AEQ audiocodecs allow the retransmission of 'New Music Now-Express' from a train in the Netherlands

For more than ten hours, the solutions of AEQ Smartalk and Phoenix Venus made it possible to broadcast live on the occasion of Composer's Day in the Netherlands from a train with the technical assistance of Yourside.

Yourside develops consulting and technical support, sales and rental of equipment for televisions and radio in the Netherlands and other nearby countries.

Harm Van Houten, Yourside Broadcast Assistance, comments that “in June 2023 we had the need to provide a technical solution for Postmen (an agency for film and animation). On “de Karel”, a 1970 Mat’64 train, which traveled through the Netherlands, multiple performances by composers and artists were going to take place. "The live broadcast, the sending for recording and editing with the video had to be resolved efficiently since the train did not have WiFi and it had to be implemented separately."

“Recently, AEQ taught us Smart alcohol, a tool that they promote for the simple connection between a sporadic or regular participant in a program, from their PC, tablet or mobile phone, and the Phoenix audiocodec designated in the studio, simply with a direct web link, sent by the station. Develops a cloud audiocodec system that allows you to send audio and receive the return from the studio using a smartphone, tablet or PC, with high quality and low delay, without the need to have an audiocodec, install special software or have "I have to be helped to configure and use it," he adds.

Yourside did not want to deploy a large technical assembly, so they opted for the audiocodec AEQ Phoenix Venus in the studio, activating a trial license using Smartalk on a laptop and developing the event. There is Wi-Fi on the trains of the Dutch railway network and excellent 3G/4G coverage throughout the country, so connectivity had to be sufficient.

“On our side, the audio from the sound system used on the train was mixed and sent to the remote broadcast and production location in Utrecht. Through the same link, the IFB was sent back to the train for the talent in-ear. For this audio stream, we used AEQ's Smartalk on a Mac with an external audio card. The signal was received in Utrecht on the AEQ Phoenix Venus which had the temporary Smartalk test license enabled,” says Harm Van Houten.

Video of these performances was streamed live using Aviwest (Haivision) with two cameras.

To make a good video montage, the audio that accompanied each video was discarded, and the audio received in Utrecht via Smartalk was then synchronized with the video so that it could be mixed with the video from the two Aviwest encoders and the audio on the I study in Utrecht.

“The system worked correctly and we have the idea that it is perfect to be able to use it when it is necessary to obtain an immediate interview or report due to immediacy, and the technician is not traveling nor is there the possibility of carrying an audiocodec. We are sure that we will get a lot of use out of it,” concludes Van Houten.

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