide it in a G-string if you needed to.
Page 12
to see that what they might have already wouldintegrate with it?
Stephen: If they’ve got the receivers, yes it would
certainly be worth coming in. In some ways though, tomake full use of the SuperSlot and 688 you’re starting
from scratch. So if you know what you want to achieve
and you know the sort of work you’re going to be doing
and you’re starting from scratch or you realise your
gear has been superseded, this is a very good place to
start and, yes, come and have a look at.
Ed: Now onto radio mics and we’ve just had a chat
with Daniel from Sennheiser and the AVX radio mic that
works on the DECT platform is obviously something
that’s really new to the industry and you’re stocking
these Stephen?
Ed: That small eh?
Stephen: You could probably pad out the G-string insome people’s cases as well.
Ed: Now, we published a very bad photograph takenby Stephen of the K-TEK … what’s it called …?
Stephen: This is the Gizmo Bag and the Gizmo Bag isa very simple bag. It’s designed to put your bits andpieces of kit in it. It’s padded, sections can be divided,in the lid of it it’s got places to store stuff. It’s singularunique feature is that, once you’ve zipped up, you canturn it over and it’s got a transparent side to it, so youcan look in the bag and see where that little widget hasgone to, rather than having to open the bag and findyour way through it. Also it’s got various parts so it canbe attached to other bags.
Ed: I’d be worried that if you had something pointy inthere you’d get a hole?
Stephen: A sharp knife perhaps, but the clear side isquite strong vinyl.
Ed: And it comes with a warranty?
Stephen: I suppose it does, but it would be againstmisuse.
Ed: So don’t put spikey objects in there?
Stephen: Well I don’t think you would put spikeyobjects in; I think you’d be putting batteries maybe orXLR connectors or bits of cable …
Ed: You could put your lunch in there and you’d knowwhich was the salmon and which was the cheese?
Stephen: It would make for a very expensivedesigner lunch bag, yes that’s correct.
Page 13
Coming to you through the clear Gizmo bag window.
Ed: And Diana’s modelling a product here from Versa-Flex and what’s this Diana?
Diana: This is a transmitter belt. You put yourwireless transmitter in here and then you wrap thatround the person’s waist, and it’s reversible.
Ed: Aaaah so if you haven’t got a pocket …?
Diana: And it sticks together so it doesn’t fall out,so it’s perfect for sports, reality shows, all those thingswhere you want to hide your transmitter.
Ed: Oh I see, so one side’s black and the other side’sflesh coloured if you’re rather sickly?
Diana: That’s right.
Ed: And Stephen’s modelling the high tech Versa-Flexproduct?
Stephen: Versa-Flex is a company that makes
anything that requires sewing … they make bags for
cameras, they make covers for cameras etc, but whatI’ve got on here is a Versa-Flex harness, and this is
designed to carry a heavy bag full of sound equipment.
It’s an over the shoulder harness, so the weight is taken
on your shoulders and your back. You strap it up
appropriately across your chest … it’s a way of getting
around and on set with the kind of kits of gear that
people are expected to carry around these days.
Versa-Flex also makes body belts, but if you have a
particular bag that you want made and you can’t find itanywhere, the people at Versa-Flex will actually make it
to your design. Given that they’re in the United States
obviously you’ve got to communicate the exact
specifications, but they can do it.
Ed: Right, and again available over the counter atSound Techniques?
Stephen: There are various sizes – because the firstones we received only suited lumberjacks and the firstperson who wanted to buy one happened to be thisdiminutive chap! So there are various sizes availableout of the shop.
Ed: As they should be.
Stephen: And we can fit them for you. We have ateam of keen staff with tape measures around theirnecks and we’ll fit the appropriate one for yourpurposes. NZVN
Page 14
Welcome to TimWe’ve come across Tim Riley, the latest
addition to Sound Techniques, proudly seated
here beside Diana.
Ed: Tim, you’ve come from the industry?
Tim: Yes.
Before Sound Techniques I was working at
Edwards Sound in Penrose doing more live
sound orientated work.
Ed: So not actually in front of customers?
Tim: Still in front of customers, but more into
setting up in the field and setting up live sound
systems, but also the customer side of things
doing the hires and a bit of sales.
Ed: So what’s different at Sound
Techniques?
Tim: Well the gear really. The location sound
is new to me but the theory is the same.
Ed: Have they got you doing everything or
are you starting off with things that you know
about on the rental side?
Tim: Yes – I’ve taken over a bit of the rental side of
things at Sound Techniques.
I’m doing a little bit of sales, sort of edging into sales as
well, but mostly rentals at this stage.
Ed: And getting to know the products?
Tim: Yes, absolutely, getting my hands dirty with allthe products and working out the Lectrosonics gear andthe Sound Devices gear and just having a play.
Ed: And Mr Buckland’s looking after you well is he?
Tim: He certainly is.
Ed: Do you look upon him as a mentor?
Tim: I do actually, yeah, yeah – he’s a greatbusinessman and he’s a good guy and he’s veryreasonable.
Ed: And he knows his product?
Tim: He knows his stuff, absolutely.
Ed: You’ll do okay. NZVN
Diana with Tim Riley.
How to carry your transmitter when youdon’t have a pocket of your own.
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Rycote Pro AudioShow 2015
On the Sound Techniques stand, I metwith Simon Davies from Rycote.
Ed: Simon, I understand that this isyour first time in New Zealand andyou’re looking all the better for it?
Simon: Yes, it’s very embarrassingto say that it’s the first time, but I’mvery happy to be here, so I’m sure I’ll beback in the very near future –specifically in 2017.
Ed: Now you should take theseRycotes to Wellington, because there’s alot of wind there. Unfortunately, here inAuckland of course, there’s very balmyweather, there’s no wind and so we’vehad to put a fan on to show thedifference between your latest RycoteCyclone and your trusty modularsystem?
Simon: The Cyclone is a system which doesn’t relyon fur, but gives you the same wind performance thatyou would be expecting using a modular system or oneof our older systems with fur. So you get the windperformance and you get the acoustic transparency.It’s a bit of a compromise between the two, but the newsystem is all about clean sound when it’s new, but alsowhen it’s old. That’s the most important thing.
Ed: But on your comparison, I don’t see any fur. Isthe fur on the inside?
Simon: No there’s no fur at all. What we have isthe combination of material, shape and size. The keyaspects about it are the design of the material, theopenness about it and the shape – the non-parallelsides … all of those contribute to give us theperformance. If you put a fur cover on a modular, theCyclone gives you the same wind protection.
Page 16
Simon hits a high note with his Cyclone.
Ed: Aaaah, so we’re making a comparison between aCyclone and a non-furred …?
Simon: Correct. So really to do a straightforwardcomparison in terms of size and performance here, themodular with the fur would be the same windperformance as a Cyclone without a fur, but acousticallytransparency wise, the Cyclone is much better thanwhen you put a fur on a normal windshield.
Ed: This is a windshield that you used to make?
Simon: Yes, and it’s still great and it still performsand we still make them. The parallel sided Rycote willnever go away because, for some environments likesports, News and things like that where they get stuckin racks, it’s much more important that they’re parallelsided, they’ll always stay; and a parallel sided, or anextended sphere, is still a very good shape to use withcurrent materials. With the Cyclone though, thematerial, the 3D-Tex, you can’t use it in a parallel sidedbasket because the room tones or the reflectivesurfaces would make it sound prettyhorrible. The Cyclone works specificallybecause there’s no parallel sides insidethere. But also, very importantly, wheneveryou put a basket on, whatever the size –whether it’s the size of our mono ones, thenthe modular, or whether it’s a super-shieldlike that, you hear it, you hear the actualcoupling of the basket … regardless of whatyou’ve done with the suspension, you’ll hearit. With the Cyclone, one of the key aspectsof the top and bottom is a suspension whichfloats the whole basket. That decouples itacoustically rather than just mechanically,so that makes it a very quiet windshield aswell. So for microphones like Schoeps andSennheiser and MKH-50, which arenotorious for being difficult to get handlingnoise down, this actually helps with thehandling noise. It’s nothing to do with themechanical, it’s acoustic coupling.
Ed: Now Stephen was telling us earlierthat, in the days of the fur … which actuallyhas a proper name doesn’t it?
Simon: Yes, the windjammer.
Ed: … you had difficulty introducing this to the marketwhen you came up with it?
Simon: Yes – John Gozzard first came out with it in1985 and one of the first promotions that Vivienne Dyer( who happens to be my mother ) tried to do toconvince people in Japan to actually buy the fur was tomake little Rycote dogs – they were little toys. Sheended up getting orders for a couple of hundred of thedogs rather than the windjammers.
Now it’s an industry standard to see a fur cover or awindjammer on top of a microphone windshield, butback in the mid-80s, it used to be a fleece sock or ahigh wind-cover as we would call it. So this step awayfrom that in the Cyclone, we understand it’s whatsomeone’s expecting to hear – the sound of a fur has adefinite sound and a Cyclone is very different. You’llactually hear wind noise, not the wind hitting thetransducer, but actually wind noise going through trees,branches, your mic stand, which some people might notbe used to hearing because effectively you lose thatwhen you put a windjammer on.
Ed: So in fact, a windjammer is cutting out thatfrequency whether that frequency’s come from the windor from the talent’s voice?
Simon: Any windshield, whether it’s a structure likethe Cyclone or the modular, with or without fur, has animpact on the frequency response of a microphone.
The more you put on there, the more layers, the moreacoustically non-transparent those layers are, the moreof an impact you’re going to have at certainfrequencies. What you get with a Cyclone is as clear aspossible the actual sound, but with the wind protectionthe equivalent of a modular with a fur cover on it. It’s abig step for us and we’re going to be showing it for a lotof other things. This is the first biggest size, we’ve gottwo smaller sizes coming, and then we’ve got stereo,surround and some other products like the ones thatwould just fit on the front of microphones as well asENG windshields.
Ed: And the proof of the pudding is in the listening,and I’ve just done a test listening to the Cyclone versusthe parallel sided windjammer without the fur and yes,there certainly is a difference. You hear a lot morebackground noise from the unprotected windjammerthan you can from the Cyclone. So to me it’s proved itsvalue.
Page 17
Ed tries it out.
Simon: What we’re trying to do is put it in people’shands so they can listen to it themselves. We had anexample where we did it – there was a review in the UKwhere a guy was doing an AB test listening to amodular with a windjammer with a Schoeps CMIT andthe Cyclone right next to each other, not any one closerto the other, to the actual talent talking, and the actualmixer, when he was listening to it thought that theCyclone was about 3 or 4 feet closer to the talent. So itis different and it’s for people to listen to and hear itwith their own ears.
Ed: And they can do that by visiting …?
Simon: Yes, Sound Techniques are going to havelots of demo stock and products to get out there in thefield and have a play with. The other big feature aboutthe Cyclone is the access to the microphone.Conventional shotgun baskets like we’ve made foryears, always you either lock it or you undo a couple ofscrews and then you slide it in and out.
The whole principle behind the Cyclone was to get intothere really easily, so you’ll find four latches – two oneither side, that once you disengage you just break themagnets and you’re into the microphone within 2seconds, rather than take the windjammer off, undo 2knobs, take the endcap off, slide it all out – which cantake 15 seconds or more. This is perfect fordocumentary guys who want to get in, out, in, out veryquickly in terms of getting to the mic. So it’s good. NZVN
Old v. NewThe latest technology is
normally better than what
went before and the field
recording side of our
business is no exception. In
the early 1980’s, the
broadcast level portable
recorder choice of many was
the Sony BVU-110P. It
recorded onto ¾ inch U-
matic tape cassettes that
had a 20 minute recording
time. This was connected to
your camera by a 14 pin
cable and powered by a
3.5Ah battery. The BP90
battery and cassette added
2kg to the 9kg, shoulder
carried, recorder.
Looking back to when I
operated one of these
chasing rally cars around the
North Island for 4 days,
carrying this plus a 3-chip
camera and a 10kg tripod, it’s no wonder that I prefer
today’s stabilised handycams.
The best way to illustrate the technological progress in
recording is by means of a table comparing the BVU-
110P to an SD card of today.
You had to record at least 7 seconds of pre-
usable material every time you paused the
recorder so that the edit player could synchronise
with the edit recorder on playback.
High humidity could cause malfunction in the tape
transport.
For those without the luxury of an assistant, you
had to keep one eye on the audio meters and
warning lamps on the recorder while shooting.
The workflow after recording was also extensive.
Not then a case of popping the card into a reader and
directly ingesting so that the material could be edited
immediately by as many operators as had access to the
server, oh no. The tape had to be rewound and stored
upright in a cool dry place until it was needed for
editing.
Often a VHS or U–matic copy was made with the
timecode burnt into the picture so that off-line editing
could be performed.
Since on-line ( or mastering ) edit suites were
expensive capital items ( not much change out of 250K
for a reasonable one ), you made most of your editing
decisions in the rough with copies and then used the
timecode numbers in an EDL ( edit decision list ) to
make your one-and-only master programme tape.
Because of the analogue nature of the technology, any
editing or copying, no matter how expensive the
format, was always of lesser quality as generations
increased. This is why it was vital to get the master
“right the first time” because any change meant re-
editing the master from that point on, or making a copy
of before and after and just editing the change.
For the same reasons, special effects and titles were
always at the expense of original picture quality. So in
the BVU era, chemical film was still the best quality
option as a recording and editing format.
Now I do hear some of you chuckling “ ... but the BVU
is a tape machine and he professes to like tape.” Well,
Page 18
BVU-110PRecorder
SD Card
Mass 9.4kg with tape 0.001kg
RecordingSystem
PAL composite Anything the camerasupplies
HorizontalResolution
260 lines 2160 lines in 4K
RecordingCapacity
20 minutes Currently up to 512GBgiving many hours atthe same resolutionas U–matic
Cost Around $5,000and $30 pertape
$24 for 64GB
You should see that there is really no positive on the
side of the BVU for recording today but, back then,
there was nothing more suited to broadcast level field
recording.
Now, for those young ones who were not out recording
at the time ( that’s anyone younger than Garry French )
there were things to watch out for while recording ...
Any sudden movement of the recorder while
slung over your shoulder would cause the tape to
move off the recording path resulting in picture
distortion and sound loss.
Dust or tape oxide could clog the recording
heads, also resulting in picture and/or sound loss.
The tape could become slack and end up wound
around one of the many guide rollers inside a U–
matic tape path.
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there is a huge difference between digitally recording on
tape and analogue recording on tape. Digital recording
maintains the signal quality while analogue, in this case
composite, did not.
I asked Tony Nelson
( who has been around
longer than me ) what
his experiences with ¾”
technology were.
I found this article
regarding significant
changes in picture and
sound recording tech-
nology very interesting
and quite thought
provoking.
What strikes me is, if
that's looking back 30
years or so, what's it
going to be like in another 30 years in the future – mind
boggling stuff. Perhaps the 'Jetsons' fanciful cartoons
etc. of the '60s weren't so far-fetched after all.
My recollection of the early days of Lowband and
Highband tape technology go back to when I first
started at the Auckland University AV Dept. in the early
'80s. In those days, most of our gear was JVC due to a
close collaboration with Richard Green. Other formats
such as one inch and Betacam were way beyond our
means so we dreamed of moving from LB to HB
thinking this was the panacea to generation loss and
the resultant poor resolution and picture quality.
Programs involving accurate representation of skin tone
and definition, such as in the many medical projects we
did, were always a struggle resulting in disappointing
outcomes.
Unfortunately, our foray into HB was nothing short of a
disaster after such high expectations. The first
machines proved very unreliable resulting in battles
with the supplier and their eventual replacement with
much improved later models. However, our
expectations of much improved picture quality were not
delivered and we struggled on for a few years until we
received a grant in 1990 to upgrade to Betacam SP
which I am happy to say proved a very reliable format
producing quality pictures for their day.
I am sorry that this is about all I can recall of out
skirmish with HB as it does not bring back happy
memories and time has washed away most of the
technical detail. As a technician going back to the '60s,
it’s sad to say how sterile and boring things have
become – or am I just a SOF?
We are not surprised by anything today and just accept
that Jaycar will have some new toy waiting for us every
time we walk in the door. But hey, it’s different but not
all bad – drones are my current craze.
Lastly, from David
Marshall, an engineer of
standing for many
analogue years, offers
us his perspective on
the merits of the U-
matic format.
Your description of the
BVU110 brings back
lots of memories, some
good ... and others.
The comparisons you
draw all look perfectly
reasonable, though in
defence of our trusted
¾” format ( that’s
19.05mm for those born after Garry French ) I would
like to point out the following:
1. The ¾” cassettes were large but this was done
to make them easy to find. Who hasn’t lost an
SD card?
2. U-matic cassette cases had large labels, hence
had far superior metadata storage capabilities.
No power was required to read it, just legible
writing.
3. The limiting shooting duration on U-matic
wasn’t a limitation, but instead a major cost
saving feature for later post production. Who
ever heard of a 1000:1 cutting ratio back in
those days?
4. U-matic cases were multipurpose. They could
also be used as door stops, or lunch boxes. Try
doing that with the SD case.
5. The U-matic tapes had an inbuilt tape condition
analyser. Any defects were cleverly illustrated
as an onscreen disturbance.
6. Being analogue in design, there were no
unpleasant digital bit depth issues to worry
about. Images were pleasingly mixed with a
random noise floor.
7. The U-matic tape transports were
cleverly designed to provide acoustic
feedback of the condition of the tapes
being used. Pinch roller induced tape
creases could clearly be heard as they
moved past the rotating video drum …
and
8. Who can’t say that the marvel of a
cassette loading into a large transport,
the threading of a tape loop past a fast
rotating head drum and then the clunk of
a pinch roller hitting the tape isn’t far
more impressive than a small bit of
plastic being plugged into a slot.
I rest my case.
Cheers, David NZVN
Page 20
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Lawo Pro AudioShow 2015
At the Protel stand, we’re going to talk withPhilipp Hey from Lawo.
Ed: Philip, Lawo has been around for quitea number of years in the audio business,especially with mixing consoles, but morerecently has really developed in deliveringvideo and audio over IP, and has come upwith some clever solutions. Before we gointo those, from your point of view, what arethe challenges of IP in broadcast?
Philipp: The market demands it, that’sthe thing. Our customers are very muchmoving into a position where they have tocreate a lot of content – much more content than everbefore. Another topic is how people consume thecontent. So this means a lot on portable devices. This iswhy we hear from our customers the need to move alsothe live production itself into the IP world.
Ed: I gathered this from your presentation, that it is theconsumer, that end that is driving the change. Theconsumers are very well aware of what’s available overIP, now it’s getting back into that production through totransmission section that you see your products canmake a difference?
Philipp: Yes, exactly, because we see there areproducts on the market – existing products and protocolsthat allow the production to run on an IP based system.For example, the data rates that switchers are capable oftoday, have caught up with the data rates we need,especially for video transmission, and the IT industry ispushing a lot, the development is very fast and theequipment is getting cheaper. The idea now is to makeuse of this equipment and use non-proprietary solutionsand therefore just run our services on this third partyequipment’s open platforms.
Ed: You were saying that there are variousmanufacturers who make switchers, who make peripheralitems for broadcast over IP, but with your product, youcan bypass their software so that you’re just using thehardware of a variety of manufacturers to actually providean IP solution?
Philipp: That is true. I mean this is a very, veryspecific case which is at the moment focusing a lot on theswitching of video signals. What is even more important,the IP network itself allows us to build quite efficientsetups. That means the rigging times and system layoutscan become very simple and this is why a lot ofmanufacturers came up with the idea to use IPtechnology.
We see that our main task at the moment is to establishstandards that are open, that are non-proprietary,because if we look at other standards on the market,everybody plays his own little game, but the AES has nowcome up – for the audio for example – with the AES 67standard, which was the first time that an officialinstitution has defined how audio has to be transmittedover IP networks. This brings us now into the situationwhere different manufacturers can exchange audio overan IP network. This was not possible before. It’s like aMADI transported into the IP world. This allows us now toexchange media over different manufacturers and atLawo this is why we are driving so much the RAVENNAstandard, which is very similar to AES 67, so it’s fully
compatible but it’s a bit more on top of it. More, let’s saystreamlined for the broadcast. But this was then the firststandard to allow you to exchange and we think it onlyhas a future when it is open. We should not rely onmanufacturers and we should not rely on proprietarysystems, so this is the first goal we have, and the samehappens on the video. There are standards gettingdefined, like for example the SMPTE 2022 which defineshow to transport a video signal over an IP network thateverybody can understand and everybody can build adevice to receive or transmit pictures or any kind of mediaon an IP network.
Ed: I guess this is one of the major stumbling blocksthat any IP developer will have, is overcoming thebroadcast engineer’s belief in a proprietary system whereone manufacturer makes a workflow for them. They don’thave to have anyone else get involved, and they knowthat it works?
Philipp: Yes but it’s not only the workflow. It’s alsoabout the signal itself and this is the problem that we atthe moment still have. There are certain players on themarket who are not open and we think it’s now time thatthey at least run it in compatible mode so that they canswitch themselves in a mode that would allow exchangeformats. When we see a big sports production wherethere is a stadium and we have OB vans, but there’s alsoPA people around that and the signals are notcompatible. Everybody needs the same signals, whyshouldn’t they be like an open source signal thateverybody can use.
Ed: Now I think people moving from analogue to digitalfound that a really easy transition, but the move fromdigital to IP is going to be a lot more difficult for them …first of all understanding that IP is not the same as digitaltelevision?
Philipp: Yes, what means IP? IP just describes aprotocol, like an internet protocol.
Ed: With digital, you’re talking about one cable for onesignal; whereas with IP, you’re talking about a fibre whichcan carry multiple signals and at very high data ratesnow?
Philipp: That’s true and not even signals, alsoservices. So the thing is that today, a simple networkcable could carry audio, video and control data. That’swhat makes it so complex. In the old days, one cable,one signal. This became digital – there was perhapsmore signals on that cable but still it was quite easy tounderstand when we knew what kind of signal it is, what itcontained, even when control data is involved. But wecould predict the limitations and we knew what’s going on
Page 22
Philipp from Lawo.
this particular case, we had need for a sport event totransmit video and audio signals back to the mainbroadcast facility. This is usually achieved via satelliteuplinks, quite expensive and also a lot of latency involved.
Here we could use the public network to bring thesepictures back to the broadcast plant. To give you an idea,we can bring a production quality high definition signaldown to data rates between 50 and 200 megabit. Thisvery much depends on the content and the demands onquality, but this allows you to have up to four camerasignals over a one gigabit pipe back to the broadcastcentre and actually do the production over there at thegraphics, do the switching back in the broadcast plant,rather than on site. So what we have in mind here issomething we call remote production – small events that
don’t require big production crews or big OBvans. The idea is a small flyaway kit ( acamera hub we call it ) travels on site and weactually remote the cameras and what’sgoing on locally, while transmitting back thepictures to a main studio where theproduction actually happens, where theproducer sits, all the audio engineers andvideo engineers are placed.
Ed: But you had a backup plan too didn’tyou?
Philipp: Yes we had a backup plan ofcourse so there was for the early tests an
uplink available.
Ed: How many times did you have to usethe uplink in six months?
Philipp: We didn’t have to use it!
Ed: Well that’s good for the product. Iguess the big test is going to come in 2020
for the Tokyo Olympics when they’re going to
broadcast this in 8K I understand, so how are
they going to do that without IP?
Philipp: That’s a good question. This will requirevery big video routers and a lot of SDI cables, but thechallenge for us is much nearer – the Olympics in Rio arecoming up and there are quite a number of broadcasterslooking into the possibility of doing this as a remoteproduction, even over continents.
Ed: And the only way to do that is through IP?
Philipp: That’s correct.
Ed: But I think, as you did stress in your presentation,this is not a case of a broadcaster suddenly having to gototally IP; this is a case of, for quite some time, you canrun a hybrid situation?
Philipp: Yes exactly. This step will not happen atonce; there is so much gear involved in production; thereis so much R&D resources necessary that we think thischange will take a lot of time. There might be the firsttrucks available in 2016 we believe.
Ed: These are OB trucks?
Philipp: Yes, talking about OB trucks, where the hubof the system might be an IP switch instead of a videorouter, but this is really a long-term development until allthe bits and pieces that are involved would talk natively IP– let’s put it like this. So in the meantime, we will have ahigh demand on edge devices that convert traditionalbaseband into IP.
Ed: Excellent – and to find out more about the Lawoproduct go and talk to the boys at Protel. NZVN
Page 24
Philipp gave a presentation to the show attendees.
on that cable; while in an IP network, as I said, it’s veryvirtual, it’s very abstract and it’s really hard to find outsometimes what is going on and especially which path apacket takes. IP means we divide the signal in smallpackets that we send out to a network, but we cannotpredict the path that they take throughout this network tothe receiving end, and this for example, makes the errordetection just very, very difficult compared to a lineardiscrete signal on a specific cable.
Ed: I guess the other big question is latency, becausewe all know from our own internet experience that latencycan be a major issue. In a traditional broadcastenvironment, everything has to be timed back to somesort of base signal. How is this managed in an IPsituation?
Philipp: The broadcasters, as you said, have a strongfocus on that, so there is the possibility to easily cater forthat. The solution is called PTP which is Precision TimeProtocol – again an open standard available today. Itallows you to distribute a clock signal over a network withan accuracy of 25 nanoseconds which is more thanenough for our production purposes. The idea behindthis, a master clock generates this PTP signal throughoutthe network. We need PTP compliance switchers for thisto forward this clock information throughout the network.But then in the moment where we generate a packet,these packets contain a time information, they get anabsolute time stamp and this allows us, on the receivingside, to put them all in order again, because all thepackets have their specific time stamp.
Depending on the network traffic, the quality of service,we may need a certain buffer, but on a well-managedbroadcast network, we can talk about real timedistribution of signals. That is possible.
Ed: Now you actually have some experience in all ofthis, because you gave an example from Europe of asporting event in one particular country. What was thesituation there?
Philipp: Let’s start like this … all that we do withRAVENNA and AES 67 as well for the video, is it’s pureIP Layer 3 solutions. The important characteristic is IPLayer 3 allows routeing across different networks; it’ssupported by network routers. So this gives theopportunity to run a signal in a wide area network overhundreds of kilometres or even between continents. In
Fly my Pretties!Drones are the “topic dejour” for both good and badreasons so I thought youmight like to hear fromsome of those involved. Forthis issue, I sought outAliesha Staples and CraigPatterson at the offices ofStaples Productions inAuckland.
Ed: Now Aliesha, you’vebeen going for quite sometime in the camera supportarea I believe – and lookingaround here, I see the logoof MōVI quite prominent. Did you come into this fromvideo, film or stillphotography, or how did youget into this section of theindustry?
Aliesha: I actually start-ed as an editor for TV andthen I went overseasworking as a cameraoperator where I started learning about gimbals. Ayear ago, I brought the gimbal technology back to NewZealand and started Staples Productions.
Ed: With a MōVI rig?
Aliesha: Yes. We run the MōVI systems and also the DJI Ronin handheld gimbals. We have crew thatoperate them and you can also dry hire them as well.
Ed: So this goes from the smaller wedding type ones,right up to ones you would use in a motion picture?
Aliesha: Yes, we have the full range from thesmallest to the biggest – from 3kg up to 15kg. Weteach people how to use them as well, so you can gothrough a workshop and learn how to work everything.
Ed: How do you find the MōVI product specifically?
Aliesha: It’s really good. It’s one of the higher endgimbals that you can buy. You pay a lot more for it, butit’s for the accuracy and the power of it. It also hasreally good support so it never fails you when you’re onset, which is really important with this type of gear,because it’s very technical.
Ed: What sort of failures can you get in a gimbal?
Aliesha: It’s more about not knowing how to use it,that’s the main failure that happens. But also, themotors not being able to handle the weight that’s puton it, the batteries not working properly … there’s lotsof little parts that can fail and if you don’t know how tofix them or how to work them then it can be quite aproblem.
Ed: What do the motors do?
Aliesha: They’re three axis, brushless gimbals, so allof them have three motors in them no matter what sizecamera you put on. One motor controls your pan, onecontrols your tilt and one controls your horizon, andthey just work against your body movement to stabilisethe camera while you’re doing your shots.
Ed: And from there, you moved into the drone area –correct?
Aliesha: Yes, I’ve teamed up with Craig who’s comeon board to provide aerial products. We have thesmaller drones right up to one of the bigger drones inthe country by the end of August. We also doworkshops on basic operation of drones if you’re just
getting into flying the products. DJI Phantoms are thelower end drones; we can teach you all sorts that goalong with those.
Ed: So you’re not only selling them, you’re hiringthem?
Aliesha: We don’t sell them. We get them all fromPhotogear, but we do provide support to Photogear byteaching people how to use the drone products, andhelping educate because it’s a big problem we’re findingat the moment – there’s just not enough education onhow to safely use one, and how you can use them inNew Zealand.
Ed: That’s it, anybody can go out there and buy adrone and fly it because they are currently regarded bymost as something of a toy?
Aliesha: They are very easy to get hold of but a lotof people are missing the point of actually investigatingwhat the laws and the rules are behind their operationbefore they actually go and fly.
Ed: So what are the rules to the uninitiated – and forthat we’ll ask Craig?
Craig: Basically, the rules are that you cannot flyover 400 feet; you cannot fly at night; you cannot flyover people and the craft must remain in line of sight ofthe operator at all times.
Ed: And a certain distance from any airfield?
Craig: If you are within four kilometres of anaerodrome, you must be “wings” certified, so you mustget that certification. If you are not within 4km of anaerodrome, you’re free to fly.
Ed: So that’s even unmanned airfields … what aboutthe farmer’s paddock which he uses to fly the topdressing plane off?
Craig: If it’s an official aerodrome, then you haveto get permission to fly in that area and be “wings”certified.
Ed: What do you see as the hazards with peoplebuying a drone and just going out there and having ago themselves?
Craig: Most people crash and burn on the first orsecond flight. The potential for injury and damage ishuge if they don’t know what they are doing.
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Craig and Aliesha at Staples Productions.
more on page 29
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Ed: And what can the consequences of that be –other than injuring people, what can be the financialdamage?
Craig: There’s been a few guys who have beencharged by the CAA for breaching the rules.
Ed: And that’s quite a hefty fine?
Craig: Some have been fined $900, but it dependshow negligent you are.
Ed: But then if that drone damages a third party,such as into a house, into a person … well into a personI guess is covered by ACC, but if you fly it intosomebody’s window?
Craig: That’s one thing that many people don’tthink about when they go to operate a drone. Our
company is insured … we are insured for personalliability and property. Most people who are out thereflying are not insured and so if you’re hiring somebodyto do a job at your event and they’re not insured, thenyou’re going to be liable for the damage, becauseyou’ve hired that person at your event. Something tothink about.
Ed: So that’s it, the insurance is not just on the droneand the camera that it’s carrying, but it’s also the thirdparty in case it hits something, somebody. Anunlicensed operator, or an uninsured operator, can costyou a lot of money?
Craig: Yes indeed – you can get into a lot oftrouble.
Ed: So how can you be sure that the person thatyou’re hiring actually has insurance and is CAAcertified?
Craig: You’ve got to ask the hard questions.You’ve got to ask them to provide you with documentsto show that they are insured. There are guys out thereflying who say they have certification and insurance,but they actually don’t.
Ed: Haven’t you helped train some of those people?
Craig: No.
Aliesha: “Train” is a big word. It’s not so muchtraining, we’re not training you, we’re not certifyingyou, we’re not sending you out with any qualification.We’re simply showing you what the rules are, somaking you aware of them before you fly. We’reshowing you how to do regular maintenance on yourdrone and how to safely take off and land. It’s a basicintro …
Craig: What we do is product familiarisation, sowe have particular knowledge of specific brands andspecific models of drone. If people come to us wantingto know the particulars about a specific craft and setup,we take them through all the little ins and outs of thatparticular craft. It’s product and safety knowledgebasically.
Aliesha: …how you look after the batteries, how you
update the firmware, how you take props on and off –
simple stuff like that. It’s nothing really to do with
getting insurance and commercially operating. It’s
nothing to do with that. It’s mainly “how do you look
after your craft and here are the rules in New Zealand.”
We go through them with you so that you’re aware of
them before you fly.
Ed: Now the sort of people who are naturally good at
piloting a drone – are they the kids who have used a
PlayStation a lot?
Page 29
Aliesha with a gimbal rig.
Aliesha: Not necessarily … did you play PlayStation
a lot Craig?
Craig: I can neither confirm nor deny that I played
a lot of PlayStation. Yes, they sometimes are … I think
what makes a good operator is someone who is safety
conscious first and foremost. There’s a lot of stuff that
you can do with a drone but those who say “I’ll just give
it a go and see what happens – I’ll try and fly throughthat gap or whatever” – those people are going to get
into trouble. You have to put safety first in every
situation and risk assessment is a huge part of what we
do. If you only think that you can do it, then you
might possibly get into trouble. You’ve got to know
that you can do it.
Ed: And actually plan out the route that you want the
drone to take before you start?
Craig: Yes. Planning and just making things safe;
always having …
Ed: … a shotgun handy in case it gets out of control?
Craig: That’s what the people in the next house
have – they’ll try and shoot it down because they see it
outside their window.
Ed: Now I understand that you are certified as far as
you can be by the CAA, but in fact because of the
weight of the drones that you’re using, you don’t
actually have to be?
Craig: No. All our operations are logged with the
CAA and we can do all our commercial operations under
Part 101 of the Rule, but we will be going through the
process with CAA to be able to fly under Part 102 of the
Rule.
Ed: And you take this job seriously?
Craig: Absolutely.
Aliesha: We’re very proactive and make sure we’re
on top of all the changes and that we’re aware of
everything that’s going on in the industry.
Ed: Any misconceptions out there?
Craig: There are a lot of misconceptions aboutwhat drones can do and how easy they are to fly. Partof that has been caused by news stories on peopledelivering coffee with drones and things like that.
Ed: Now I’ve always believed there are actually twoparts to flying a drone. One is the drone flying, but thesecond is actually having some camera knowledge as tohow to set up a frame, how to move that drone so youget the best camera shot. Is that something where youwould say you’ve got both of those skills?
Craig: Yes. I’ve been a cameraman for 20 yearsand I’ve been flying drones for five. There’s a lot ofpeople buying drones thinking that they can go filmstuff but they have no film or TV experience and this istheir first drone …
Ed: And cameramen buying drones because they’re acameraman and they think they can just use theirPlayStation skills to fly a drone?
Craig: Absolutely. I’ve dedicated my …
Ed: Life?
Craig: Pretty much … at the moment. I’m adedicated drone pilot, that’s what I do. I film and fly.
Ed: That’s a big bandage you’ve got on your handthere – was that caused by an argument with an angrydrone?
Craig: This is not due to a drone, this is due to askateboard, and people over 40 shouldn’t get onskateboards.
Ed: Oh, somebody who lives his life on the edge eh?
Craig: I’m too old for the edge.
Ed: But not too old for drones?
Craig: No, drones are awesome. I’ve got atechnical background, so I’ve always been interested innew technology. For me, drones were just the nextstep, the new frontier if you like, and a fabulous way tocapture images that we just haven’t seen or been ableto get before.
Ed: So I guess this is a tricky question
and you may or may not answer it – do
you see the new regulations actually
going far enough?
Craig: That is a good question. I
think it’s a good start. The CAA do not
have an easy road. They are so behind
the 8 ball in terms of trying to keep up
with the speed that this part of the
industry is growing …
Ed: Because it’s not just New Zealand,
we hear reports from the States of
drones getting very close to aircraft?
Craig: It’s just gone mad
worldwide and if you talk to people in
aviation about how many times drones
are seen by commercial pilots, it’s
freakin’ scary.
Ed: Now tell us about the camera side
of it – so you’ve got a range of drones
that will carry different sized cameras. I
guess most people fly them around with
GoPros?
Aliesha: Yes, we can fly everything
from a full HD camera up to your REDs,
and also the new ALEXA Mini which just
arrived in the country on Friday. We just
bring in the cameras as requested, so
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Craig sends his drone on a mission.
whatever camera is required by a client, we bring that
one in to load on the drone.
Ed: And they look after their own insurance?
Aliesha: We make sure everything is correctlyinsured before it goes in the air. It’s not worth the risk.
Ed: How do you minimise the risk?
Craig: One way is to attach parachutes to thedrone. Currently, there are no other operators in NewZealand using parachutes …
Ed: Apart from you?
Craig: Yes. We’ve started importing them, and wesee it as a great way to help the industry be safer.
Ed: Is that something that automatically deployswhen the power fails or can you trigger it from theground?
Craig: There are two ways it deploys. One iswhen you set up a failsafe in the flight controller, and ifthat failsafe is triggered, the parachute will deploy andthe motors will stop and it will descend gracefully. Orthe other way is to deploy the chute manually via thetransmitter.
Ed: And you can turn the motors off first I hope?
Craig: Yes, it’s all part of the deployment … itturns the motors off and the chute is deployed outwardsfrom the drone, so there’s no chance of the lines gettingcaught in the props.
Ed: Well it sounds as though you guys haveresearched this and you know what you’re doing.
If you would like to investigate drone operation further,contact Aliesha or Craig at
www.staplesproductions.co.nz NZVN
Page 31
Craig discusses the technology.