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AudioFile At Work KINGSTON, Ontario I am the chief engineer for several radio stations in eastern Ontario, Canada. Just over two years ago I was looking for a new, versatile and easy-to-use audio logger for the radio stations I look after. It had to be easy to use for the program directors, announcers and producers on staff. I also wanted to extract audio files in MP3 format that could be edited by our producers, announcers etc. I needed a skimmer that was simple to use and allowed announcers and program directors to be able to download the audio from the logger, selectable to the second. I needed alarm conditions, silence and logger fail.
While attending a broadcast engineering conference I approached KLZ Innovations with the description of what I was looking for. Three months later they came up with an audio logger called KLZ AudioFile. It was bullet-proof; even using the beta issue I was sent originally, I could not break it or make it fail. I have been using the released version since and have never had any issues.
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AudioFile working with NewsRoom to edit a clip. KLZ AudioFile is now installed at all the stations I look after.
KLZ AudioFile Logger comes in four-, six- and eight-channel configurations. It allows me to record audio on separate channels at different sample rates and store the audio for different lengths of time, for example my air feeds are sampled at 128 kbps low sample rate and the audio is logged for 90 days, my main program feed is logged at a high sample rate 320 kbps and only for 30 days. This audio can be used by production personnel for extracting bits, etc. Audio downloaded to the desktop for use by producers/announcers and anyone else for editing does not affect the original recorded material it is non-destructive.
NewsRoom
Although AudioFile alone is not a complete postproduction suite for audio editing, when added to KLZ’s flagship product, NewsRoom 4.5, it becomes just that.
NewsRoom 4.5 is a complete news/sports/talk management software systems designed for the content management and creation of related stories and audio for broadcasters of any format. It allows users to capture content, be it text or audio and manipulate it for broadcast purposes. Users may take a piece of audio from AudioFile and do any type of editing within the NewsRoom 4.5 audio editor. Add, cut, layer, blend any amount of audio you wish. This audio is in MP3 format and can be extracted as such into NewsRoom where the sample rate may be manipulated.
Additionally, I can use AudioFile for skimming, which my PDs and announcer love to be able to download audio cuts from their shows. It has a built-in streaming server, which allows me to monitor the audio over the network and Internet from anywhere. There is a very good AudioFile player used to listen to and download audio cuts. The silence detection and alarms are built into the software and allow me to use them to monitor off-air conditions.
One of the best features of AudioFile is that the server runs on a computer in my rack room and the server runs as a service which make it difficult to be accidentally disabled/shut down.
The KLZ Innovations AudioFile Logger is an excellent product, I have only touched on the highlights. I call it bullet-proof and the developers are always there to support any issues, questions I have ever had, and are willing to listen to their clients’ ideas which may enhance the product in the future.
Terry Kelly is chief engineer at CHUM Radio.
For information, contact KLZ Innovations at (800) 334-9640 or visitwww.klz.com.
