reported
by: Mr. Jibby Jacob
Secretary (Term
1997/98)
AES Singapore Section enjoyed a
morning tour of the facilities at the invitation of
Mr Kenn Delbridge, Head of
Sound at Four Media Company Asia
Pte. Ltd. (4MCA) at 30 Choon Guan Street, on Saturday 24
January 1998. The unassuming Telephone Exchange building in downtown
Singapore houses 4MCA, a US $20 million facility that offers post
production, technical and origination services to the TV and advertising
industries. It boasts MTV Asia as one of their main clients along with The
Disney Channel Australia, ESPN, CNBC & Sony AXN among their other TV
clientele and advertising agencies from Singapore and the region.
Kenneth Delbridge an AES
member, demonstrated the SSL Scenaria, a High-End Digital Audio Workstation
(DAW) in the audio post production suite to an audience of 11, which
included 7 AES members & 4 guests.
| The Scenaria is a customised
DAW from UK and it incorporates a digital mixing desk/multitrack unit
with a computer based editor and hard disk video playback unit. The
current system includes a 2 Gigabyte (GB) hard disk for video storage
and six 2 GB memory hard disks for a total of 12 GB memory for audio
storage.
Thus it can store about more
than 1 hour of video playback and about 36 hours of on-line digital
audio. |
Delbridge spoke at length
on why the Scenaria was chosen over other similar DAW for audio post. Among
the reasons for buying this particular DAW was the fact that it was
customised and totally integrated and therefore maintenance services could
be provided by one supplier, be it a hard disk, keyboard, monitor
etc...unlike certain other systems, where off the shelf components required
multiple supplier support. The continuous ethernet-enabled frame accurate
timecode lock of mixer, editor and video playback also eliminated
traditional lock-up time associated with systems using audio SMPTE to
synchronise various parts of the audio post chain.
Another reason, Delbridge
explained, was that the Graphical User Interface (GUI) and the control
surface has the feel of working with film in that for example the screen
display of audio tracks was vertically aligned similar to the old film
projector system. This allows the traditional editor to quickly feel
comfortable with the system. The pen and tablet is also used in place of the
mouse for controlling the editor and mixer, although there is an alpha
numeric keyboard and dedicated buttons, faders and pots for control of
control of traditional console functions.
The integration of the video
components with the audio components is seamless. Multiple mixing formats
are also available in the Omnimix version of the Scenaria, including SDDS,
Dolby SR.D and Digital Theatre Systems DTS, can be incorporated in the
system, although the Scenaria itself is a stereo only unit dedicated for
television production.
A Local Area Network (LAN) using
ethernet technology provides instant and continuous communication between
the editor, mixer and video playback units, and a SCSI management unit
allows for audio data to be shared around the various other rooms with SSL
digital products, from simple rooms using the stand alone editor for
spotting sound effects, to another mixing room with another Scenaria.
| Delbridge explained
that the DAW cost about S$350,000/- but that the clients don't mind
paying the steep rates offered as they know that the work efficiency is
high. With the time saved in the basic digital editing tasks, the audio
editor could then experiment or be creative in his production. This
translated into being able to do a "spot" (TV trailer) in about 2 hours
or less. Delbridge regaled the audience with many anecdotes of
how the audio editor had to pander to the whims and fancies of some
clients. |
For example the placement of a
sound effect to the exact frame of the picture was always a thorny issue
when there is no visual indication and the client would then tussle with the
audio editor on the right edit decision, which was always subjective. Being
able to quickly demonstrate several placements of a given sound effect,
different only by perhaps a few frames, is another added benefit of the
system.
The climax of the visit was a tour
of the famous sets used to shoot the Video Jockey (VJ) for MTV Asia
programmes. These familiar sets are seen on many Asian TV channels. The
audience commented on how informal the place looked, which is a deliberate
decision of 4MCA to encourage the creative process.
Delbridge explained that
the turnaround time for most of the VJ link productions was about 2 days,
and in post production was even shorter. Therefore speed of the work flow
was essential. The integrated working environment for the audio engineer
allows for changes right up to the final mix.
|
