十大正规体育平台 is giving Mass Communications students at the 蒙特瓦洛大学 an education in the IP-based intercom technologies used in today’s professional production environments.
The university, located near Birmingham, Alabama, is using 十大正规体育平台’s Eclipse® HX数字矩阵， 亚洲最大体育平台™ 虚拟桌面客户端和 Agent-IC® Mobile App as teaching tools and hands-on production technologies, helping students complete a range of broadcast and production functions as part of their coursework.
“In TV production, you’ve got to be hands-on,” said Jay Cofield, Professor. “没有别的办法.”
Montevallo’s Mass Communication program covers broadcast production and multimedia journalism as well as emerging media technologies. The students carry out a range of TV and media functions: live shooting, 远程和工作室制作, 编辑, 布景设计和镜头天赋. 他们还制作新闻广播, music shows and live streams of on-campus sports and special events: graduations, 客座讲座和创始人日, 这是蒙特瓦洛的传统.
Throughout the department’s control room and studios, the team now uses a mix of older 十大正规体育平台 systems (such as the Concert multi-user Intercom-over-IP and conferencing solution) combined with the newer Eclipse HX system integrated with 亚洲最大体育平台 and Agent-IC.
The university’s new studio opened in 2017 and as the program’s curriculum expanded to keep pace with the broadcast industry’s rapid production developments, Cofield and the department recognized the need to step up every aspect of its technology offerings, 包括对讲机.
“Until 2017, we were mostly single-channel, with everybody crowded on Channel A,他说. “It was a matter of pushing a button and trying to talk over somebody. 现在, having the ability to assign channels for private or targeted conversations is a night and day change. The students are able to see first-hand how comms are really handled in a professional production environment.”
在拍摄或活动中使用对讲机, channels are typically allocated for a faculty supervisor, 一个导演, 生产商, 副制片人, 图形, 讲词提示装置, an ENG shader or a technical director depending on the production’s needs—now these roles can be managed using Agent-IC and the new 亚洲最大体育平台 desktop client.
亚洲最大体育平台 is one of the latest product releases from 十大正规体育平台. Through a computer running MacOS or Windows operating systems, users can connect natively to a central intercom system hosting such key services as audio and control, 面板, beltpacks, 甚至是其他对讲系统的端点.
“Our Eclipse is tied into our Midas Pro-X audio console and our Ross Ultrix router,科菲尔德说. “That configuration, together with Agent-IC, makes doing remotes around campus easier.
用于远程制作, faculty will give a remote engineer on-location one of its four Agent-IC licenses to be able to talk back to the control room and send return audio. The team will use a tie from the Eclipse system into the Ultrix to record party lines so students can hear what they sound like on comms or listen to someone giving show directions – another way for them to experience how communications functions are handled on a set or in a studio.
“With our old system, we were tied to the studio,科菲尔德说. “We didn’t really have the ability to go out and do anything remote. 现在, we can set up a remote anywhere that has Wi-Fi with Agent-IC and have instant intercom. 作为教员和制作人, I can monitor all student communications and switch quickly to any channel to answer questions or do troubleshooting. It’s super flexible and life-changing to be able to do that.”
The department’s enhanced comms capabilities also serve as a valuable teaching and instructional aide. “从教学机构的角度来看, the ability to record the PLs quickly and easily lets me go back and tell the director/professor to emphasize certain techniques more to a class or to even point out when a student producer really performed well on an assignment and made the production come off much smoother.”
展望未来, Cofield is confident the school’s current comms configuration is capable enough to take the department well into the future while also providing a unique competitive advantage in attracting students who are looking for real-world experience and modern technology.
“There aren’t many programs like this for undergrads, 尤其是在东南部, 我们的项目也在不断扩大,他说.
The school’s vision for its Mass Communications department was to have it be a campus communication hub, “not only allowing remote productions but also connecting classrooms and other learning spaces across campus,科菲尔德说. “What I wanted most of all was industry-standard technology to give us the highest levels of flexibility and capabilities for our budget, 这就是我们从十大正规体育平台得到的.”