FEATURES: COMPANY PROFILE
You can add a sense of space without
building up to something really
muddy, and of course if you allowed
it to build up like that then it would
increase the loudness. But with
power correction you get that extra
space, that decay tail, without the
sense of space going wrong. If you
measure that in terms of loudness
then it doesn’t alter the value of the
track. So even when we’re developing
a new reverb algorithm, loudness
is constantly in the back of our
minds.’ The same is true when Mr
Frandsen demonstrates the UpCon
up-conversion technology via a DB8
Mk II processor, upmixing a stereo
signal to 5.1, then downmixing it
back to stereo, with no loudness
rami cations.
When it comes to marketing a
technology such as Reverb 8, TC
is in an enviable position. System
6000 can be found in almost every
studio around the world in one form
or another, and the growth of new
surround formats means Reverb
8 is getting a warm welcome. The
manufacturer has enjoyed similar
success with its loudness processors
– that much was proven when
China’s CCTV recently installed 100
DB8 Mk II processors into its Beijing
headquarters. Yet as much as the
loudness conversation has been big
news over the last ve years, there is
still work to be done.
TC Electronic TCO Thomas Lund
Speaking speci cally of China, Mr
Bang says: ‘There’s huge potential.
We did the big install at CCTV, but it’s
such a huge country and there are so
many small stations’. The answer, as
always, is education, with TC’s CTO
Thomas Lund taking to the road to
visit broadcasters, present papers
at industry gatherings, and speak
at special events. ‘He goes out to
spread the message and in uence
the right people to understand that
loudness is important,’ Mr Bang
continues. ‘Loudness has been a
buzzword for years now, and most
people are aware that there is an
issue. Perhaps most of the big
stations have something set-up to
handle it. But there are a lot of local
TC Electronic’s product development engineer Christian Frandsen
stations and production studios
delivering content for broadcast who
may not be aware.’ To that end, TC
continues to host events around the
world. ‘Loudness events are a key
priority for us,’ Mr Bang con rms.
Indeed, anyone with lingering doubt
regarding the company’s dedication
to the issue need only consider its
actions to date – including giving
away patentable technology. ‘The
Loudness Range parameter – that
was a TC algorithm, and True Peak is
also TC technology,’ Mr Bang asserts.
‘We could have patented that if we’d
wanted to but we decided to make it
part of the rst ITU open standard. It
was that important to us.’
Since those early days back at
McGill University, loudness has been
the focus of so much R&D that you
could be forgiven for believing that
much of the work has now been
done, at least from the technology
point of view. But as it has proved
with reverb, TC isn’t the kind of
company to walk away from a topic it
feels passionately about.
‘It’s never over,’ declares Mr Bang.
‘There will be new technology coming
soon – quite spectacular stuff. The
loudness question, over the past 10
years, has been coded into our DNA
in the same way that reverb was back
in the 1980s. It’s constantly there.’
www.tcelectronic.com
1/2 Horizontal
July–August 2014 PRO AUDIO ASIA 119