TWiRT 337 - Predicting Headphone Sound Quality with Sean Olive

How many times have you bought headphones or earbuds, only to be disappointed with their audio quality? Or maybe you were pleasantly surprised! Sean Olive is the Acoustic Research Fellow at HARMAN International. He’s doing headphone qualitative measurements that mean something, both for consumers and for manufacturers, toward better audio from our wearables.

Hosts:

Chris Tobin, IP-Solutionist 

Kirk Harnack, The Telos Alliance, Delta Radio, & South Seas Broadcasting

Guest:

Sean Olive, Acoustic Research Fellow at HARMAN International

Show Links:

Sean Olive’s Blog, with links to articles and research

KZ ATE KZ-ATE Dynamic Balanced Armature IEMS In Ear HIFI Monitors

AKG N60 Noise Canceling Headphone

Topics: Broadcast Engineering, audio, audio quality

Radio Magazine: Frank Foti on Audio Processing for Broadcast Streaming

When it comes to broadcast streaming, there is a big difference between audio processing for streaming and audio processing for over-the-air. In the February 2017 issue of Radio magazine, Doug Irwin interviewed Frank Foti, along with other audio-processing experts, on how to process audio for broadcast streaming properly, asking them about the design differences between over-the-air processors and those designed for streaming media.

Topics: Omnia Audio, Telos Systems, broadcast streaming, Z/IPStream X/2, Z/IPStream 9X/2

TWiRT 336 - Hands-On AES67 with Patrick Killianey

Perhaps you’ve heard of AES67 for IP-Audio. It allows cross-connection of different, competing AoIP standards like Ravenna, Dante, and Livewire+. But until you actually try connecting audio devices together, AES67 is just a standard on paper. IP-Audio expert, Patrick Killianey from Yamaha Pro Audio is here to explain real-world AES67 from our recent technology demo

Hosts:

Chris Tobin, IP-Solutionist 

Kirk Harnack, The Telos Alliance, Delta Radio, & South Seas Broadcasting

Guest:

Patrick Killianey, Network Systems Applications Engineer - Yamaha Pro Audio

Show Links:

Introduction to AES67 - Full Technology Demo [YouTube video]

Networking Fundamentals for AoIP - 6-part course [YouTube video]

Media Networking Alliance - Videos and Presentations

Untangling EAS with Pathfinder

For many years, broadcast stations have been required by law to incorporate emergency alerting into their air chains—usually directly in line with the program path as the last stage prior to the transmitter. As station groups have consolidated and air chains have become more complex, however, managing this insertion gets a bit trickier. What used to be a 1:1 correspondence between studios, transmitters, and everything in between is often now a matrix of possibilities including multiple studios or automation outputs, along with main and backup program paths and transmitters.

Passionate About Radio

At Telos Alliance, we hire people from all walks of life, but mostly, we hire people who are Passionate About Broadcasting, whether it be TV or Radio! Dave Sarkies, Social Media Community & Content Coordinator, is all about passion. Passion for music, passion for Radio...

Topics: Radio, The Telos Alliance, Broadcasting

Harnessing the Full Potential of Audio over IP

There is a misconception in the broadcast space that media outlets must wait for video over IP to mature before fully embracing an audio over IP (AoIP) infrastructure, but this is not the case. AoIP technologies have been stable for some time and today can provide the flexibility, reliability, and connectivity needed to deploy audio separately from video. Before the introduction of SDI video with embedded audio, video and audio had been handled separately for years. Although embedded audio seemed like a step forward, it did not reduce lip sync issues, and associated metadata is still easily separated from the audio. Since metadata is an increasingly essential part of new audio services, this becomes a major problem.

10 Ways to Save with Broadcast VoIP Phones for Your Facility

If you're reading this, chances are you are paying way too much for expensive analog phone lines. 

TWiRT 335 - Amazing Dynamic Mics with Bob Heil

There are hundreds of microphones on the market - a huge selection. What does Bob Heil know about mics that others have missed? Why do Heil mics sound great - on Ham Radio and in high-end studios? And what is Bob’s secret piece of test equipment for mic development? Bob Heil joins Chris Tobin and Kirk Harnack on this episode of TWiRT!

Hosts:

Chris Tobin, IP-Solutionist 

Kirk Harnack, The Telos Alliance, Delta Radio, & South Seas Broadcasting

Guest:

Bob Heil, Founder and CEO of Heil Sound, Ltd.

Show Links:

Heil Sound Pro Microphones

Heil Mic Primer

Ham Nation podcast

Theatre Organ from the Ozarks

Whirlwind SC48 multi-cable tester

The Seaworthy Streamin’ Sound of Omnia.9

Lunare Project is a collective group of DJs who produce music for a variety of special events. And in the luxurious world of yachting, it’s one special event after another. Enter Lunare Project’s Radio Yacht, an online radio station built around the yachting lifestyle in southern Italy and other exotic locales. Based in the premier international yachting community of Naples, Radio Yacht targets the yachting crowd with an emphasis on the yachter’s lifestyle. It has provided music for trendy upscale events, including an Andy Warhol art exhibit in Naples, the UIM Awards for Powerboating in Monaco, the Winter Music Conference in Miami, sunset at Café del Mar - Ibiza, and Capri Palace Hotel & Spa on the Isle of Capri. In fact, it’s more than just an online radio station. It’s a way of life. It’s music and conversation that reflects the lifestyle of a demanding audience accustomed to the very best in life.

Topics: broadcast audio processor

No Problem in Houston: Replacing STLs with xNodes

In late 2015, I was examining the expiring contracts for many of our legacy telco services. As I did, it quickly became apparent that we could do much better, both in terms of cost savings and quality.

CBS Radio Houston has a somewhat unique situation, in that all four of our FMs are co-located at two transmitter sites. The main site for the FMs is the Senior Road Tower, and our aux is an American Tower site nearby. In the past, both sites were linked to the studios via digital 950 MHz STLs and multiple T1s, with the 950 MHz links serving as mains and the T1 links serving as backup.  As you might expect, data for things like telemetry and HD Radio rode on timeslots in our T1 frames that weren’t being used for audio transport.