Inter BEE Special Interview
Journalist Taro Kimura has a keen personal interest in all things related to “audio”, “video” and “communications” – above and beyond the professional interest he naturally has through his work. This year he has been invited to act as supervisor for the Inter BEE News Center. In connection with this he was asked to participate, both as a professional journalist and as a private broadcasting/video fan, in one-on-one interviews with other individuals closely connected to Inter BEE as a prelude to the event. It is hoped that these discussions will help paint a clearer picture of Inter BEE. His second guest is Masaki “Mick” Sawaguchi, currently an audio consultant at Pioneer’s R&D Center, who is quite literally a pioneer and motivator in the world of broadcast sound engineering.
2007.9.21
Inter BEE Special Interview
Audio Section
Taro Kimura & Mick Sawaguchi
Part 1
Kimura: “What is 5.1 surround?” Sawaguchi: “I don’t think there is anything that would not benefit from being in surround sound.” The discussion kicks off with the appeal of this technology, which is not as widely understood as people think.
Profile: Taro Kimura | Mick Sawaguchi
- Kimura
- Actually, for the production staff who make the programs, the trickiest thing is sound. Audio is at the root of most problems.
- Sawaguchi
- Oh dear. [laughs]
- Kimura
- Sometimes you find you’re getting the video feed from a location, but no audio. Actually sound is really important in TV broadcasting, and yet until now I think we haven’t paid it nearly enough attention. I have to confess we’re guilty. Will you forgive us? [laughs] Now, with everything going digital, audio is also undergoing a radical transformation. How do those of you on the front line see this?
- Sawaguchi
- At last the time we’ve been waiting for has arrived: we can achieve with audio what we’ve been long wanting to. Since about 1985 we have had this conviction that, after stereo, the next important phase in audio evolution will be surround sound. In 2003 terrestrial digital TV broadcasting started, so the production side is pretty much ready and waiting for surround, I would say.
- Kimura
- When stereo came on the scene, I thought that, since we have two ears, two channels is all you need, right? Then along came surround sound, with its additional rear channels, making 5 in all. I apologize for asking such a basic question, but does surround really make that much of a difference? Or, to put it another way, are the human ears really that sensitive?
- Sawaguchi
- We have two ears, but actually we also have this incredible faculty for hearing tens of thousands of channels from 360 degrees around us. Stereo meant we were listening for information on just 2 of all those possible channels. With 5.1channels we have trebled that, so the listener can get a very clear idea of the “air information” from the source. It thus sounds more natural.
- Kimura
- If that’s the case, before long 5.1 will be replaced by 10.1or 20?
- Sawaguchi
- That’s more than possible.
- Kimura
- Really! So it’s possible that the number of audio tracks will increase, in the same way that the scanning lines for the TV picture continue to increase indefinitely?
- Sawaguchi
- Yes. The more channels you have, the better the reproduction. Certainly it would cause problems if we filled our living rooms with speakers, but researchers have been investigating 7.1, 10.2, 22.2, and so on.
- Kimura
- Another beginner’s question, I’m afraid, but what exactly is the significance of the period in “5.1”?
- Sawaguchi
- In movies especially, to lend some impact to the sound of an explosion or of a punch, they spice it up by vibrating the air at low frequencies, less than 100 Hertz. That represents no more than about 10% of the total range we hear, so that’s why it’s always “point one”. And that’s also why we have a total of 6 channels. But for music or documentary programs, the 5 main channels are quite enough for reproducing the low range.
- Kimura
- If live sports programs were broadcast in 5.1, it would really sound three-dimensional, I think. What sort of other uses would be effective?
- Sawaguchi
- I don’t think there is anything that would not benefit from being in surround sound. Take sports – golf, for example. At first, there were quite a few doubts raised about whether there was any sense in doing golf in surround sound. But the feeling you get of the club head colliding with the ball is something else. The sound generated at the very instant it makes contact, I mean. If you are actually standing there on the green, the “swack” reverberates in your ears. Stereo can’t capture that air information, because the sound is compressed. But with surround sound, the “swack” of the impact is free and natural, like it’s resounding in a pine forest. The sound is real. [Continues to Part 2]
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Profile Taro Kimura, Journalist Born in the U.S. (Berkeley, CA) in 1938. Left the U.S. for Japan with his parents in 1941 as Japan and America prepared to wage war. Graduated from Keio University Law School in 1964 and joined NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) soon after to begin his career as a correspondent in the Kobe broadcasting station’s city desk. From 1974, he worked successfully as a correspondent in Beirut, Geneva, and Washington D.C., and returned to Japan in February 1982. For the next six years, he served as a newscaster on the program, News Center 9PM. Upon leaving News Center 9PM in 1988, he resigned from NHK and established his own company to embark on a new life as a freelance journalist. He worked with FNN (Fuji News Network) as a newscaster on programs like News COM (from 1990) and News Japan (from 1994) while acting as a news analyst on the program, Super News from 2000. He is also the recipient of many prestigious awards such as: the 12th HBF Prize Award in 1986 and the 1987 Vaughn-Ueda Prize for International Reporting in 1988 — which has been described as Japan’s “Pulitzer Prize”, awarded to correspondents who make outstanding journalistic contributions for promoting international harmony. |
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Profile Mick Sawaguchi Consultant, Audio Promotion Dept.
Masaki “Mick” Sawaguchi specializes in sound design for drama productions. Since 1985 he has been helping to pave the way for the digital age by engaging in studio design and software development for multichannel surround sound. In 1987 he started working on FM drama using Dolby Surround, and in 1992 he became involved in HDTV drama using 3-2 surround sound, developing the software for production, as well as drawing up production guidelines and conducting surveys on next-generation audio as part of his activities to generate widespread interest in the new technologies. In recent years he has become involved in planning and running the Audio Section of the Inter BEE International Symposium; he has served as a judge for the Mixing Section of the JPPA Awards; he is a Commissioner of the Japan Section of the AES, and a JAS director; and he has also served as Co-chair for the AES Technical Committee on Studio Practices and Production.
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