Matakuliah
Tahun
: O0382 – Dasar-dasar Produksi Siaran Televisi
: 2010
AUDIO: SOUND CONTROLS AND HOW TO
PRODUCE SOUND AESTHETICS
Pertemuan 8
Analog & Digital Production Equipment: Studio
(1/5)
The important components of audio equipment: (1) audio console, (2)
patching, (3) analog and digital audio recording systems.
Audio console
The function of audio console is to control the sound during the process
of television production. And audio console is built to perform the task
of:
input: to pre-amplify and control the volume of the various incoming
signals;
Mix: to combine and balance two or more incoming signals;
Quality control: to manipulate the sound characteristics;
Output: to route the combined signals to a specific outputs;
Monitor: to listen to the sound before their signals are recorded or
broadcast.
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Analog & Digital Production Equipment: Studio
(2/5)
Patch bay
Patch bay primary functions are connecting and routing audio
signals to and from various pieces of equipment. The functions of patch
bay can be conducted by using actual wires or with computers that
rearrange the signal.
Audio recording systems
Audio recording systems record audio signals in analog or digital
form. Although much of audio recording is done digitally, analog
recordings are still applied in television production.
Analog recording systems
The most common analog recording systems are open-reel
audiotape recorder and the cassette tape system. And the analog cart
machines that use a single reel that forms an endless loop that rewinds,
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plays, then cues automatically.
Analog & Digital Production Equipment: Studio
(3/5)
Digital recording systems
The major digital recording systems include (1) digital audiotape
recorder, (2) MDM recorders, (3) DTRS, (4) the digital cart system, (5)
computer disks (hard disks and high-capacity floppies), (6) the mini disc,
and (7) the CD and DVD.
Audio Control Areas: Studio
Audio control booth
Audio control booth houses the audio or mixing console, analog
and digital recording and playback equipment: cassette recorders, a reelto-reel analog audiotape recorder, DAT recorders, a mini disc player, CDRW and/ or DVD machines, and a turntable.
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Analog & Digital Production Equipment: Studio
(4/5)
Audio Production Equipment: Field
The key to good field audio is keeping the primary sound as
separate from the surrounding (environmental) sounds as possible.
Mixer
Most portable mixers have only three or four input channels and
one or two outputs.
Basic Audio Operation
Basic audio operation relates to the production of a good television
audio track. Therefore, the discussion on basic audio operation has basic
audio control factors: (1) audio system calibration, (2) volume control, (3)
live studio mixing, and (4) live field mixing.
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Analog & Digital Production Equipment: Studio
(5/5)
Audio system calibration
To calibrate means to make the VU meters respond in the same
way to a specific audio signal.
Volume control
After the calibration process is completed then the finer points of
adjusting the volume of the incoming sound and of using the automatic
gain control.
Taking a level
Taking a level means adjusting the input level so that the talent’s
speech falls more or less within the tolerable volume range.
Live Studio Mixing
Live mixing means that the combining and balancing sound are
completed while in production is in progress.
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Audio Postproduction Activities (1/3)
The demand for high quality of television audio has become the primary
importance in order to balance the existence of sophisticated video
editing techniques and large screen and high definition video displays.
Analog and digital sound editing
Analog audio editing
There are 2 (two) steps that need to be completed when editing the audio
track of a videotape:
Select the video and audio portions from the source VTR that contains
the original footage;
Copy the video and audio (or audio only) to the edit master tape of the
record VTR;
Adjust the record VTR or the video edit controller so that it reads the
audio track independent of the video track;
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Put the video-editing into insert mode system.
Audio Postproduction Activities (2/3)
Digital audio editing
The advantages of having digital (non-linear) video editing system:
Sound is still edible when editing is in progress;
The sound can be seen in the graphic form on the screen;
The visual presentation helps audio editing extremely precise;
The sound can be synchronized with the selected audio or it can be moved easily
from one place to another.
Editing video to audio and transcribing audio
Transcribing audio means typing out every spoken word. This method
applies for both analog and digital system. With this method the video editing,
especially the editing of longer and more complex speeches, will be more time
saving.
Correcting audio problems
Correcting audio problems is not as simple as correcting one word and it
may spend extra hour for the audio production people to do it. It is better to care 9
during audio acquisition for more time saving in the long run.
Audio Postproduction Activities (3/3)
Postproduction mixing
Postproduction mixing is the process similar to live mixing only it
remixes separately the recorded sound tracks instead of live inputs.
Mixdowns is a condition when a multitude of discrete audio tracks are
combined and reduced to stereo or surround sound tracks.
Controlling sound quality
In management (controlling) sound quality, the production people
must get used to with types of signal processing equipment (such as
equalizers, reverberation controls, and filter), and must have a trained
ear.
In all aspects of television production, it is the communication goal and
the aesthetic sensitivity, not the availability and production capacity of the
equipment, that must be the important points and that should be
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delivered to the audience.
Sound Aesthetics (1/2)
When dealing with television sound production, there are 5 (five) basic
aesthetic factors that must be paid attention:
Environment: the inappropriate sound takes place during studio
recording. If intend to do some postproduction, use one microphone and
one audio track of the videotape for the recording of the main sound
source, and the second audio track for the recording of the ambient sound.
Figure ground: figure-ground principle
Perspective: sound perspective means that close-up pictures are
matched with relatively nearby sounds, and long shots correspond with
sounds that seem to come from farther away
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Sound Aesthetics (2/2)
 Continuity: sound continuity relates to the consistency of the sound
quality that is clearly shown during postproduction. The inconsistency
of sound quality may be the results of using dissimilar equipment
during on and off camera. Sound continuity can be avoided by
conducting the following steps:
– record the narration on site;
– employ similar microphone during on and off camera narrations;
– try to match the on-camera sound quality through equalization and
reverberation;
– when recording quality sound, mix it with the off-camera narration.
 Energy: refers to all factors in a scene that communicate a certain
degree of aesthetic force and power. For example high-energy scenes
like battle movie or sport show will be of much different with tranquil
scene like romantic movie.
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Stereo and Surround Sound
Stereo sound is especially the horizontal audio field (left-right or right-left
positioning of the major audio source). Stereo sound will be best
performed when using large screen, home-theater HDTV video
projections.
Surround sound is a technology that produces sound from front, side and
behind the listener. Surround sound enables the listener to hear sounds
from multi directions. Surround sound is originally used for film
reproduction but now it is used for HDTV.
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Audio Postproduction Room
The equipment that is used to support good quality sound is stored in
audio postproduction room. The machinery that is installed in the room
depends on the sound designer or sound editor. The basic equipment
will include audio console, a patch bay, analog and digital audiorecording systems, and several videotape recorders. With additional
equipment such as:
analog audio synchronizer
digital audio workstation (DAW)
keyboards and samplers, larger production centers even sport
automatic dialogue replacement (ADR) room.
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