Editor:
Gary Khan

Publisher:
Kathy (Splice Girl) Dunaj

Volume 18 Number 3
March, 2003

EARS Meets at ACME Recording

1708 W. Belmont, Chicago
773-477-7333
Tuesday March 25th 2003 at 7:30pm

Acme, started in 1974 by our founder Mike Rasfeld (may he rest in peace), continues to thrive offering recording, mastering and duplicating services. This comfortable, yet professional room features an excellent recording space with over 60 new and vintage microphones. In addition to checking out the studio, a representative from Shure will be bringing along the new KSM instrument mikes for us to try out. Bring your favorite small diaphragm condenser with you to compare. Hope to see you there.

-Da Prez. Mary Mazurek-

EARS Appreciation Files/Recaps:

EARS members enjoyed a snowy night out at WFMT Studios in January. The beautifulfacility houses both radio & tv stations that broadcast to the airways. Our new President Mary Mazurek, started the meeting off with a round of "who's who". The snow didn't cool down the excitement as topics were discussed for future meetings. Lots of great ideas came to the floor (and the wall and the ceiling) as we tossed about ideas both small and great... Keep tuned to future newsletters to hear about which ideas become actual meetings. Some of the "ideas" included... Mic Pre shoot outs, stand alone DAW shoot outs, CD duplication systems, an EARS pamphlet, and even a Swap Nite for selling old gear. Next the VP Mike Castronovo, had a drawing for two door prizes of 50 cds each (donated by Mediaform).... the lucky winners, Terry Pawelke & Paul Cox, congrats!!. Our Treasurer Gary Khan, took a moment to explain EARS benefits and invite visitors to consider joining. Volunteer pianists were sought as the Pres explained our demonstration of "Stereo Miking". Three Pairs of AKG mics, and one Rhode NT4 were set up next to the gorgeous 9 foot Steinway Grand.  As Mary took the helm and switched back and forth between pairs... the "Air" became apparent... (to the throne??). This was as informative a meeting as it was fun. Putting the icing on the cake, at the end of the night the first of the "EARS Membership Certificates for 2003", produced by Timothy Powell, were distributed to members in attendance.

[Thanks to WFMT for opening their doors to us and to Pegasus Recording for the munchies. For more information or scheduling studio time, contact Operations Manager Don Mueller at 773-279-2081] -Mike Castronovo-

Those who braved the cold (but less that forecasted) snowy weather found the parking easy and won big in the raffle as we viewed the Grammy® telecast on 2 big screen TV's supported by a tweaked & rockin' stereo sound system we set up specifically for the event.

We feasted on the reasonably priced, tasty Biscotti food and beverage menu, prepped by Dan Abu-Absi, in a smoke free mellow club vibe with "way-comfy" sofas and chairs. Finally, I related memories of our fallin' friend, Larry Williams to those who weren't fortunate to know him. Raffle winners included: Ken Burkhardt-Sanyo digital camera donated by Full Compass; Mike Castronvo-Shure SM-58 autographed by Charlie Daniels; Dave Jeziorski-[actually his classy date] "Shure On Tour" Mag autographed by Ozzy Osbourne; Jim Masoth-won a $40 dinner from Saussy Restaurant in Chicago; Gary Khan- Emtec windbreaker; Mary Mazurek- Emtec beach shorts but wouldn't model them; Assorted T-shirts, coffee mugs and shirts from Shure and Emtec.

Among others, Michelle Moncada brought a few late, but homemade sweets and Al Wittek, a co-worker of EARS mentor, Mike Rasfeld, brought his attitude and traded old Acme anecdotes with yours truly. Early arrival, Diane Peyton helped me load in from the cold.

A grateful EARS cheer to Brian "friendly" Fox (Hotti Biscotti), "Dandy" Don Morris (now independent & Emtec schwag facilitator), Jean "T-shirts" Tardibuono (Emtec), "Generous" Jack Kontney (Shure) and "Helpful" Heather Paske (Full compass)!

A side note: We were too busy to notice beforehand that the telecast was in HD and 5.1, which we could've set up, though compliments from EARS attendees abounded on the setup provided. As always, member suggestions are welcome and helpful so how come nobody alerted us to this cool and craft-relevant aspect of the telecast? I know of at least one EARS vet who was aware but said nothing. Work, weather, distance or personal obligations have always affected attendance at EARS (or any organization's) meetings, hands-on gear demos, shootouts and events but the networking, camaraderie, Eardrum (and website's ) useful info and participation in the form of emails, calls, etc. remain a valuable aspect of why these organizations exist so please stay in touch. 'nuff said! -Gary Khan-

EARS Member News!

Congratulations to EARS members and supporters Shure Brothers in Evanston for their 2003 Technical Grammy. Way to go!!!

EARS would like to congratulate Billy Branch and Producer/Engineer and EARS member Jack LeTourneau, for winning the Best Blues CD of the Year (Billy Branch and the Sons of Blues) award at the 22nd annual Chicago Music Awards banquet held recently in Chicago.

Dues Thanks:

A big EARS cheer goes out to legendary engineer Gary Loizzo for taking time out of his swamped touring schedule to send in his dues, plus a bit more. Thanks Gary!

EARS also welcomes new members John Hachtel and Ken Burkhardt, thanks for the dues!

The Year of 5.1 Broadcasting; the Grammys HD/5.1
by: Hank Neuberger

The 2003 Grammy telecast became the first awards show of it's kind to broadcast on a commercial network in HD with 5.1 Surround audio. Although broadcasting's journey from DTV to HDTV to HD/5.1 has been rocky, it now appears that this will be the year that 5.1 Broadcasting finally takes hold. And the success of the Grammy telecast in Surround helped spread the news.

The first wave of discrete digital 5.1 surround was in the early 90's when filmmakers enjoyed new delivery formats such as Dolby Digital, DTS, and SDDS for feature film exhibition. The Second Wave was in the latter 90's when DVD exploded and fueled the tremendous growth of "home theaters." The Third Wave of 5.1 Surround Sound, namely 5.1 Broadcasting, is just beginning to gather speed right now. The tools are available, the networks are buying them, the affiliates are installing them, and TV producers and advertisers are primed to use them.

Although members of the Grammy TV Committee (namely Phil Ramone, Murray Allen and myself) have talked about a surround broadcast for a few years, we learned in the fall of '02 that the CBS network might have the infrastructure in place in time for the Grammy show. But before we confronted the numerous audio questions, the first decision was whether the Grammys should go High Def since that is a prerequisite for delivering 5.1 Audio. A live HD broadcast means numerous technical and budget challenges including HD cameras, HD switchers, and dual graphics generation (one for Standard Def, one for HD, to accommodate the different aspect ratios.) Once the decision was made to go for it, we were ready to confront the 5.1 Audio.

The challenge was to get the mix for a 3.5 hour live broadcast, with over 1000 inputs scrolling across the desks, from the stage at MSG to the trucks, in both stereo and 5.1, mixed so that live real-time adjustments to the stereo would carry through to the 5.1, then up 20 blocks to CBS Master Control, out to their affiliates, and off to cable and satellite TV suppliers and on to your home.  In sync with the picture.

Just one problem: nobody knew exactly how to do it.

To find the answer required a task force including the above mentioned folks representing the Grammys, John Cossette from the production company, Randy Ezratty from Effanel Mobile, the Advanced Technology department at CBS, representatives from Dolby, and tech experts from all the digital video trucks. Working from December until show day, this group tackled a new issue almost every day until we arrived at a plan. Here's a brief description of the path of the live 5.1 mix:

• Stage mics to remote mic pres and A/D converters just off-stage.
• After a split to house and monitors, digital data travels by fiber 800 feet to the Effanel Mobile.
• The Capricorn digital desk has been preset after rehearsals by music mixers John Harris and Jay Vicari with pans and returns pre-assigned for both stereo and 5.1 positioning. During the show, the mixers only monitor in stereo.
• The 5.1 output is sent to On-Site-Recording mobile where Randy Ezratty, the 5.1 Sound Designer,         monitoring in 5.1, does the final surround balance at the Yamaha PM2000 desk.
• 5.1 mix is encoded to Dolby E.
• Dolby E travels by fiber to CBS Master Control where it is decoded to discrete 6-channel.
• After commercial insertion at CBS, 6-channel audio is re-encoded to Dolby E, married to the HD video,  and transmitted to CBS stations via satellite.
• Local stations decode Dolby E, then encode to Dolby Digital, and broadcast HD/5.1.
• Certain cable companies, (Time Warner), and certain satellite TV companies (Dish) were prepared to receive the CBS digital HD/5.1 and delivered it to home viewers.

If you have any ideas for stories, wish to contribute an article, or want to include any upcoming events, please contact:

Gary at pegasusrecording@ameritech.net. Or write to:
Peagasus Recording P.O Box 578903, Chicago, IL 60657.

Kathy can be reached at SVI, or
kathy@soundvideoimpressions.com.