Complete studios, built with Axia.

You've been cruising our site, so you've heard us telling you that Axia Livewire components are "building blocks" you can use to build networked broadcast audio systems.

In fact, a complete studio is amazingly easy to build. All you need are a handful of Axia AES and Analog Nodes, a bag of RJ-45 connectors, a spool of CAT-6 and a crimp tool, and you're ready to go. So let's go build a studio (or twelve).

Step 1: The Ins and Outs

The first step in any studio build is identifying the pieces. We visited a typical air studio/control room used for intensive, live-format radio shows, and took an inventory:

• 3 Microphones

• 3 Headphones

• 2 pairs of speakers (studio & control room monitors)

• 1 CD player

• 1 audio delivery PC

• 1 audio editing PC

• 1 Internet PC

• 1 DAT player

• 1 Telos TWOx12 12-caller talkshow system

• 2 Telos Zephyr ISDN remote codecs

• 1 satellite downlink

• 23 incoming audio sources (from devices in production rooms, news booths, other air studios)

• 1 cue speaker

• 1 program feed to the Omnia-6 HD+FM Audio Processor and then to the transmission plant

• And last but not least, the audio console.
   
  

The bottom line  By now, you're probably asking "How much is it?" Complete system pricing is available upon request  but we know you're dying to know now, so here's the short answer: an Axia system costs about half what you'd pay one of those other digital broadcast equipment vendors to build your studios. Think that might make some people happy?

Step 2: Putting It All Together

That's a lot of stuff! But it takes surprisingly little Axia gear to network it all together.

• The Ethernet Switch is at the heart of the Axia network. You'll need one per studio; all of the other Axia gear plugs into the switch using CAT-6 cable.

• The 3 Mics and their 3 associated headphone feeds will all connect to an Axia Microphone Node, leaving 5 more inputs and outputs for future expansion.

• The 4 monitor speakers and the CD player will be connected to an Axia Analog Line Node, leaving 6 outputs and 7 inputs for expansion.

• The 2 Zephyrs, 2 phone hybrids and the satellite receiver will all send digital audio directly to an Axia AES Line Node. This node will also send audio back to these devices and supply an AES program feed to the Omnia-6, leaving 3 inputs and 3 outputs open for expansion.

• The 23 incoming sources from around the plant will be directly accessible using the Axia Router Selector Node. The selector also takes input from the DAT player, to be fed to the network. (You can use Pathfinder PC software to set up routing cross-points for your entire facility.) 

• The audio delivery and editing PCs feed digital audio directly to the Livewire network using the Axia Windows Driver supplied by the station's playout system vendor. The Internet PC will connect directly to the switch through the corporate firewall. 

• An Axia Element on-air console commands the Axia StudioEngine, a powerful Linux-based mixing device with 12 gigaflops of processing power. Machine logic for all of the room's audio sources is fed into the Axia GPIO Node, which routes control along with audio to wherever it's needed. 

Transform your terminal room.

Chances are your terminal room doesn't look like the picture on the left (at least we hope not!), but if you've ever dreamed about just tearing it all out and starting over, Axia can help you do it. Get rid of those wire pairs, barrier strips and connection blocks, and replace them with clean, simple CAT-6 cabling.

And it looks like this.

Our company is full of engineers, and if you're anything like us, you probably like schematics and block diagrams. So for fun, we worked up a system diagram of the studio described above.  Take a look...

"So how do I hook up this stuff?"
Hey, we're engineers too, and we know you've got better things to do than solder XLR connectors all night long. So we've assembled a whole universe of prewired cabling systems, connectors and tools to make assembling your Axia network as easy as possible. 
Click here to see...

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Some of the industry's top audio hardware and software vendors have partnered with Axia to integrate Livewire functionality into their newest offerings. See the full list of Axia software and hardware partners, or browse some new broadcast gear that's Livewire-ready.

Element Broadcast Console

Axia StudioEngine

Axia Router Selector Node

Axia Analog Line Node

Axia AES Line Node

Axia Microphone Line Node

Axia GPIO Node

PathfinderPC 
Router Control Software

Axia Windows Audio Driver 

Qualified Ethernet Audio Switch