The Sound Company
I S D N    S T U D I O    A N D    V O I C E    L I N K - U P S


See also our SOURCE CONNECT page
RATES for ISDN link-ups: (min booking 1 hr)
Outgoing ISDN calls (BT Data rates) charged at BT Business Tariff + 20%

- Studio + 15KHz 2-line mono/stereo units - £150 p/h + call charges + VAT
  (Extra codecs or bridges etc - add £50 p/h per codec)

- Studio + G722 (BBC)/APT-X (ILR) (both 7.5KHz mono) 1-line - £130 p/h + call charges + VAT
  (2-line connections will be charged at the higher 2-line rate in 1/4 hr blocks. Extra codecs or bridges etc - add £50 p/h per codec.)

- Studio + 15-20KHz 3-4 line hook-ups - £180 p/h + call charges + VAT
- Studio + 15-20KHz 5-6 line hook-ups - £200 p/h + call charges + VAT

With picture as "guide", viewing - or synched via T/C over ISDN:

- with MOV/MPEG/Beta SP/Digi, add £20 p/h to the relevant rate above.

e.g. A six-line ISDN hook-up with DigiBeta will cost £220 per hour + call charges + VAT where applicable.
As far as sound studios are concerned, ISDN is a wide bandwidth digital data line enabling real-time transmission of 2-way STEREO BROADCAST QUALITY audio in real-time between two points - with the correct equipment. There are various incompatible standards.

We have:-
- CDQ 2001, MPEG layer II. 15kHz stereo. Compatible with Prima, Zephyr etc
- CDQ 2000, MPEG layer II. 15kHz stereo. Compatible with Prima, Zephyr etc
- Centauri 3001 - almost all encoding algorithms inc. AAC.
- APT Worldnet Tokyo - covers almost anything. Multi-algorithm, ISDN and IP codec offering all popular coding algorithms, including both Enhanced and Standard apt-X® for low delay live broadcasting. Up to four ISDN lines may be used to acheive high bit rate connections.
- APT-X 128 (Nica 128), 15 kHz mono. (Less processing delays than the CDQ & very common in the Netherlands)
- APT-X 64, 7.5 kHz mono x 3
- G722, 7.5 kHz mono x 3
- Pronto 3 - G722, ISO MPEG Layer II Mono 64 Kbps, Joint stereo 128 Kbps, ISO MPEG Layer III Mono 64 Kbps and Joint Stereo 128 Kbps


Some London studios will charge £5 per minute "connection charge" regardless of whether the call is UK or international, incoming or outgoing. We prefer to be honest about costs - on outgoing calls (only), we charge BT Business Tariff call costs + 20% to cover handling & admin.

The majority of our ISDN sessions are 2-line connections. If using 3 or more lines then that reduces the number of simultaneous 2-line sessions we can run - hence our prices vary according to the number of lines used.

INTERNATIONAL ISDN CALLS  Please note that in the UK British Telecom charge data rates (not cheap voice rates) for overseas ISDN calls - very expensive, and can be between 6 & 48 (!!) times more expensive than equivalent normal voice calls.

For example a 2-channel ISDN link to the US during our daytine will cost around 58 pence per minute per channel - plus our 20% = £1.39 per minute. South Africa - £3.44 per minute. Paris - £0.88 per minute. (Prices change - please check with BT for current ISDN Data charges)

It's often cheaper for the overseas studios to dial into us - then there are no call charges charged by us, it's as simple as that.

  • Timecode can be sent between compatible 4-line or 6-line units, or down one leg of a 2-line unit. MOV video files can be controlled by a remote studio with the right gear. We do quite a lot of work locking to picture via ISDN. There are certain circumstances where we can lock DigiBeta machines this way, but by far the easiest and most guaranteed way is to use MOV files. If you can't provide MOV files than we can digitise your DigiBeta tapes. This is done in real time and obviously must be done before the session start time. The MOV files will be ones that are adequate for our purposes and will not be broadcast spec. Picture and audio digitisation is normally charged out at £150 p/h, but if we receive them a couple of days in advance we may be able to do it a cheaper rate - £100 p/h.

  • An alternative to simple wild voice sessions via ISDN is to produce via a 'phone patch, and then we FTP you the recording.
  • Another alternative is Source Connect. An IP-to-IP solution for Pro Tools, Nuendo etc - which can be used to simply contribute remotely to a session - or can be used for common video file sources, machine control, final audio delivery etc.
  • To find an ISDN studio to connect between ourselves & the rest of UK, Europe & the world - broadcastisdn.net

    As well as linking-up between studios and/or voices, ISDN is also used for "multibroadcasts", "down-the-line", "studio-to-station" links. All these terms mean the same thing and usually use restricted bandwidth mono codecs - APT-X 7.5kHz or G722 7.5kHz mono units. An interviewee in one of our studios is sequentially linked to various UK BBC/Commercial radio stations - and sometimes overseas radio stations.

    • E & O E. © Geoff Oliver and The Sound Company Ltd 1993-2010

      Just north of Oxford Street,
      The Sound Company Ltd
      offers 7,500 sq ft of audio
      facilities for voice-overs and
      audio post-production - in
      English or any language.
      To picture, or just wild.


    The Sound Company Ltd

    Seven studios for voice-overs
    & audio post-production - inc. 7 x Pro Tools studios,
    1 x Sadie
    -
    Skype & Phone patches in all studios

    WiFi access in reception & most studios

    750 sq ft studio for rehearsals, tv media training or as a 4-waller

    www.sound.co.uk




    E & O E. © Geoff Oliver and The Sound Company Ltd 1993-2010