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Cube-Tec Online News October 2009
Short News
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Cube-Tec builds Audio Preservation Factory for the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision
The Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision (Beeld en Geluid)
maintains 70 percent of Dutch audio-visual heritage. With around
700,000 hours of television, radio, music and film, Sound and Vision
is one of the largest audio-visual archives in Europe.
As part of a public contract, Sound and Vision plans to transfer more
than 100.000 hours of Dutch broadcast audio to mass storage systems
before August 2014. In addition to preserving this material, a
significant portion will be made available for public access through
various services.
The largest part of this aural heritage is currently stored on analog
quarter-inch tapes and R-DAT cassettes.
Cube-Tec delivered QUADRIGA workstations for the parallel ingest of
material from 32 tape machines. 16 Telefunken M15A reel-to-reel
machines and 16 Sony DAT-Recorders will be used for playback. All the
Telefunken machines were modified by Cube-Tec with the new universal
OptoSensor hardware to detect and document torn tape, bad splices
and separation tape.
In addition to the analog material, there is also a backlog of about
30 terabytes of digitized audio material that must be quality checked.
Missing technical metadata have to be inserted. As DOBBIN will run
around the clock, undesignated processing time will be used for fully
automated inspection of the backlog. Process rules are individually
defined in the DOBBIN Rendering Farm to classify the technical
quality of each file. The critical files will then be spot-checked
by an operator.
Cube-Tec and the audio digitizing team at Sound and Vision have
developed a highly optimized workgroup solution based on Cube-Workflow.
Cube-Workflow is fully integrated within the existing IT
infrastructure, which includes a cataloging system and an external
storage-provider (Technicolor). Cube-Workflow controls the QUADRIGA
and DOBBIN audio and metadata process chain.
Cube-Workflow ensures that each member of the archive group has
access to all necessary information throughout the process, ensuring
the best possible results. Cube-Workflow streamlines the flow of work
and detects and prevents operating errors. With this new system, the
project leader has the ability at any time to view a detailed overview
of the progress of the work and what kind of special cases have come
to light. The installation at Sound and Vision in Hilversum is
already at the final stage.
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Memnon expands its services with QUADRIGA and DOBBIN
The Belgian archiving service provider Memnon, the European leader in
the transfer of audiovisual archive material and Cube-Tec, the leading
technology provider for large-scale digitization facilities have
started a cooperation. In the first phase of this cooperation Memnon
has expanded its capabilities with the installation of a QUADRIGA
system configured for eight parallel playback devices, and added a
DOBBIN Rendering Farm with Audiofile-Inspector.
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»Michel Merten, founder and CEO of Memnon, commented on the future
partnership, saying, "As we had on-going requests from clients to provide
services based on QUADRIGA and DOBBIN, we are happy to partner with Cube-Tec to
expand our capabilities. As we learn more about their technologies, we see even
more synergies for common future projects."«
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»Tom Lorenz, sales director and managing partner at Cube-Tec, responded
with equal enthusiasm for the future cooperation, saying, "It is
important to us that all archives that have decided to outsource their
media migration will be able to receive QUADRIGA quality. With a total
audiovisual digitization capacity of around 25.000 hours/month, Memnon
is recognized as a strong and reliable partner in that market. We are
looking forward to a long-term, successful cooperation."«
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QUADRIGA v3.5 announced
The new QUADRIGA version 3.5 features automated file-splitting
technology, so that an ingest recording derived from one archive
medium can easily be split into multiple archive items.
Often a single carrier contains unrelated sound signals - or related
sounds that should still be split into individual file segments for
better indexing in media asset management systems.
QUADRIGA v3.5 offers intuitive and yet powerful possibilities to
define regions in the ingest recording as individual tracks in an
audio decision list (ADL). These tracks can either be created manually
by selecting regions in the QUADRIGA WaveView, or via XML import files
coming from a database, complete with archive number and title information.
The resulting ADL list is processed by DOBBIN to automatically split
the recording into multiple files or archive items, including
user-defined fades if desired. Each individual file becomes a
valid Sealed QUADRIGA (M)BWF, complete with all known and loved
benefits of this secure archive file format.
QUADRIGA file-splitting is also fully integrated in Cube-Workflow,
Cube-Tec's job and workflow management solution.
(Side-note: file-merging was invented previously for QUADRIGA v1.6)
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Otari and Cube-Tec partners for Audio Cassette Transfer System
Cube-Tec offers optimized migration solutions for many different legacy
sound carrier formats such as reel-to-reel tape, R-DAT, CD Audio,
Vinyl, Acetates and Shellac. Now, we present a highly optimized
solution for the mass-ingestion of Audio Cassettes in a
quality-controlled environment.
Until today, cassette digitization required the use of standard
broadcast cassette decks. Although this approach certainly served its
purpose, concern about the increasing scarcity of
professional cassette decks resulted in numerous client requests for
a highly optimized, future-proof solution.
In close cooperation with Otari, Japan, Cube-Tec engineers have
developed a complete solution comprised of both hardware and software
components. Otari's lengthy experience in the area of industrial grade
high-speed cassette duplication systems enabled them to produce an
ultra-high quality cassette tape player. The combination of this
purpose-designed player, and Cube-Tec's innovative, quality controlled
archival system software, enables us to offer our new "Cassette Transfer System".
First of all, the Otari top loader, which was developed specifically
for mass-migration, is a "Zero compromise" Cassette Playback Only
machine, so there are no record or erase heads in the tape path.
The fact that it's a full 4-track machine means no shaky auto reverse
head flip mechanism, or record / play combination head compromises.
The Otari provides two cassette-drives per unit.
QUADRIGA supports multi-channel and Dual-Direction functionality for
mono and stereo tracks, so all tracks are captured in one single pass.
This means simultaneous playback of audio on both tape sides, without
having to flip the cassette. For aural quality supervision and storage,
the B-side channels are reversed on the fly.
Based on 8 Otari units,
this produces a 64x real-time transfer of stereo cassettes by one single operator.
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Cube-Tec establishes US-based subsidiary
Cube-Tec International has opened its US-based subsidiary,
Cube-Tec North America LLC. Cube-Tec's decision to establish operations
in North America is based primarily on the custom nature of most
archival installations.
Rob Poretti (formerly with Sascom) has joined Cube-Tec as Sales Engineer
and is responsible for the QUADRIGA, DOBBIN and Cube-Workflow product
groups. Rob's extensive background with the product line, along with
his wide range of industry experience spanning 25+ years, is a huge
asset to the Cube-Tec team.
Cube-Tec North America is located in Asheville, North Carolina, and
operated by Stephen Smith, who is also part of the Cube-Tec client
support team.
Cube-Tec's long-standing North American partner
Sascom continues to manage sales and distribution of the well known
AudioCube and VPI product lines for Pro Tools and Sequoia.
The new structure has already proven an efficient link between
Cube-Tec developers and end-users, vital to a successful system design
and implementation. The first clients benefiting from the new structure
have been Library of Congress, The National Archives and New York University.
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Galaxy chooses AudioCube for Blu-Ray Surround Production
Engineers at Belgium-based Galaxy Studios were in a bind. They had
nearly completed the final mastering work for a live concert recording
by the Dutch gothic rock band Within Temptation with Metropole Orkest
in February 2008. It was a spectacular show, captured through
14 cameras in high definition and recorded by Ronald Prent, Surround
Engineer and Sound Supervisor at Galaxy.
As the mastering work continued, Darcy Proper, Senior Mastering Engineer
at Galaxy, realized they needed a tool to enhance the loudness of the
recording without disturbing the sound's ambiance and clarity. As
there are very few loudness tools on the market with 96kHz/24bit
surround capability, Proper had limited options. She tried almost all
of the available processing tools, but none could satisfy the production's demands.
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From left to right Ronald Prent, Darcy Proper, Tom Lorenz (Cube-Tec)
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Proper sought advice from one of the top US mastering engineers who
assured her that the AudioCube, paired with the Loudness Maximizer
Eight, would be the best tool for this purpose. The Loudness Maximizer
Eight is an eight-channel Virtual Precision Instrument (VPI) designed
for surround sound processing. It increases the loudness of a recording,
even when processing a full-scale audio signal, without creating any
perceptible processing artifacts.
Ronald Prent called Cube-Tec and ordered the AudioCube under the
condition that Cube-Tec would ensure a quick delivery. According to
Galaxy's tough production schedule, the mastering had to be completed
very quickly.
Cube-Tec was able to install the AudioCube within a few days.
Darcy Proper personally visited Cube-Tec in Bremen for the final
acceptance, picked up the system and started work the next day.
The result can be heard on the Blu-Ray disc, released as a surround
production in 96 kHz 24 bit resolution. Galaxy Studios is one of the
premier surround mastering facilities in Europe. Thanks to AudioCube,
Galaxy can now offer the best loudness enhancement for high quality
surround productions.
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Short News
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Virtual Precision Instruments for Sequoia
Cube-Tec has optimized its mastering and restoration VPIs for the use
within Sequoia.
Cube-Tec VPIs - best known for their use on
AudioCube systems - are used by some of the top facilities in the world.
These include Bernie Grundman Mastering, Capitol Records,
CBS Television, Fox Television, Library of Congress,
Gateway Mastering & DVD, Skywalker Sound, Sterling Sound and The Smithsonian,
to name but a few.
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AudioCube Restoration Workstation for Yugoslav Film Archive
Yugoslav Film Archive is the national film library of the Republic of
Serbia, founded in 1949 as The Central Film Archives of the Yugoslav Film Library.
The Yugoslav Film Archive recently acquired an AudioCube workstation for
film sound processing. The fully equipped AudioCube workstation will be
used mainly for optical sound track restoration work and to reduce
'Cross Modulation Distortion'. Sprocket DeHum, NoiseDeModulator,
DePop, Azimuth, ZoomAnalyzer and SpectraPolator are part of the
package as well as 'Cube Waveform' - the restorer suite of advanced
manual interpolation algorithms.
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Four Major Australian Archives expand QUADRIGA and Dobbin installations
The National Archive of Australia (NAA), AIATSIS, the National Film
and Sound Archive (NFSA) and the Australian War Memorial expand their
QUADRIGA and DOBBIN installations.
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Österreichische Mediathek goes DOBBIN
The Austrian Mediathek in Vienna chooses DOBBIN for quality controlled
audio processing and format conversion.
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Three AudioCube workstations for EMI Music
EMI Music in Japan ordered three 19" AudioCube Rack Systems, equipped
with VPIs for mastering and restoration.
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Pinewood Studios UK goes Cube-Tec Pro Tools VPIs
The Pinewood Studios in Shepperton, UK equipped their Pro Tools based
restoration workstation with Cube-Tec restoration plugins.
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Fourth International Seminar of Sound and Audiovisual Archives
Mexico City, November 9-13
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Tom Lorenz (Managing Partner, Cube-Tec International) will give a
lecture with the title: Digitizing legacy audio material:
the elements of an archive workgroup solution.
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Abstract
Designing the complete workflow for an archival workgroup is a
challenging task, from preservation planning to optimized mass-ingest.
This presentation will give an overview of the elements in an audio
mass digitization process executed by an archival workgroup,
coordinated by computer-aided workflow planning. It proceeds step-by-step
from the quality-controlled media ingest to interim storage, to batch
processing and the export of audio files to a corporate media asset
management system. It addresses how to speed up the process of media
ingest, while increasing the efficiency of the overall process and
ensuring media quality. It discusses how to treat difficult media and
how to generate metadata to enrich the preservation files. It also
explains how to interface to an existing media asset management system
or radio automation system. A best practice approach will be presented,
supported by examples of more than ten years of outstanding client project results.
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ARSC 2009 Conference Report
ARSC raises the bar each year for their conferences, and this years'
event in Washington this past May was no exception. The pre-conference
tour featured a trip to the Library of Congress NAVCC facility where
the audio archive department employs two multi-stream QUADRIGA systems
and Dobbin. Rob Poretti, Cube-Tec's North American sales engineer
presented a paper entitled "From Ingest to Web-site: Creating a
preservation Master and Automating On-line Access." The paper
presented Cube-Tec's approaches to automating the entire
preservation chain - from ingest, to post-processing, to uploading
web based derivatives and the creation of web pages to access them.
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Contact Info
For further information please visit us at www.Cube-Tec.com
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Cube-Tec International GmbH
Anne-Conway-Strasse 1
28359 Bremen, Germany
eMail: info@Cube-Tec.com
Tel.: +49 (0)421 20 1440
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Cube-Tec North America LLC
Attn: Rob Poretti
192 Edgewood Road
Asheville, NC 28804-3342
eMail: r.poretti@Cube-Tec.com
Tel.: 001 866-985-4488
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