Rome, Italy: Fox Channels Italy has become the first broadcaster to invest in DK-Technologies‘ new MSD100C Loudness meter, which is designed to tackle the issue of the perceived loudness of audio signals.
The new meter has been installed at Fox Channels Italy‘s studios in Rome where it is being used as part of the Broadcast Content Management chain to meter and normalize the loudness of programmes ingested into the video server, before transmission. FOX Channels Italy has also upgraded the MSD600M++ meters that it is using in its audio post production department to incorporate DK‘s new loudness software.
DK-Technologies MSD100C Loudness incorporates ITU Recommendations BS.1770 and BS.1771, which specify the algorithms that should be used to measure audio programme loudness. Many broadcast authorities are now looking to formally adopt the ITU recommendations in order to improve the quality of broadcast audio by making it consistent across all channels and programmes.
Alessandro Travaglini, senior sound designer at Fox Channels Italy and a member of the technical committee set up by AGCOM (Autorità per le Garanzie nelle Comunicazioni) to look into the loudness issue, says: “Broadcasters such as SKY Italia and Fox Channels Italy have been running intensive studies on loudness since 2005. These have resulted in the inclusion of specific loudness metering and control procedures across our entire workflow, starting in production and taking in post production, quality control and ingest as well as final transmission.
“We are using DK meters in two areas: audio post production and BCM (Broadcast Content Management). In audio post production we needed a tool that was reliable, easy to read, customizable, multiscale and easily implemented into the digital multichannel system. We chose DK‘s MSD600++ meters, which we are using for loudness conforming and to monitor the audio level of 5.1 multichannel productions. The robustness and reliability of DK meters, plus the possibility of designing our own configuration through the remote software, made this a very effective choice.”
In BCM, Fox Channels Italy is using DK‘s new MSD100C Loudness meter to ensure loudness continuity through to air.
“DK‘s new software, which is incorporated into the MSD100C Loudness, allows loudness metering in accordance with the international recommendations,” Travaglini adds. “The new meter gives us the option of setting several reading parameters, thus making the loudness reading guaranteed in any circumstances.”
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