Broadcast News

Bookmark and Share
07/07/2005

Pyramix records Live 8 for BBC DVD

The only multi-track recording of Live 8 was made by the BBC for a major DVD release of the event in a few weeks time.
The Hyde Park event, due to feature in the lion’s share of the DVD, was recorded using five of Merging Technologies’ Pyramix DAW recorders supplied and manned free of charge by Merging’s UK Distributor Total Audio Solutions. The video feed for the DVD was recorded onto two of Merging’s VCube HD Video Recorders.
BBC Sound supervisor Julian Gough was in charge of the recording in the BBC’s Mastersound truck and the team comprised of Total Audio Solutions’ Kevin McCue, Product Specialist and Paul Mortimer, Business Manager, who explained how it came about: “The BBC have been using Pyramix for three years now and they asked us to provide and support a further four systems for this event as it is their preferred hard disc multitrack recording system.
“In total we had five Pyramix systems in the Soundtruck. Two were for the 56 tracks of the main recording from the stages – one primary and one as a back-up, and two were recording the announcers, commentary and audience sounds from all around the arena. This consisted of up to 40 tracks as well!
“The fifth machine was essentially a spare which was idling, chasing code, ready to be used if required.
“In addition we had two Merging VCubes which were fed composit and SDI feeds of the live picture mix and recorded the entire event to hard disc. This was the visual recording which will be used for the post production DVD mix.”
Each Pyramix was equipped with two Mykerinos MB5 DSP cards with MADI and AES/EBU i/o daughter cards. The BBC’s Pyramix in the Master Soundtruck has an external 4 bay SCSI RAID 5 array. The two main stage recorders were writing to an ADTX L series mass storage array supplied by Global Distribution Ltd configured with 15 SATA drives running in two groups of seven with one control drive and connected to the Pyramix systems via 2GB fibre. Also configured in a RAID 5 array for total redundancy so that one drive in each group could fail and the system could still fully function an remain in record.
The two Stages; A and B, revolved with each change of artist and the feeds were sent to 2 BBC radio trucks for live transmission, with a truck mixing and transmitting the output of 56 tracks from each stage. These primary feeds also went to the Soundtruck for recording to Pyramix. The machines were fed via MADI using the Nexus router system in the truck as well as an RME MADI Bridge system.
With this router system they were able to switch stages between artists with literally one click. For the finale they decided to us feeds from both stages at once – but thanks to the backup system and the comprehensive routing, the Soundtruck was able to handle it easily.
It total they recorded 380 gigabytes of music and 280 gigabytes of audience, presenters and more, totaling over 600 gigabytes of audio. This was supplied to DVD authoring company Metropolis Studios London as BWAV files and the video was rendered down to Quicktime for the visuals.
(GB)
VMI.TV Ltd

Top Related Stories
Click here for the latest broadcast news stories.

06/04/2006
Pyramix records the sound of Brazil
‘Brasileirinho’, a 90-minute musical documentary film about Choro, the first genuinely Brazilian urban music, chose Merging’s Pyramix systems to recor
18/05/2005
Sanctuary Mobiles records Cream concerts for future DVD release
Veteran rock group Cream's four appearances at the Royal Albert Hall have been captured for posterity by Sanctuary Mobiles. The historic event, which
14/01/2005
Total Audio Solutions install Pyramix systems at 2nd Sense Broadcast
Total Audio Solutions has installed two new multi-track Pyramix systems at 2nd Sense Broadcast. The Pyramix systems will allow the Borehamwood company
29/03/2023
PMC Helps Capsule Records Spread The Joy Of Discovering New Music
The renowned audio quality of PMC monitors makes them firm favourites with many audiophiles and audio professionals, whether they are working in state
06/08/2021
ITV Hub Records Most Successful Month
ITV Hub has recorded its most successful ever month. July 2021 was ITV Hub’s most successful month on record, with 93.3 million consumption hours view
13/03/2020
The Pennsylvania House of Representatives Records Proceedings With Bluefish444 IngeSTore Server
The Pennsylvania House of Representatives is located within the landmark Pennsylvania State Capitol Building in Harrisburg, PA. Since 1993, the PA Hou
14/06/2019
MPS Records Biggest Ever Visitor Attendance
The Media Production Show (MPS) recorded its biggest ever visitor attendance of 6,500 – up 25% on 2018. The 2018 show was sold out on the exhibition f
01/05/2019
'Avengers: Endgame' Breaks Box Office Records
Marvel Studios' 'Avengers: Endgame' had a record-shattering estimated global debut of $1,209.0 million last weekend. It has become the first film in h
28/06/2018
PlayBox Technology Breaks Records At Broadcast Asia
PlayBox Technology has enjoyed it busiest ever Broadcast Asia show with strong interest in the company's range of broadcast channel branding and playo
24/07/2014
IABM Records 'Significant Increase' In Membership
The IABM has seen a "significant increase" in new membership in 2014, with 22 companies joining in the last six months. The latest members are located
30/10/2013
Sky UK Records 7% Revenue Increase
The British Sky Broadcasting Group has seen an increase in revenue of 7%, up to £1,843 million in the third quarter of 2013, according to unaudited fi
11/03/2013
DISCOP West Asia Records Attendance Increase
The third edition of the DISCOP WEST ASIA show concluded last week in Istanbul, with organisers reporting a 27% increase in attendance. 382 companies
12/02/2013
Red TX Records War Of The Worlds Audio
Broadcast audio specialist Red TX recorded the audio for Jeff Wayne's iconic musical version of The War of The Worlds. Based on the book by HG Wells,
11/05/2012
Red TX Records MTV Presents Titanic Sounds For International TV Broadcast
Broadcast sound specialist Red TX was recently commissioned to record the audio for MTV Presents Titanic Sounds, an open-air festival to mark the open
23/03/2010
SSL Broadcast Console Breaks Records
A manufacturer of analogue and digital audio consoles and provider of creative tools for broadcast professionals are pleased to announce the soaring p