Broadcast from the legendary El Capitan Entertainment Center in Hollywood, Jimmy Kimmel Live has updated its traditional taped based broadcast/archive environment to a native-based computer solution by installing a PC with two Nuendo 96/52DSP PCI interface cards, six Nuendo DD8 format converters to interface with three Yamaha 02R96 mixers via AES/EBU and driven by Nuendo and Wavelab software. The system records 48 simultaneous channels of 24-bit, 48kHz multichannel audio from several performance locations on the set.
“The flexibility and workflow of the Nuendo system allows me to handle several music sources very efficiently,” notes Bart Chiate, the show’s music mixer. “In live television, the most important thing has to be reliability. I can record 48 tracks wide at 24/48 on the 7200 rpm IDE boot drive of my little 2.6 gig PC with only 1 gig of Ram and the system is rock solid. Not even a hiccup.”
When confronted with the technical challenge of pulling together live music from up to three different stages on any given night, Chiate turned to Steinberg having used Wavelab to back up and archive previous shows. With Nuendo, Chiate can now bring the entire show into the digital domain while broadcasting, do quick tweaks for time delayed broadcasts and archive the entire show in high resolution multitrack format for planned future releases of musical performances on DVD.
Chiate adds, “You have to move fast and be ready for anything. Nuendo lets me stay on top of things without any compromise in sound quality and also gives me creative options down the road. I can archive a show for a tenth of the cost of our tape-based system and the bean counters love that!”
Now in its second season, Jimmy Kimmel Live has secured itself as the late night destination for viewers to get a glimpse of their favorite pop icon, Among the performers to appear on the show are No Doubt, Coldplay, Enrique Iglesias, Counting Crows, DMX, Michele Branch, Toby Keith, Kenny Chesney, Snoop Dogg, Jane’s Addiction, Godsmack, Cypress Hill and 50 Cent.
For more information about Nuendo, go to their Website at www.steinberg-us.com.
