Audio2, part of Datamatix Datensysteme, is providing audio description for the live German TV show “Wetten, dass…?” using the Lawo crystal console.
Audio description is a technique that is used to help visually impaired people to better understand and perceive visual processes. Commentators, trained in individual sessions and familiar with theoretical knowledge describe images into auditory “headlines,” without adding emotion or opinion.
“For an entertainment show, the audio description has to be embedded carefully and delicately into the show in such a way that the listener doesn’t realize a thing,” said Michael Kastelic, CEO of Datamatix.
The company added its first live-audio description on German television with “Wetten, dass…?,” which aired Jan. 19. The production centered on a unit next to an OB van operated by national public broadcaster ZDF, which was responsible for the international broadcast.
This unit was treated with acoustic absorbers in order to improve sound quality, and Audio2 employed a Lawo crystal loudness meter and mixing console.
“Lawo provides systems with a high degree of flexibility that allows us to employ them in the best possible way in this sort of project,” said Kastelic. “The other very important factor for us was Lawo’s quick and reliable support.”
The crystal console was chosen for its size and modular fader unit. Kastelic called it “the most flexible and powerful solution.” He added, “The basic unit can be extended easily, either with MADI or SDI-embedders, and allows us to use it in all types of setting, from football arenas to theatre productions and even TV shows.”
