With its San Angel studio complex one of two in Mexico City, alongside further facilities in Chapultepec and Santa Fe, TelevisaUnivision is continuing its move into immersive audio production – most recently with Genelec Smart Active Monitors and GLM calibration software playing key roles in the upgrade.
Work at all three locations is being led by Elias Rodríguez, Managing Director of TV and Operations, with the San Angel complex chosen for a new 7.1.4 room for immersive mixing and mastering, to support production of soap operas and television series. This is home to 16 digital studios, all capable of 4K production, and more than 20 editing rooms for video in HD and 4K. There are also 13 sound design and audio postproduction rooms, as well as six rooms for recording, editing and Foley. The addition of immersive production came from commercial demands.
‘The world expects content with this format,’ says Rafael Alfaro, Coordinator of Audio Engineering and Projects at Televisa. ‘The most important TV production companies like TelevisaUnivision must have series that are Atmos-ready.’
Studio 7 is the largest postproduction room at the San Angel facility, and proved to be the best space to convert. It had previously been a 5.1 room and it was the proportions that led the in-house installation team, working with Genelec’s Miguel Dominguez and local distribution partner VARI, on the upgrade.
Televisa has been a Genelec user for more than 20 years, first relying on the much-loved 1031 and 1032 two-way monitors before upgrading to Smart Active Monitoring (SAM) technology, including The Ones family of three-way coaxial models. ‘We began using Genelec monitors around the year 2000,’ recalls Alfaro. ‘We compared the quality of a lot of brands and we considered Genelec to be the best for our purposes.’
Today, the postproduction facility at San Angel uses around 200 Genelec monitors in various editing suites, with 8351 coaxial monitors a common sight in the 5.1 rooms. ‘Working with Genelec in all our control room facilities allows us to make sure that each recording has the best sound quality,’ says Alfaro. ‘It doesn’t matter which room you finalise the mix in, because all of them use the same brand.’
To upgrade to 7.1.4, Studio 7 has been equipped with seven 1238 three-way monitors in the surround positions, comprising the original five 1238CF models and two new 1238DFs. Four of Televisa’s existing 8351A coaxial three-way monitors were brought into the room to provide the height channels, with the original pair of 7271A subwoofers handling the low frequencies. ‘These were the right monitors for us in terms of the room size, the quality of the monitors and the supporting technology,’ Alfaro says.
Key among this supporting technology was GLM calibration software. ‘GLM was key to fixing the challenges we faced in the room,’ Alfaro agrees. ‘We used it to analyse, compare and make the adjustments to get the best response with the room automatically. It’s a marvellous piece of software, and the additional ability to perform manual fixes makes it even better.’
With Studio 7 up and running for immersive production, Audio Engineering Manager Raul Oropeza regards the upgrade as a success: ‘When the 7.1.4 format arrived we had no hesitation in opting for a comprehensive Genelec monitoring system. We are very satisfied with the result obtained with the integration of this system and the precision of the GLM calibration settings in terms of phase, delay, EQ and SPL. They are extremely precise, which ihas allowed me to make accurate decisions in my mixing and mastering processes without any problem.’
While Studio 7 is the first space to get the immersive treatment, it will not be the last. The current plan is to upgrade most of the facility’s 5.1 rooms to 5.1.4 or 7.1.4. ‘Our plan for this year and the next is to continue with the creation of new content in 4K HDR and Atmos sound,’ Alfaro concludes. ‘So we’re definitely planning to add more monitors to the audio rooms.’
More: www.genelec.com
