Resolution Awards 2009 winners -- The votes are in and counted for the winners in the eleven product categories of the 2009 Resolution Awards.

The Nominations Panel, made up of a select group of international Resolution readers that represent the full breadth of the readership in broadcast, postproduction, music, multimedia and mastering disciplines, created a shortlist of products of note that shipped in 2008. Voting was conducted on-line and only Resolution readers were eligible to vote after logging in to the voting mechanism with their reader details.

DAW

Merging Pyramix 6 MassCore

  

Desk-Controller

Euphonix Artist MC

Dynamic

Tube-Tech RM8/CM 1A

EQ

Thermionic Culture The Rooster

Interface

Prism Sound Orpheus

Microphone

Schoeps CCM 22, MK22

Monitoring

Primacoustic Recoil Stabilizer

Plug-in

UAD/SPL Transient Designer

Preamp

Focusrite Liquid 4PRE

Processor

Bricasti M7

Recorder

Sound Devices 788T

IBC believes this is the year to invest in knowledge and says it is investing heavily in new and enhanced visitor attractions for IBC2009 held 11-15 September at the RAI in Amsterdam. There are specialist zones covering digital signage, IPTV and mobile TV, along with free business briefing sessions associated with them.

Brand-new for 2009 is the IBC Production Village, which features a comprehensive display of broadcast and digital cinema cameras and a hands-on studio where you can touch and experience the technology. And the IBC Training Zone is expanding -- there’ll be more training venues, with the scope extending to include production techniques and technology as well as desktop finishing tools. As always, all sessions are free.

The organisers have also revamped the IBC Conference programme for 2009 to include streams on technological advancements, content creation and innovation, and the business of broadcasting. Meanwhile, the new Innovation Arena opens doors for smaller companies to showcase new content, services, applications and products.

Registration is now open at www.ibc.org

Norwegian broadcaster NRK has bought three DPA 4017 shotgun microphones from Norwegian distributor Lyd-Systemer.

The broadcaster needed a small and lightweight shotgun for recording dialogue on drama productions. ‘Everyone noticed that material recorded with the 4017 had a greater tolerance for manipulation after recording, such as compression, than the other mics we tested,’ said NRK’s Are Andreassen, the project’s team leader.

German public television network ZDF ordered a Riedel MediorNet network to broadcast the election of the German president in May; only weeks after the product was launched at NAB in April. As part of the installation, eight different locations around the Reichstag were connected through fibre. To integrate the frames, about 5km of fibre were installed. The setup consisted of 17 MediorNet mainframes equipped with 77 SDI-O media cards; 32 MN SD12I input and 45 MN SDO output cards provided 92 inputs and 90 outputs for SD signals. Riedel provided connections to integrate the digital video router of the OB trucks and one of the SNG trucks via RS422 interfaces.

The MediorNet network connected two OB trucks, two DGN trucks as well as several locations within the Reichstag including the plenary chamber. ZDF’s control room and the stage in front of the Brandenburg Gate were also integrated into the network. MediorNet’s point-to-multipoint functionality made any video signal available at any point of the installation. This allowed the videowall production and the live broadcast of the election to use the same signals, which were made available through the same infrastructure.

Telefunken USA has been named the Elektroakustik arm of Telefunken and awarded the exclusive rights to manufacture a wide variety of professional audio products and vacuum tubes bearing the Telefunken name in more than 27 countries worldwide. Telefunken Elektroakustik can now use the Telefunken trademarks for professional audio equipment in North America, South America, Europe, Asia and Australia.

The company has plans to expand its microphone product line in 2009 to offer outboard signal processing equipment, vacuum tubes, and other ancillary recording and professional audio products.

Vancouver BC-based Radial Engineering has acquired the Komit Compressor from boutique manufacturer Burgin-McDaniel.

‘This is much more than the simple acquisition of an exceptional product design… this strategic move includes our adding two of the industry’s top design engineers to our team,’ said Radial president Peter Janis. Before leaving Rupert Neve Designs to start Burgin-McDaniel, Kevin Burgin worked under the stewardship of Rupert Neve as primary circuit designer. During this period, Drake Williams was a circuit layout and mechanical designer for Rupert Neve Designs.

London-based Fountain Studios has bought the first Calrec Apollo console. The 72-fader desk will be installed as the final part of a complete HD studio investment programme in July.

‘After an extensive review of the options for 5.1 sound we believe that the new Apollo console best fulfils our broadcast requirements for the future,’ said Fountain Studios MD Mariana Spater. Fountain is behind some of the biggest live entertainment programming in the UK, including Britain’s Got Talent and The X Factor.

 

Nick Cowan, owner of Modern World Studios in Tetbury, UK, completed the Ironman Lanzarote challenge in May in a time of 14 hours, 38 minutes and 25 seconds. Nick was one of 1,300 taking part in the 3.8km open sea swim followed by a 180km bike ride followed by a full marathon. It is regarded as the world's toughest course. Congratulations to Nick for raising money for Hope For Tomorrow, which provides mobile chemotherapy units, enabling cancer patients to be treated closer to their homes (www.justgiving.com/nickcowan1).

Resolution’s Zenon Schoepe is cycling London to Paris twice in the first fortnight of July. The first time is to raise money for The Children’s Country Holidays Fund (www.justgiving.com/zenonschoepe), which provides severely disadvantaged children and young people aged 7-11 with a range of residential activity and respite breaks -- many of the children have experienced or witnessed some form of abuse and some are young carers. When he gets back he’ll turnaround and then do it all again for Macmillan Cancer Support (www.justgiving.com/zenonschoepe2), which improves the lives of people affected by cancer. While Zenon’s challenge pales into insignificance compared to the Herculean task performed by ‘racing’ Cowan, he does get to wear a far more fetching outfit with generous sponsorship support provided by Focusrite, Euphonix, Midas/Klark Teknik, Audio-Technica, Tannoy and HHB.

Schoeps has introduced the VSR 5 studio microphone preamp. The preamp is said to have a wide dynamic range and extremely low distortion. It has a dual mono arrangement with two independent knobs to set gain in 3dB steps. Two amplifier modules form the heart of the VSR 5, which for a number of years have been the in-house reference for testing microphones. It was inspired by the ‘TransAmp LZ’ modules from Valley People. The VSR 5 is Schoeps’ first 19-inch rackmount unit and has switches for phantom, polarity reverse and mute, plus three low-cut filters.

The RCMR microphone extension tube from Schoeps is identical in appearance to its well-known RC extension tubes from the Colette mic series. The RCMR becomes a complete microphone when combined with any Schoeps capsule, of which some 20 different types are available.

While the original RC series requires a microphone amplifier, such as the phantom-powered Schoeps CMC 6--, the RCMR is designed for direct connection to pocket transmitters and can be used for wireless microphones.

www.schoeps.de

Unity Audio is designing and manufacturing its own range of professional monitors after assembling a team of professionals with ‘impeccable credentials’ in the areas required to produce what Unity describes as ‘a new standard of monitoring’. The first model is called The Rock.

The front baffle and cabinet were designed by studio designer Kevin Van Green. It’s a closed cabinet design made from 12mm, 9-ply Baltic Birch with a bracing system that stops cabinet flexing.

A folded ribbon tweeter has been designed that has a neodymium magnet system, giving higher efficiency, superior linear frequency and phase response along with the smoother ‘less fatiguing results associated with the use of ribbon tweeters’.

A 180mm woofer with a 0.2mm aluminium foil is chemically bonded to a rigid pulp fibre cone that is said to reduce harmonic anomalies and permits +/-15mm of woofer travel. Esoteric Audio Research designer Tim de Paravicini created the amp for the monitor. It is a 100W discrete bi-polar, low feedback design with custom wound transformers and dedicated LF and HF sections with overload/clip protection.

www.unityaudio.co.uk

The SSL C10 HD broadcast console integrates all DSP signal processing and operating hardware into a convection-cooled control surface. Full processing redundancy, also within the console surface, is available as an option. The console comes in two frame sizes -– 24+8 and 32+8 -– with scalable DSP and I-O options. The control surface is complimented by a graphical overview of all signals, augmented with SSL’s Eyeconix feature that presents thumbnail pictures of sources for fast visual recognition and navigation.

It offers a dialogue ‘auto-mix’ engine that automatically balances individual voices, overall volume and ambient noise of a ‘talking heads’ discussion, with minimal operator setup or intervention.

SSL’s X-Desk combines a 16-channel SuperAnalogue summing mixer with a compact analogue audio hub with 100mm faders, artist and studio monitoring with Dim and Cut buttons, stereo and mono aux sends, channel and master bus inserts and bargraph level metering. It comes with rack ears and several X-Desks can be cascaded via D-Sub connection to expand up to 150 inputs on mixdown.

www.solid-state-logic.com

Software release 3.6 for the Aurus and Auratus consoles improves functionality for live production applications. Highlights include an aux-to-fader, or mix-minus-to-fader, function. Easera SysTune software is designed to analyse room frequency and impulse responses in real-time and is integrated into Aurus; the software was previously only available as a standalone application. SysTune constantly returns room frequency and impulse responses, enabling corrections to be made even during a show.

Vivace offers electroacoustic room-enhancement as either an integrated solution for Aurus and Nexus systems or as standalone application and allows for adapting room acoustics to any kind of performance from the FOH desk.

www.stagetec.com

Focusrite’s Saffire PRO 24 interface has two preamps that combine with mix control software and FireWire interfacing. I-Os include two additional analogue inputs, six analogue outputs, ADAT inputs (for expanding the interface with Focusrite’s OctoPre), stereo SPDIF I-O and two virtual ‘loopback’ inputs for routing digital audio between software applications. There is also 5-LED metering for each analogue input.

www.focusrite.com

   

Oktava has launched extensions to its MK-012 modular system, allowing the use of different capsules with the same microphone preamp. There are three large diaphragm, one medium diaphragm and four small diaphragm condenser capsules available. In addition to cardioid, hypercardioid and omnidirectional small diaphragm capsules a fig-8 has also been added.

The MK-012 microphone preamplifier is available with three options: standard transformerless FET circuit; as a small valve option; or as a miniature preamp with extension cable (up to 5m) to the capsule.

A new edition of the MK-319 large diaphragm condenser, called the MK-419, has transformerless electronics and a raised capsule voltage that increases the sensitivity from 11 to 34 mV/Pa and with lower self noise level. The maximum SPL is now 135dB.

www.oktava-online.com

The LM16 from Fostex is a 16:4:2 digital live mixer that features the same technology as the LR16 live recording mixer (without the recorder) and looks like a conventional analogue mixer. Like the LR16, the I-O box and controller box can be separated allowing the stage box to be linked to the mixer section by a single Cat5E cable, up to 50m long.

www.fostexinternational.com