Five Jünger Audio T*AP television audio processors were deployed by German public broadcaster NDR to perform dynamics across both the stereo and 5.1 surround sound mixes during coverage of the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place in Düsseldorf last month.
Event host broadcaster NDR (Norddeutscher Rundfunk) handled the broadcast production in cooperation with the EBU and more than 40 participating member broadcasters from across Europe.
Jünger Audio’s T*AP television audio processor is a wide-band eight-channel processor (8×1, 4×2, or 6+2) that focuses on automatic and adaptive loudness control using the manufacturer’s LEVEL MAGIC algorithm. It is fully compliant with ATSC, ITU and EBU R128 loudness recommendations, and is primarily designed for TV playout facilities, where is can provide loudness control, upmix and surround sound processing.
Four of the T*APs were split equally between the music and final mixes, and in all cases were used in conjunction with Stagetec Aurus consoles. A fifth unit was deployed for national German transmission out of Hamburg. In line with NDR’s requirements for the project, the T*APs were delivered with some customisations.
“We wanted the ability to easily and simultaneously control limiting and compression for stereo and 5.1 surround sound,” said Ulli Fricke, sound engineer for NDR and head of sound at the Eurovision Song Contest, who described the Eurovision production as “a huge success”.
Summing up, Peter Poers, managing director of Jünger Audio, reflected: “NDR has used Jünger Audio’s dynamics control units for many years and has always been happy with their audio processing performance. On this occasion, NDR came to us with a special request – for surround dynamics processing in combination with sophisticated loudness control. This was something we had not tackled before but we rose to the challenge and were able to meet their request by making some small customisations to our new, flagship T*AP television audio processor. This enabled us to meet their expectations with regard to sound quality and timeframe. The Eurovision Song Contest is a very well-respected live production and we were delighted that it acted as a launch event for our new T*AP. It was a success story for all those who participated.”
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