Meeting Topic: Neumann Solution D Digital Microphones
Speaker Name: Michael Nunan, CTV
Other business or activities at the meeting: Announcements by incoming Chair Jeff Bamford... upcoming meetings include AES NY Convention Review in October 23 , and Visual Dither Joint Meeting with SMPTE on November 13th. Both events will be held at Ryerson University.
Meeting Location: Eaton Lecture Theatre, Ryerson University, Toronto,
Mike Nunan of CTV delivered an excellent AES 42 primer to our members. In his role at CTV, Michael has had the unique opportunity to use the Neumann Digital series of microphones in a variety of applications in the field. He outlined the benefits of such a system in broadcast applications and operation of the software.
The main benefit of the digital mic system is the quality bottlenecks encountered at preamp and A to D stages, where there is the largest possibility of nonlinearity. In broadcasting, DISTANCE is a real problem, the hundreds of feet between the mics and the preamps. Even across the CTV building it's a long way.
AES-42-2001 is a perfect fit. There is no preamp, and no A to D converter required as it is built into the microphone body immediately after the capsule. The system offers amazing gain, and the DSP will never ever allow it to clip. This elimates the possibility of a damaged take due to poor gain structure, so crucial in news gathering where so often there is no second chance.
Because AES 42 is by nature remote, it also allows microphone control and session operation via DSL using the Pro Tools "Source Connect" plug in. This allows remote recordings to be engineered by CTV technicians from the station, rather than physically travelling to the site.
Within the last year, additional protocols have been developed to exploit the remote nature of an AES42 based system, and to handle multiple mics. There is now 8-channel cobranet interfaces, AES42 to MADI and a PCI Card which will take AES42 for use with ASIO drivers.
The Toronto AES would like to thank Neumann/Sennheiser, CTV and Ryerson for their efforts to make this meeting possible!
