STEREO DRAMA WITH DIGITAL 2650 (A--3)

EQUIPMENT

Masaki Sawaguchi
Kiyoto Suzuki
Yoshinori Kawabata
NHK
(Japan Broadcasting Corporation)
Japan

Presented at AuD,O
the 2nd Regional Convention
1987 June 17-19
Tokyo
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 Stereo Drama with Digital Equipment

Masaki Sawaguchi Kiyoto Suzuki Yoshinori Kawabata

Sound Engineer Programme Operating Engineering Division
NHK
(Japan Broadcasting Corporation)
JAPAN

Abstract

At NHK, the prodution techniques of stereo drama

were brought to completion in the 1960's and more recently,
digital two-track and multi-track recorders have also
been used for drama production.

This started ih November, 1985, and the first program

was called "Adieus Kentaurus." In November, 1986, there
was another such program, "Viva Space College;" and in
January, 1987, "Hiroko in Wanderland."

In this article, we shall introduce the new method

of production, and the effects it is likely to have on
drama programs.

0 Introduction

Music software produced by digital means, like CD's,

CDV's and LD's, are very popular with the public. But
what about drama production? We investigated the best
ways of using digital technology from the point of view
of a sound engineer.

We asked ourselves: what advantages do digital tech-

niques have over analog techniques? Can digital technology
be genuinely creative? Can it make our programs more
interesting for our listeners?

In November, 1985, we took a first step with a two-hour

stereo radio drama. From that time until December, 1987,
we produced more than ten such drams, including three
in surround-sound, encoded by the Dolby surround system.

Our main items of equipment were the PCM-3324 24-track

recorder and the PCM-3102N two-track recorder.

In this paper, we described the production software,

and detail differences introduced by using digital technology.
 - 2 -

1 Production Flow

Radio drama is rather like movie or television plays,

except that there is no picture. The main resources are
dialogue, music and sound-effects.

In a radio play, the listener creates his own "Sound

world," and if this is effective, the drama will have
been a success. The sound engineer has the responsibility
of recording and mixing, according to the script, to make
the listener's "Sound world" as interesting as possible.

From the point of view of sound quality, radio drama

has the problem that many dubbings are necessary. Here,
digital recording has the advantage, because its S/N ratio
is very large.

Digital recording also has a big dynamic range --

and this is an advantage for recording dialogue, which
can range from a quiet whisper to a loud shout; and for
sound effects, which can range from the hushed sound of
a light breeze to the immense roar of an explosion.

For these reasons, it seems a good idea to use the

high S/N ratio and wide dynamic range of digital recording
for radio drama. But it is not as easy to use digital
recording for drama as it is for music. One problem is
that for radio drama, we can't decide on a time-reference
until mix-down. In addition, we need a flexibility for
combining dialogue, music and effects which is difficult
to achieve with digital techniques.

So we used a combination of a digital multi-track

recorder and a two-track recorder to attain good sound-quality
together with flexibility. (See Figure-l)

2 Production Details

Figure 2 shows a typical production-flow for stereo

drama, using digital equipment. Figure 2 shows the flow
for a surround-sound drama. First, all the material is
recorded on a two-track recorder, and then dialogue, music
and effects are dubbed in accordance with the time-reference
on a multi-track recorder. Next, a mix-down is done;
and the final master tape is two-track.
 - 3 -

2-1 Dialoque Recording

Recording is done segment by segment, using the best

microphone placing to achieve the demands of the script.
Because of the high resolution of the sound field achieved
in digital recording, noise must be kept to a minimum,
and the players must beware bf making any unnecessary
sound.

However, a simple playback easily convinces them

of the very high fidelity of digital recording.

One serious difficulty is that hand-editing of digital

tape is much more difficult than with analog tape. We
asked the actors to perform in long segments, even if
they made mistakes.

Usually there are about two handred edit-points,

so we look forward to the time when a reasonable random-
access electronic editing system is avialable.

2-2 Sound Effects

Making sound effects is both interesting and exciting.

NHK has a big sound-effects library, but these are almost
all analog-recorded.

This is the way we achieve good sound-quality. Studio

material is recorded on a PCM-3102N, and outdoor material
on a PCM-F1, an 8mm VTR, or a portable DAT recorder for
our latest programs. After pre-mixing, all the sound-
effects are recorded using an analog recorder.

2-3 Music Recording

Music is recorded in the usual way on a PCM-3324,

and the mix-down is done on a PCM-3102N.

2-4 Mix-down

To get an overall picture, and because we were using

new techniques, we first did a test mix on an analog copy
tape. While doing the test mix, the director derived
a correct cue timing.
 - 4 -

Something unexpected happened here: we found that

there is a delay of about 0.3 or 0.5 second at the D/A
converter. But when you're mixing, it is all precisely
timed, and you cannot tolerate a lag even of only 0.3
second.

We corrected for this lag in a very primitive way:

when the director gave his cue, the tape operator picked
it up a little fast and started the two-track recorder
a little early. That's what we call REAL fusion between
analog and digital techniques!

After we had finished dubbing with the right combination

and timing, we mixed down using a CPU-assisted console.

3. Changes introduced by Digital Techniques

We recognise that there is a study assignment into

the sound quality of digital equipment, but at the same
time, we are sure that digital techniques will be of advanage
to radio drama production.

We monitored the reaction of listeners, who enjoyed

the programs at home.

We should like to mention some relevant aspects of

digital equipment. We must achieve sophisticated nuances
in dialogue recording, and to preserve a true ambiance
field at the recording stage, digital techniques are superior.
However, we are still looking into miking problems, because
if we use the same miking techniques as for analog recording,
we get many unwanted sibilants due to transients. We
are looking for a transient limiter which will work like
the "soft-knee" tape in analog recording.

The excellent S/N ratio and phase response of digital

equipment exposes differences of sound quality from the
microphone, the pre-amplifier, the equalizer, and so on,
so especially at mixing points we must be more careful
with the reverb, equalizing and fader controls than with
analog recording.
 5 -

4 Conclusion

"I don't even know what digital recording is -- but

I experienced a 'sound world' I had never heard before."
"I really enjoyed the transparent sound of the program."

We got many letters with phrases like these.

We enjoyed digital production, but before we started

some people were worried about its merits. Would the
listener appreciate the improved broadcast sound quality
-- or was the advantage only for digital music?

We are sure that, with appropriate improvements,

digital equipment will open up a new world of radio drama.

Outdoor recording

(pcm __l DAT)

Post production

Dialogue recording (pcm 3324)

ITAL production

(pcm
Husic 3102 N)
recording __

(pcm_3324
3102 (pcm3102N)

_//..._1 Haster tape

Sound effect

(mainly analoge) Fig 1 Digtal tool on Drama

 Dialogue Music
{ Sound
I effect
, location recording
-- - Pcm_2ch direct recording I
Pcm-2ch recording r foley
Pcm_multirecording
Splice editing j
t Mixing
Dialogue master mix down I
} Sound effect master
Music master

Spare analege recordind,'_---) Pcm_multi[recording

I / mix down
Test mixing - I
I
Data --,,' Final master by pcm_2ch(pom 3102 N)

Fig 2 production flow in stereo

Sound effect
Dialogue Music I
I [ location recording
{
Pcm-2chlrecording Pcm_multi recording foley

I
Splice editing I {
Dialogue master Mix down with Dolby surround
I Mixing with Dolby Surround
2ch

_Encoded pcm master Encloded sound effect master

Pcm_multi recording
!
mix down
{
Final master by pcm2ch(pcm 3102 N)

Fig 3 production flow in surround