Loudness jumps between program items is a well known phenomenon for broadcasters and producers of multi-media or game audio. So far only leveling by ear could fix this, a tedious task especially when content is collected from more than one source. International demand for a loudness measurement standard led to the ITU LKFS loudness descriptor. It forms the core of Grimm Audio's LevelOne software.

With its smart preset based interface and unlimited batch file processing, LevelOne will improve your post production speed dramatically. It performs all your level normalization tasks automatically and accurately. You have the choice of normalizing to sample peak, true (over-sampled) peak, PPM peak or ITU LKFS loudness target levels. LevelOne warns you when a file exceeds user defined maximum levels after normalization.

Perhaps the most striking feature of LevelOne is its capability to match narrow and wide loudness range content, allowing them to be sequenced seamlessly. Managing the loudness of items from different sources in your broadcast or multimedia program will feel like a breeze. Because LevelOne is fully compliant to the upcoming EBU R-128 standard, it can be used for finalizing and quality approval of broadcast content. But at the same time LevelOne is also the perfect tool to check your music masters for their True Peak levels. This will predict if they risk becoming distorted by lossy codecs or DA converters, a major problem with modern mastering styles. LevelOne certainly is your Swiss army knife of leveling tasks.

CharterOak S700 - Broadcast Microphone

Frequency Response 20Hz-20khz, 
Maximum SPL 125db, 
Sensitivity 16mV/Pa 94dB=1V/Pa@1kHz
Pattern: Cardioid

Nuendo SyncStation - Advanced SD/HD Hardware Synchronizer
Reliable synchronization, accurate phase lock and straightforward machine control are essential for AV studios and production facilities. Designed by Colin Broad, the Nuendo SyncStation 19" rack-mount synchronizer allows Nuendo to lock to tri-level sync, distribute word clock signals up to 192 kHz and communicate with external machines via Sony 9-pin, MMC or timecode. The unit is fully controllable from inside the Nuendo software and provides many additional features such as pull up/down, clock manipulation, GPIO interfacing and Varispeed. Engineered to offer extremely fast locking times, ultra low jitter and rock-solid operation, Nuendo SyncStation latches Nuendo into any existing studio environment.

• All important synchronization tasks are fulfilled within one unit
• The world’s first sample accurate synchronizer with VST System Link
• Dedicated to Nuendo with a deep integration that ends up in an outstanding operation from within Nuendo
• Designed and built by Colin Broad
• Works with all DAWs (with some limitation), not just with Nuendo, even standalone operation is possible
• Cross-platform support for Nuendo SyncStation together with Nuendo on Mac OS X, Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP

Consistency in loudness plus sync of audio to picture are the two most important issues to get right in today's broadcast. They are also some of the reasons why TC Electronic’s DB range of high def audio processors has set the standard amongst broadcasters the world over.

DB2 puts all of the tools necessary for trouble-free broadcasting into one rack-mountable unit, and adds to a scalable family of processors covering from regional stations to network centers, from Pod-cast to HDTV, from AC3 to linear, and from mono to 5.1.

DB2 is a new smaller brother of DB4 and DB8, and is the perfect choice for dual mono or stereo operation in MPEG, AAC, AC3 or linear audio transmission and linking. Performance is similar to its bigger siblings, and is also preset compatible across the range. Like the rest of the DB family, DB2 offers high-quality loudness correction without metadata dependence and is compatible with the latest ITU and EBU audio standards.

Digital Konnekt x32 is every studio’s missing link, integrating digital equipment with computer-based recording setups. Digital Konnekt x32 is the utility product fitting the needs of project studios and other digital setups in need of a ‘Swiss army knife” in digital signal handling. It features FireWire connection to and from your DAW and it allows efficient routing and conversion between multiple digital formats and sample rates, as well as providing extra features such as analog outputs, scene recall, convenient monitoring and front panel lock.

All the Tools – One Toolbox
Up until now, the pro audio market has only seen single function units such as format and sample rate converters, patchbays and audio interfaces offering digital signal handling. Never before have these essential functions been incorporated in a single platform linking your entire fleet of digital devices to your DAW.

Digital Konnekt x32: Patchbay, Format Converter, Audio Interface and hardware integrator!

DBMax is a Level Maximizer and Audio Enhancement processor for use in digital transmission, linking, webcast and radio STL applications.

On-Line Broadcast Delay

P2 is a Realtime Loudness Controller, Multiband Processor and Limiter designed for use in video and post production.

Consistency in loudness is the single most important audio issue to get right in broadcast. That is the reason why DB-8, around the world, is the most widely used digital transmission processor today. It has set a new standard for real-time loudness control and format conversion, and pioneered support of both analog and digital feeds from one and the same machine.

Both DB-4 and DB-8 employ cutting edge technology to enable stations get rid of listener complaints about jumping levels, and to transmit in analog and digital with optimum processing for both feeds. DB-4 includes the same processing and I/O capabilities as DB-8, except for holding two separate processors, instead of the four inside DB-8. For example, one DB-4 can apply different processing to four mono, two stereo or two 5.1signals, or to a combination such as one stereo and one 5.1 signal.

Compatibility between DB-4 and DB-8
DB-4 and DB-8 are preset compatible. If you know how to operate one of the them, you know how to operate both. DB-8 is primarily designed for large broadcast centers, while DB-4 may be a more appropriate match for OB linking or a regional station, but they share the same processing, the same presets and the same physical I/O structure - and even the same program to control them.

DB-4 and Your Broadcast Environment
On the audio side, DB-4 gets the most out of any data reduction system your station or country has chosen, be it MPEG4, Dolby AC3, MP3, AAC, DTS etc. At the station, it can route and delay Dolby E encoded signals, so the same signal-path can be used partly for linear stereo, partly for data-reduced audio.
On the control side, DB-4 interfaces directly with standard master control applications. Changes are applied using serial control, GPI or ethernet, and multiple units can be monitored via SNMP trapping. Local or remotely located DB-4 and DB-8 units can also be controlled from the Icon program included with the machine. (Icon runs under Windows 2k, XP and NT, Mac OS9 and OSX).

Identify Your Opportunities
If your station is an early mover in digital, and seeking to identify advantages, DB-8 and DB-4 will provide you with all the possibilities you need to transmit in 5.1 now, as well as to experiment and find the right competitive angle for the future. These processors can easily adapt to your audience's changing needs.

Technical Integrity
Synchronous 48kHz sampling and 48 bit processing throughout, in combination with massive jitter rejection, ensures high audio resolution and perfect timing, even when long, digital transmission lines are used to feed a processor. The DB-8/DB-4 platform is without compromises. In fact, hundreds of machines can be cascaded without degrading the transmitted sound. If optional analog interfacing cards are added, they too represent state of the art technology with 96kHz sampling and mastering quality dynamic range, far exceeding any US, Japanese or EU broadcast standard.

Foundation
TC's involvement with high quality digital audio dates back to the mid eighties with pre-DSD technology being employed in the still ubiquitous delay, 2290. TC's commitment to digital excellence continued over the years with equipment for the music, film and mastering industries. The multichannel processing in DB-8 and DB-4, for instance, was originally developed for film. Those tools have been adjusted for broadcast use and are now part of your arsenal. Or dynamics control, where some of the latest end-listener distortion canceling methods originally invented for mastering have been build in. Ten years experience with analog and digital broadcast combined with the know-how of skilled engineers is the strong base of the DB-8/DB-4 platform. From the purist and quality conscious hardware engineers to software writers of whom some were involved with designing the MPEG codecs, the team forms a competent, non-dogmatic design group ready to take broadcast audio to the next level.