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Soundtracs DPC-II Helps Make BBC History
A Soundtracs DPC-II console played a large part in making BBC history when the Corporation decided to produce its first live-to-air drama for over 20 years.
Broadcast on BBC Four, the programme was a remake of the classic Nigel Kneale story ‘The Quatermass Experiment’ and the DPC-II’s unique combination of digital technology and large operating surface made it the perfect choice for the production’s arduous audio requirements.
Originally broadcast by the BBC in 1953, The Quatermass Experiment was a six-part live to air series that brought science fiction to television for the first time. It tells the story of the transformation of an astronaut into a man/plant hybrid that threatens the whole of civilisation. In 2005 it was remade as a two-hour ‘special’, performed live with pe-recorded inserts.
Broadcast audio specialist Sound Moves took one of its 40 foot mobile studios on location to a disused Ministry Of Defence / QinetiQ site in Chobham, Surrey, where the Soundtracs DPC-II’s MADI fibre optic communication facilities were in high demand.
Much of the shooting was done in an old tank testing area, which provided a series of individual studio-sized booths, while the main hangar area was dressed up to look like Tate Modern for the programme’s finale. “It was a heavy duty job,” says Sound Moves’ Steve Williams. “It was full-on for the desk and mobile. We ran the fibre optic MADI link to two locations, the furthest being a radio mic receiving point some 300 metres from the truck.
“We also had the atmospheres and sound effects guys in the mobile, using a new PC-based system. And on top of that we had a musician in there who was playing the incidental music live!”
As well as the sound for the live production, the Soundtracs DPC-II fed a 96-track recording, which was sent to a post-production facility. Here the soundtrack was optimised for 5.1 surround without the dialogue, so non-English speech could be dubbed on for international sales of the production.
“Overall we had several hundred inputs,” says Williams. “Because it was broadcast live, we needed to be able to access a large range of those sources at the same time, without scrolling through loads of menus. The DPC-II gave us all the advantages of the digital technology, coupled with the large operating surface which has allowed us to do that.”
Steve has worked with BBC sound supervisor Bill Whiston many times and both were very pleased with the finished result. “The Soundtracs cues system was the only thing that made the piece work,” adds Whiston. “I doubt whether we would have been able to do it without that - or, at least, not without great difficulty.”
“I always enjoy doing live productions,” says Steve. “It’s a challenge but people always pull the stops out and give that bit extra. The sound production on ‘Quatermass’ worked extremely well, everybody was very pleased with the result.”
In picture: Bill Whiston, sound supervisor (in background) with Joy Parsons(sound script reader) using part of the DPC-II surface as a very expensive writing desk! This part of the desk was in use for the music, effects and background mixes, and at times Joy had to move!
21st November 2005
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