Davos’ Vaillant Arena upgraded with EAW acoustics

Switzerland: The city of Davos, high up in the Swiss mountains, is not only famous for hosting the World Economic Forum (WEF) but is also one of the most popular winter sports resorts in Europe. Right in the centre of the city the Vaillant Arena is among the most beautiful hockey stadiums in the world, and home of the famous Spengler Cup.

In 1980 the arena got its first roof (after 60 years in the open air) while over the years the audio system grew to become to a patchwork of dozens of different speakers in many different sizes, positioned in all possible corners of the roof and truss. However, in 2009 the local audio company Phil’s Concert and Showtechnique GmbH was hired to plan a brand new system, based around EAW components, which would replace the old hybrid. More »

Arte upgrades to HD using Harman’s Studer routing

France: French/German TV network Arte has upgraded the facilities at its Strasbourg HQ with a major Harman Studer routing system, supplied by Audiopole, Studer’s French distributors. The network’s channel requirements are substantial because, since Arte is an international joint venture, programs cater technically for audiences from both countries. This requires double titling, opposite language subtitling or dubbing, with hosts speaking both languages alternately and generally two separate stereo feeds. More »

Galatasaray SK and the sound of the crowd

Turkey: Designing audio systems for any large stadium is a tricky challenge. Designing one for a crowd as loud as the one that regularly crams into Galatasaray SK’s new 52,650-capacity, multi-purpose Türk Telekom Arena, is even more difficult. Since March, the club has been the proud holder of the offical Guiness World Record for Loudest Crowd Roar in a Sports Stadium, the club managing 49,488 Galatasaray fans (plus 2500 Fenerbahçe accomplices) managing to generate 131.76dB.

No real surprise then that, needing to overcome these prodigious noise levels from a fiercely partisan crowd, audio designer Asimetrik turned to an EAW solution in designing the PA, combining 46 weather-protected MK series enclosures to provide the sonic presence in this complex audio-visual integration. More »

Stagetec centre stage at Eurovision

Germany: 25 finalists, 40 networks, 120m viewers across Europe, and some of the most outrageously nepotistic voting patterns you will ever witness…It can only be the Eurovision Song Contest, this year staged to spectacular effect in Dusseldorf, with German public broadcaster NDR relying on Stagetec Aurus consoles for the international sound feed. More »

Bavarian Broadcasting adds Lawo to studio set-up

Germany: Following the recent kitting out of Bavarian Broadcasting (BR)’s FÜ1 HD OB with Lawo equipment, the broadcaster has also chosen it to upgrade its audio capabilities as well. More »

BBC examines The Sound of Sport

Much positive feedback over the weekend for the BBC Radio 4 documentary, The Sound of Sport. Hopefully we’ll have more about it all in the next couple of days, but in the meantime here’s the link to the programme and the Corporation’s blurb about it.

Listen again: The Sound of Sport More »

Fraunhofer turns 5.1 Surround streaming dreams into reality

Televised sports established the 5.1 surround audio format as the emerging standard for broadcast-sports sound. This year, as sports moves more deeply into the streaming domain, fans who have grown accustomed to surround sound on televisions might miss it on Internet distribution channels. Fraunhofer, the German technology think tank that brought us the MP3 format, says it can make sure that 5.1 — or at least something like it (see below) — can be extended to the streaming realm for sports on all types of mobile devices, including cellphones. More »

Grass Valley’s Ignite integrates with Calrec consoles

One for the live events market: Grass Valley has expanded the features and functionality of its Ignite automated production system with a new software release that, among other things, now supports users with existing or future Calrec audio mixing consoles. More »

TRT kits trucks with SSL consoles

Turkey: Solid State Logic C10 HD compact broadcast consoles have been installed in four Turkish Radio and Television SNG/OB trucks as part of TRT’s plan to standardise on the C10 HD across the entire fleet.

Two existing vans have been assigned to Istanbul, with two new trucks now complete and being dispatched for use in Ankara. More »

ORF buys two Soundcraft Vi1 consoles from Harman

Austria: Austrian national public service broadcaster, Österreichischer Rundfunk, has added a pair of Harman’s Soundcraft digital consoles to its inventory to be used for live broadcasting, FOH mixing and general recording purposes in the Innsbruck/Tirol region.

The order was placed with Soundcraft’s Austrian distributor Kain Audio by Landesstudio Tirol, one of nine regional studios operating under the ORF umbrella, after carrying out extensive tests against other brands. More »