ABS Broadcast Invests in Dalet Amberfin Solution From ATG Danmon

TG Danmon, one of Europe’s most experienced broadcast systems integrators, announces that ABS Broadcast has chosen Dalet AmberFin high quality transcoding and file-player software at the core of its broadcast playout facility in west London.

“A very large proportion of content from our clients arrives as files, either on couriered storage media or, more commonly now, online,” comments ABS Broadcast founder and CEO Sass Jahani. “The challenge was to find an efficient way to augment our existing infrastructure so that we could transcode files for playout of content from and to various codecs and wrappers. Dalet’s Amberfin transcoding platform was chosen after a careful study of the available technologies. It incorporates ingest, mastering, quality control and review functions which can all be accessed via a single graphic user interface.

“AmberFin Play enables us to review shared assets at any point in the workflow,” adds Mukund Patel, Head of Technology & Engineering. “We are running the software on hardware located in our server room and controlled from the operations control room. The AmberFin modules in combination have proved a highly effective and successful solution to our file-creation and workflow requirements.”

“I am very pleased that Amberfin’s transcoding and file player platforms are able to provide ABS Broadcast with a complete file preparation solution for their playout operation,” says Chris Elson, ATG Danmon Product Sales Manager. “These platforms meet the demands of a 24/7 operation whilst maintaining the highest image quality and workflow efficiency.”

Dalet Empowers KEXP to Champion Tomorrow’s Music
KEXP has selected Dalet Radio Suite, powered by the Dalet Galaxy platform, to modernize and digitize its operations. KEXP is a Seattle, Washington, based radio station and arts organization renowned for featuring breaking new artists.

KEXP approached Dalet to unify all of its media acquisition, production and delivery under a single advanced MAM platform with extensible and rich collaborative production and metadata tools to curate a continuously growing catalog of exclusive performances and music libraries. The Dalet solution will transform KEXP’s ability to create, manage and distribute a full range of live, recorded and on-demand audio and video content to enhance its brand’s reach across traditional and new media platforms.

“At KEXP we pride ourselves on being one of the few radio stations tightly connected with artists,”says Kevin Cole, senior programming director. “We champion breakout bands not supported by commercial media outlets. Our mission is to help our audience of passionate and intelligent music fans discover and explore the best new music across all music genres.”

“KEXP has leveraged open source music metadata repository MusicBrainz to build a metadata schema that allows us to capture detailed information about each artist, recording, genre and more,” says Chief Engineer Jamie Alls. “It enables us to store, index, search, distribute, re-distribute or associate with other content. All of this rich information will contribute to building a unique library that will serve the organization for many years to come. The decision to invest in Dalet is driven by our understanding of its ability to manage this entire process while working with external systems like MusicBrainz.”

KEXP’s 43 DJs are widely recognized as experts in their field, presenting the newest emerging popular artists alongside established bands. Artists championed by the station include Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, Nirvana and Soundgarden. KEXP’s varied programming mix includes a real-time on-demand playlist, a two-week archive of radio shows and an array of podcasts. KEXP also features in-studio performances and interviews transmitted live on air or pre-recorded, edited and then broadcast or made available on-demand. The Dalet installation lays the groundwork for the station to better leverage social media platforms for trends and analytics for on-air talent and programming to produce audience-driven playlists.

“KEXP is a true visionary,” says Frederic Roux, director of sales, USA & Canada, Dalet. “Its approach to transforming a radio station into a true multimedia production with connected audiences is a major leap forward. We are very proud to be part of this high-profile project and help deliver the technical foundation that will allow KEXP to shape the next generation of its operations and content distribution.”

Roux continues, “Dalet Galaxy is an open and scalable platform built on a flexible workflow engine and central repository. It orchestrates any complex combination of automated processes and human tasks, taking away the complexity of technical operations to allow a focus on the user experience and business process, increasing productivity, quality and reach.”