Remote Audio revolution: Closer than ever to the sound of the stadium

Dolby Atmos stands for atmosphere: This is made clear not only by the name of the technology, but also by the incomparable sound experience with theoretically any number of audio tracks. With the innovative Remote Audio Control Room (RACR) concept, VIDI GmbH from Darmstadt captures the stadium sound in a particularly multi-faceted way to offer viewers with Dolby Atmos equipment a particularly immersive and exciting sound image.

RACR takes live sound quality to a new level

Sky Deutschland customers have already been able to enjoy the first Bundesliga matches of the season in the new Dolby Atmos sound experience. The service provider behind the project, VIDI from Darmstadt, is satisfied with the interim results: "The RACR production showed right away what a big difference TV viewers experience with immersive sound during live broadcasts from the stadium. We built the audio studio production and the infrastructure for it in just four weeks at our Darmstadt location, but the positive effects on future remote audio solutions will reverberate for a long time to come," says Jürgen Jahn, Managing Director at VIDI.

In cooperation with K²Consulting, VIDI GmbH has succeeded in developing a concept that guarantees constant and very low latency from audio to video, regardless of the location. For the host broadcaster Sportcast, remote production offers significantly higher and constant quality standards, which are a central requirement for Dolby Atmos transmission. Due to the close proximity of the RACR stage box to the OB van on site and the fact that no extra A-V calibration is required, particularly low latencies can be achieved by means of the technology.

Lively sound in the foreground, technical excellence behind the scenes

In direct comparison to common hybrid remote production solutions, the RACR production achieves a significantly reduced complexity and, above all, low countrip times. This is made possible by a clever design of the system architecture, in which the actual audio processing in the venue is realised via remote control from Darmstadt. Perfect monitoring in the remote audio control room allows for fine tuning of the 3D mixes.

The VIDI data centre houses the actual control systems, Lawo Home and the control system of the mc²56. In addition, in the event of a problem with the processing core in the stadium, a redundant core from the data centre is made available in the network.

Due to its easy scalability – from 64 to any number of audio signals – the technology is suitable for a variety of different applications without requiring additional network capacity. Beyond its purely technical properties, RACR production can also have a positive effect on its environment: on-site sound control rooms can be relieved by means of this solution and qualified sound engineers are spared time-consuming travelling by working remotely.

Innovative solutions by broadcasting expertise

The Remote Audio Control Room (RACR) production is a joint development project between K²Consulting (Prof. Felix Krückels) and VIDI GmbH from Darmstadt. In this project, VIDI benefits from its tradition and innovative strength. The bundled know-how for groundbreaking solutions such as the current RACR production is equally composed of high network competence and sound audio expertise at VIDI. 

For more information on the company, technical solutions and current topics related to VIDI, please visit the website at https://www.vidi.eu/ or meet VIDI at the IBC Show, taking place from 9^th until 12^th September in Amsterdam.