Kolrom Multimedia Hits the Right Note With Blackmagic Audio Monitor 12G

BMD
CJ Kramer relies on the Blackmagic Audio Monitor 12 for Kolrom Multimedia’s pre- and post-production work. (Image credit: Kolrom Media)

BALTIMORE—Delivering multimedia solutions since 1999, Kolrom Multimedia has created hundreds of films and presentations for a myriad of organizations and businesses. With three green screen studio locations across Maryland and New Jersey, including a full wraparound 24x18-foot deep cyclorama wall, each of our projects receives premium service from experienced designers, filmmakers, editors, illustrators, and animators. 

Providing pre- through post-production services for films, documentaries, educational videos, commercials and more, our green screen studios host multicamera virtual events and live streams, including talk shows, telethons and lectures, as well as for virtual production, music videos and VFX work. 

Seamless Signal Monitoring
With such a diverse portfolio of services, accuracy is key, and we’ve finetuned our workflow, right down to signal management and monitoring, to create a seamless capture to delivery experience for our customers. Signal monitoring is also paramount, even though it may seem like a simple part of the overall workflow.

Our green screen studios are equipped with Blackmagic Studio Camera 4K Pros and Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4Ks, which are fed into Ultimatte 12 HD and Ultimatte 12 HD Mini real-time compositing processors. From there, the feeds are sent into our ATEM Mini and ATEM SDI live production switchers, which include the ATEM Mini, ATEM Mini Pro, ATEM Mini Extreme ISO and ATEM SDI Extreme ISO models, and then into the Blackmagic Audio Monitor 12G. The final step for the workflow is our HyperDeck Studio HD Mini and HyperDeck Studio 4K Pro recorders, which the Blackmagic Audio Monitor 12G feeds into.

With presentations, talk shows, and lectures as highly sought-after services from us, the spoken word is vital to those deliverables, and as such, audio, and by extension, audio monitoring, are key. When looking for a simple, clean way to monitor audio without having to rely on our control room’s television’s speakers, we turned to the Blackmagic Audio Monitor 12G. 

We selected it because we needed an accurate audio and visual representation of the levels, which the Blackmagic Audio Monitor 12G delivers with its two bright audio level meters on the front panel. We even have the flexibility to select between VU or PPM or Loudness scales with a choice of EBU or BBC meters, from -45 to +3 decibels, -12 to +12, or 0 to 7, depending on the scale. 

Matching Audio to Video
Additionally, on the video side, the built-in LCD lets us monitor the video source, which lets us know that the audio matches our incoming video feed, and includes source information, video format and the audio channels being monitored. If needed, the HDMI 2.0 output also allows us to monitor on UHD displays.

We also appreciate the Blackmagic Audio Monitor 12G’s compact design, which fits perfectly in our rack and our workflow, freeing up precious desktop space while seamlessly monitoring audio. It’s simple with its at-a-glance level monitoring—while still being powerful enough, with its dual subwoofers, extra wide range speakers, and class D amplifier—to impress clients hanging out in the control room. 

Additionally, the majority of our customers are non-profits, so they need to promote their organizations and marketing and fundraising programs as cost effectively as possible. As such, we strive to implement professional, yet affordable gear in order to provide top-notch services but at a cost that’s reasonable for our customers. Blackmagic Design has allowed us to do just that across its product lines, from something as simple as audio monitoring to creating more complex virtual environments. 

For additional information, contact Blackmagic Design at 408-954-0500 or visit
www.blackmagicdesign.com.

CJ Kramer is president of Kolrom Multimedia, Inc. He can be reached at 410-602-8243.