Lawo has announced an ‘evolution of audio production for major live sports’ with the launch of its Kick automated control for close-ball mixing.
When interfaced with modern image analysis and tracking systems, Kick uses a proprietary advance in technology to provide consistent, fully-automated, high-quality, close-ball audio mixing for sports such as soccer, rugby and American football. Kick’s intuitive graphical user interface allows easy adjustment of all of all parameters, including the placement of microphones, their polar patterns and microphone prioritisation.
The system ensures transparent sound pickup with its excellent ‘noise-to-kick’ ratio, significantly reducing crowd noise. It also ensures a consistent audio level without noticeable fades for seamless inclusion in a broadcast mix, and delivers a mix that is fully repeatable from match to match. It remains accurate, even after 90 minutes of play.
Kick is available as a software-only solution for productions using Lawo mc² mixing consoles, as well as a hardware bundled solution for productions using consoles from other manufacturers. It requires a standard host PC (running Windows 7 or Windows 8) for the host application, and an HTML5 capable browser for the user interface. An optional Lawo mc² Micro Core hardware processing engine is available for interfacing to third-party consoles via Madi and Ravenna/AES67.
The mc² Micro Core can be controlled by a variety of external studio control systems, as well as Lawo’s touchscreen mxGUI software, making it perfect for smaller automated applications where external control systems trigger operation – such as automated newsrooms. Other applications include small routing applications with DSP processing, such as installed sound applications.
More: www.lawo.com
