CalREN-XD/HPR WORKSHOP 2008 > Demonstrations

TITLE:

CineGrid Testbed for Advanced Networked Digital Audio Post Production

CONTACT:

Peter Otto • University of California, San Diego (UCSD), Music Department, Center for Research in Computing and the Arts (CRCA), and California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2)
potto@ucsd.edu

COLLABORATORS:

Peter Otto, UCSD/Music, CRCA, Calit2

Trevor Henthorn, Michelle Daniels, UCSD/Music

Nathan Brock, UCSD/CRCA

Todd Margolis, UCSD/CRCA

Michael Dessen, University of California, Irvine

PROJECT URLS:

http://crca.ucsd.edu/~potto/ • http://www.cinegrid.org

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:

It is widely believed by sound-for-picture professionals that secure, high-speed networking practices could bring about significant efficiency improvements in workflow for increasingly geographically fragmented film productions. This demonstration presents a prototype for a persistent, high-speed, uncompressed audio production workflow testbed shared by Calit2 and ILM/SkywalkerSound/LucasFilm.

We shall demonstrate streamlined configuration methodology requiring minimal staff support, comparing several techniques in multi-channel audio streaming, and exploring approaches to precise remote control of complex audio production equipment and software. Demonstrations also include backchannel communications, and sound/picture synch useful for operating distant audio workstations synched to local picture sources. Specifically, we show detailed, interactive control and monitoring in San Diego of a Pro Tools Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) in Northern California. We shall review the quantitative and qualitative assessments for each class of functionality studied, characterizing the resulting impact of CineGrid collaborative tools on overall workflow, and discuss implications for future work.

The project utilizes advanced, low-latency, dedicated high-bandwidth networking to deliver simultaneous, mixed modality, digital media streams for: (a) high-definition multichannel audio at 96Ksr, 24 bit; (b) high-quality teleconferencing back-channel communications; (c) device control; (d) synch. Bandwidth requirements are: 100-Megabit sustained, minimally switched fiber, ideally with redundancy for primary (high-def) audio content and primary back-channel communications.