Audioseminar 2002

Seminar 2003

Seminar 1

Seminar 2

Registration

Seminar 2002

Seminar 2001

Road map

Imprint

SALZBRENNER
STAGETEC
MEDIAGROUP

2002 Seminar:
Technology in the Age of Converging Media

Again, this year's SALZBRENNER Stage Tec MEDIAGROUP seminar held at the Kloster Banz monastery between 15 and 18 April 2002 was a huge success thanks to the fascinating program and the renowned presenters.

For the first time, we were glad to welcome not only physically present visitors but also a large number of online spectators on the Web. And those who used a broadband DSL access were able to follow the presentations in full-screen format and with amazing video quality and intelligibility. The organizers offered this web contents to emphasize the seminar title: Technology in the Age of Converging Media.

On-Demand Watch the Banz presentations stream again (in german only)! (Requires the Windows Media Player.) Streaming problems? click here
Recordings from Monday, 15 April 2002; and Wednesday, 17 April 2002
10:30 …11:15 presentation	Feature Extraction, Metadata, MPEG 7 Dr.-Ing. Jürgen Herre, Eric Allamanche Fraunhofer Institut für integrierte Schaltungen Erlangen
11:30…12:15 presentation	Digital-Audio Preparation and Editing in Theaters Klaus Dobbrick Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz Berlin
15:00…15:45 presentation	Spatial-Sound Reproduction and MPEG 4: The CARRUSO-Project Dr. Rudolf Rabenstein Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
16:30…17:15 presentation	Psychoacoustics: A Signpost for New Developments in Audio Dr. Günther Theile Institut für Rundfunktechnik
17:30…18:15 presentation	Surround Sound: The Status Quo Wolfgang Ellers Tonmeister Dieser Vortrag mit Originalaufnahmen verschiedenster Herkunft darf aus urheberrechtlichen Gründen leider NICHT ins Internet übertragen werden!
19:00… open end	Workshop Multichannel Mixing Wolfgang Ellers Tonmeister Dieser Vortrag mit Originalaufnahmen verschiedenster Herkunft darf aus urheberrechtlichen Gründen leider NICHT ins Internet übertragen werden!
Recordings from Thuesday, 16 April 2002; and Thursday, 18 April 2002
8:30…9:00 presentation	Streaming Solutions in the Internet Axel Funck T-Systems
9:00…9:45 presentation	Simultaneous Comparison in Sports Benoit Gisler Dartfish
10:30…11:15 presentation	Movie-Camera Perspectives: Past, Present, and Future Eduard Palasan PLAZAMEDIA
11:30…12.00	Capabilities of the Mobile-Broadcast Technology Peter Flückiger tpc
12:00…12:30	Production Center with Fixed and mobile Fiber-Optics Peter Flückiger tpc
14:15…15:00 presentation	Critical Parameters of Studio Monitors Joachim Kiesler Musikelectronic Geithain
15:45…16:30 presentation	Vitual Studio Programs: A New Production Means Hubert Graf Institut für Rundfunktechnik

Where Audio, Video, and New Media meet:
This Year's Seminar at Banz Monastery

Video and audio transmission via fixed fibre-optic cables during the Worldcup at St. Moritz (tpc zürich ag).

In April, the SALZBRENNER Stage Tec GROUP hosted its seventh seminar at the monastery Kloster Banz (Germany). Presented in collaboration with VDT (association of German sound engineers) and SRT (school for broadcast technology), this year's seminar was about »Technology in the Age of Converging Media«, and for the first time ever went well beyond strictly audio-related subjects, with second day almost exclusively devoted to presentations about video sub-jects. This was a deliberate choice: thanks to the inception of the TV production company »tpc international«, a cooperation of SALZBRENNER Stage Tec MEDIAGROUP and the Swiss company »tpc zürich ag«, in January, the group now has the human resources and technical support to venture into this new area.

Picture this …

Benoit Gisler in conversation with the master of ceremonies, Gerhard Steinke.

Most speakers for the video presentations had been invited and arranged for by tpc. Their numerous video clips and examples brought something to the seminar audio professionals are not accustomed to: entertainment and diversity. The first presentation, held by Benoît Gisler of Dartfish, was about realtime comparisons during sports telecasts. Gisler discussed the possibilities of using cutting-edge software and processing power for comparing the performances of two athletes during a race or competition. This approach was first used on a broad scale during last year's ski races to show two contenders at the exact same stages.

Eduard Palasan in action during his presentation of camera viewing angles.

Eduard Palasan of PLAZAMEDIA was next with a presentation about camera perspectives and new camera systems. Again, the main application for such techniques is to be found in sports, more specifically »fast« sports like ice hockey and soccer. In an attempt to be right where the action and the emotions are, PLAZAMEDIA uses several remotely controlled custom cameras that are not only tiny, but also very robust.

Peter Flückiger during his presentation about fibre-optic cable links.

Peter Flückiger, head of the outdoor sound department at tpc zürich ag, presented two subjects. His first presentation was centered on the countless variations of mobile camera technology involving motorcycles, helicopters and airplanes. Over the years, tpc has become a highly regarded specialist of such coverage techniques, and made a claim to fame with its coverage of the ascent of the north face of mount Eiger (Switzerland), but also ski and bicycle races.

Peter Flückiger's presentation about mobile telecast technology was supported by detailed picture material.

During his second presentation, Peter Flückiger discussed the pros and cons of working with fixed and temporary fiber-optic networks for outdoor telecasts. This is another domain where tpc has gathered a lot of experience, because the company not only uses fibre-optic links for its OB vans, but also builds temporary networks or draws upon the resources of onsite networks during its coverage of sports events.

Hubert Graf discusses the possibilities of a virtual studio.

The last presentation of the second day with focus on TV was held by Hubert Graf of the IRT (German Institute for Broadcast Technology) who discussed the virtual studio concept and its countless applications. Technology has come a long way and now allows for combining virtual studio sets with real ones, complete with animated backgrounds.

… and hear it loud and clear

The first day of the seminar was centered on audio, even though this also included meta data, data reduction and psychoacoustics. Several presentations were planned with the help of the German association for sound engineers, VDT, which was also holding its founding meeting of its newmedia specialist group at the monastery.

Concentrated faces wherever you looked during Dr. Jürgen Herre's presentation about meta data and MPEG-7.

The first speaker, Dr. Jürgen Herre of Fraunhofer IIS at Erlangen, discussed meta-data and the MPEG-7 standard. He explained the different ways of generating such metadata partly automatically, and partly manually. He also shared the following conviction with his audience: »In a not-so-distant future, metadata will become as important as the A/V content itself!«

Dr. Rudolf Rabenstein of the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg then went into the details of a related subject: MPEG-4 and its support of spatial sound reproduction within the frame-work of the Carrouso project. He explained the object-oriented aspects of MPEG-4 and the possibilities of using wave-field synthesis for a totally new approach to spatial sound reproduction.

Dr. Rudolf Rabenstein (Universität Erlangen), Dr. Günther Theile (IRT) und Dr. Jürgen Herre (Fraunhofer IIS)

Three speakers, Dr. Rudolf Rabenstein (Erlangen University), Dr. Günther Theile (IRT), and Dr. Jürgen Herre (Fraunhofer IIS) who talked about MPEG-4, MPEG-7, Carrouso and the psycho-acoustic foundation.

Dr. Günther Theile's presentation proved the logical sequel to what had been said so far. Theile, who conducts research at the German Institute for Broadcast Technology, showed how psychoacoustics could be instrumental for current and future audio developments, which he exemplified with reference to the Carrouso Project. In his usual enthralling way, he embarked on a comprehensive exploration of psychoacoustics, presenting cuttingedge experimental recording and reproduction setups for wavefield synthesis along the way.

Though always active in the background, it wasn't until the surround seminar that the Cantus console took center stage—sorry hall. The portable CANTUS console of tpc's OB van, operated by Dr. Klaus-Peter Scholz (Stage Tec).

The practical side of spatial sound reproduction, i.e. the current state of affairs of surround sound recording and mixing, was presented by Wolfgang Ellers. He used several DVDs for illustrating the various concepts found in present-day surround mixes. For his presentation, Musicelectronic Geithain had installed a surround system. After supper, Wolfgang Ellers held a workshop that provided the attendants with hands-on experience for mixing the multichannel recordings of a live recording. To this end, a portable CANTUS console was brought from tpc's OB van to the center of the hall, right at the sweet spot of the Geithain speaker system.

Klaus Dobbrick spoke about the diversity of sound and media productions in a theater environment.

Klaus Dobbrick of Volksbühne Berlin talked about audio applications in theaters. This modern institution by tradition has been using multimedia for artistic purposes for quite some time, and even ventured into Internet productions. From that point of view, the »Audio at the Theater« heading of his presentation was merely a working title: nowadays, sound engineers in theaters are no longer just in charge of audio, they also operate all other media currently available.

As a replacement for a speaker who was unable to come to Banz, Joachim Kiesler of Musicelectronic Geithain went far beyond standing in. His experimental presentation about correct speaker placement in the control room was captivating. Based on the available MEG system, he illustrated the adverse effects of sound reflections produced by the mixing console in a control room. The most striking part of his presentation was a setup that involved a table (to simulate a mixing console) and a measurement device for showing how different locations of the speaker system with respect to the console affected the listening conditions.

Axel Funck during his presentation about Internet streaming.

Converging media also involves the use of the Internet. That is why Axel Funck of T-Systems held a presentation about audio and video streaming via the Net. The Internet has become the platform of choice for the distribution of picture and audio content, for relatively small, focused target group. Funck confronted the possibilities of streaming services with those of terrestrial links, and discussed the state of the art-the quality of which could be checked in real time via the streaming computer Deutsche Telekom had installed on-site.

Gerhard Steinke's spot-on introductions and links brought smiles to the attendants' faces.
einzelnen Vorträgen der beiden Seminartage.

Gerhard Steinke once again excelled as master of ceremonies, with witty and to-the-point introductions of the speakers. His legendary sense of humor proved just the right approach for allowing the audience to emerge from the preceding presentation before tackling the next one. Based on his intimate knowledge of the subject matter, Steinke had little difficulty showing how the subjects presented at the seminar were related to one another. His fans will be delighted to learn that his wittiest and finest introductions have been posted on the internet (in German language).

Far away, and yet right where the action is

The tpc crew didn't just help with picking the subjects for the seminar, it was also instru-mental in getting the show on the web, by delivering an excellent video and audio signal as input signal to a telekom streaming server. Originally considered a gimmick related to this year's theme, this initiative proved a huge success. Especially users with a broadband connection (DSL, corporate access) were delighted by the high quality of the netcasts. Most of them even stayed connected for hours on end!

Of course, the over 100 attendants at the seminar were in a privileged position, because many details like surround sound with examples of various mixing philosophies simply cannot be conveyed via the Internet. And nothing quite replaces the thrill of a hands-on multichannel mixing session under the supervision of an experienced engineer, as all those that jumped on the occasion will gladly confirm. Despite the two-day seminar's packed schedule, the attendants nevertheless had ample and opportunity for discussions that, more often than not, also involved the speakers.

Many partners

The control room of tpc international's Ü2 van, which provided technical support from the monastery's yard.

The seminar has become famous for its small-scale, yet focused display of the products manufactured or distributed by our partner companies. The big OB van of tpc internal was parked in the monastery's yard and open to those who wanted to visit it.

Musicelectronic Geithain not only provided the surround PA system but also exhibited other models, and also provided background information about their products.

Uwe Seyfert of For-Tune in conversation with one of the seminar's attendants.

For-Tune, the German distributor of SALZBRENNER Stage Tec MEDIAGROUP's 24-bit microphone converter TrueMatch RMC, had several cutting-edge studio devices of its range on display. The companies PLAZAMEDIA and tv skyline had their camera systems up and running, thus allowing the attendants to try them out and see for themselves what they were capable of. Finally Deutsche Telekom's streaming setup, which was used throughout the seminar for live-feeds in ISDN and DSL quality to the online community, was parked in a room adjacent to the seminar hall for better acoustic isolation.

Many happy returns

With its long-standing tradition, the seminar at the Banz Monastery has become a staple of SALZBRENNER Stage Tec MEDIA-GROUP's activities. Despite its being an annual event, though, the seminar's focus differs from year to year. This time, the event proved once again to draw a wide and international audience thanks to the perfect organization in collaboration with Ingenieurbüro Renner and last but not least thanks to all speakers whose competence and enthusiasm provided just the right mix for making this world of converging media palpable and palatable.