NAMM News: Sonnox and Fraunhofer Co-Develop Solution to Streamline Mastering for Online Distribution

January 12th, 2011 by Janice Brown

A collaboration between the creators of the MP3, Germany-based Fraunhofer IIS, and plug-in designer/manufacturer Sonnox Ltd., has resulted in a new plug-in the companies expect “to revolutionize the way audio is mastered for online distribution.”

The new Sonnox Fraunhofer Pro-Codec plug-in is a mastering solution that makes it possible for the first time to precisely audition codecs in real time. This breaks away from the current time-consuming cycle of having to encode the mix to mp3/AAC, preview it, tweak it and then go back and re-render. The entire process can now be accomplished ‘on the fly,’ freeing the engineer to focus on producing a compensated, optimized mix.

Sonnox Fraunhofer Pro-Codec plug-in (screenshot)

The Pro-Codec plug-in enables mix and mastering engineers to audition up to five codecs in real time within a DAW environment, produce an optimized mix and batch encode to multiple formats simultaneously.

All major codecs, including mp3, mp3 Surround, AAC-LC and HE-AAC are supported, as are lossless codecs such as mp3 HD and HD-AAC.

Sonnox has developed an intuitive FFT display to illustrate the input signal, output difference signal and a unique graphical indication of the audibility of codec-induced noise. Bit-stream integrity meters reveal potential decode overloads. Instant A-B auditioning enables engineers to glitchlessly switch between codecs. A ‘blind listening mode’ (ABX) augments codec comparisons.

The Pro-Codec plug-in is compatible with all popular DAWs — Pro Tools, Logic, Cubase, Nuendo, Sonar, Sequoia and Wavelab. Both Mac and Windows are supported.

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