Sennheiser 2012 Annual Report Download - page 23

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8,000 Hz
BROADCASTING
8,000
HD for the ears. With the Digital 9000 digital wireless system,
uncompressed audio signals can be transmitted for the first time ever.
The new technology made its debut during the television
competition “The Voice of Switzerland.”
TRIAL BY FIRE
BEHIND THE SCENES
The tension was unbearable in the Bodensee Arena in
Kreuzlingen, Switzerland. So much so, that you could
almost hear a pin drop. In a venue typically populated
by ice hockey players chasing after pucks, four young sing-
ing talents were awaiting their fate. It seemed like an eter-
nity before moderator Sven Epiney finally put the candi-
dates, audience and people watching on TV out of their
misery: “The Voice of Switzerland is Nicole Bernegger from
Bern.” There was no stopping it now. Suddenly, the hall
turned into a madhouse of frenetic cheers, ear-piercing
shrieks and thunderous applause. Yellow confetti rained
down on the stage as the finalists threw themselves into
each other’s arms. And in the background, Bono Vox of U2
reminded us that it’s a “Beautiful Day.”
Just meters away, however, there was no time to
take it easy. Behind the scenes of Swiss television SRF1, the
team in the control room responsible for the program’s
perfect sound was under the gun. The next piece up was
the beaming winner’s musical acceptance speech and it
should give the audience goose bumps. “A big sound for
the big picture” was demanded, and the effort was enor-
mous. On the central, all-digital mixing console alone, there
were more than 160 channels to control the volume of the
band’s 60 microphones, and the 12 atmospheric and 36
additional mics used by the vocalists and presenters. It all
came down to the audio engineers, who had to mix the
sound before sending it on its long journey into people’s
living rooms.
Peter Flückiger of tpc – technology and production
center switzerland ag, the production company in charge of
the program – was on board. The sound expert, who has
“audio specialist” written on his
business card, is simply thrilled by
the sound of the show: “I can’t
think of many TV productions that
have such a great sound.” With
more than 40 years of experience,
Flückiger is all too familiar with the television industry and
the complex technology used behind the scenes. Even so,
the singing competition’s last season was a premiere of
sorts for the Swiss. Following more than 10 years of devel-
opment work, it was the first time that
Sennheiser’s new digital wireless system
Digital 9000 was on stage.
Digital audio systems are typically
more difficult to handle and more suscepti-
ble to interference than analog systems. Yet,
Flückiger wasn’t a bit nervous about the
Digital 9000’s premiere. “I had nothing to
fear,” says the audio technician with a smile
– a lot of problems can be taken care of with
the right know-how and a good team. In pre-
paring for “The Voice of Switzerland,” one of
the problems turned out to be the many LED
walls on stage. However, by changing the po-
sitioning of the wireless Sennheiser micro-
phones, they were able to achieve the de-
sired results and produce a signal that was
about 10 decibels stronger.
“I was immediately excited with the
Digital 9000’s sound quality,” says Flückiger.
The handling noises typical of earlier genera-
tions of wireless microphones have disap-
peared and, acoustically, it shows no differ-
ence from a wired mic. “Singers don’t have to
use a filter, it’s got an awful lot of brilliance,
and the sound isn’t distorted,” raves the
technical manager. “Having the perfect
acoustics gives singers a confidence boost.” It’s one of the
ways in which technology can improve emotions. The audi-
ence can immediately sense whether a performer feels com-
fortable and is enjoying his or her performance, and Flückiger
knows this. Swiss Sennheiser professional audio expert Rolf
Jauch agrees: “Being able to fully rely on our technology
makes it possible for singers to concentrate on their singing.”
That’s how candidates Nicole Bernegger, Angie Ott,
Iris Moné and Sarah Quartetto were able to use their impres-
sive vocal performances to make it to the final round of the
competition. The frequency response of the human voice,
which ranges from about 80 to 16,000 Hz, was exploited to
the greatest extent possible – from the female’s fundamen-
tal frequency (up to 250 Hz), to the typical voice range
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a1. The control center. From here,
sound technicians operate more
than 100 microphones used for
the Swiss television SRF1 program
“The Voice of Switzerland.”
“ACOUSTICALLY, THE DIGITAL
9000 SHOWS NO DIFFERENCE FROM A WIRED MICROPHONE.”