Loudness Films

Loudness Films reduces noise in editing suites with the Draco tera compact KVM matrix switch

The Customer

Abbey Road Studios is well known for producing the recordings of famous groups, including The Beatles and Pink Floyd. The legendary facility in central London has just completed construction of two new recording studios and a mix stage for film post production. The construction marks the biggest expansion to have taken place since it first opened its doors in 1931.

The Challenge

Mixing studios for picture and sound are constructed to a very high standard to ensure that unwanted noise does not adversely affect the creative process. Limited space means that only essential equipment is fitted within the studio and several people will often work together in the confined area, each requiring access to specific tools.

Loudness Films sought a solution that would optimize the working environment, allowing them to deliver the highest quality output by reducing extraneous noise and maximizing operator efficiency.

The Solution

Loudness Films selected a Draco tera compact 8-port KVM switch that enables individual editors and mixers access to essential editing tools from their individual workstations. Using simple keystrokes, each workstation can be instantly connected to any source device. All processing equipment is located around 30 meters away in a dedicated and environmentally-controlled computer room and interconnected over Cat 6 cables.

We considered several solutions but none offered the compact size, functionality and ability to expand the system in the future as the Draco tera compact. – Branko Neskov, founder of Loudness Films

The Benefit

“Whilst working on the sound for a film, a sound engineer can operate the main mixing desk whilst viewing audio monitoring setup on a monitor, or can access the Pro-Tools systems or Dolby RMU settings using the same monitor,” explains Branko Neskov.

“This reduces the number of screens in the dubbing theatre: information is displayed as required rather than always displayed. Individuals can select what they want to see in front of them, rather than interrupt a colleague or to moving to see a different screen, which is not something that is easily done in a confined studio.”

It has allowed us to organize studio layout in the way that best suits the mixing crew and greatly reduces the amount of equipment and distraction in the editing suites. – Branko Neskov, founder of Loudness Films