Apr 27, 2008
5.1 Channel Audio System Modified for Multi-language Video Screening
I have just finished a video project that has been under works for eight months, and is now screening twenty-eight times in two days, as part of an orientation program for 1500 participants in the Tenth International Bahá’í Convention.
The program is in English, and simultaneous translation is available in French, Spanish and Russian. To achieve this, we mixed a 5.1 surround-sound DVD where each channel (Front Left, Front Right, Center, Side Left, Side Right) corresponded to a language, and while the English was routed to the main speakers, the other languages went to an infra-red transmitter, which sent each of the three other languages to separate channels on the translation headsets worn by the participants. Those participants needing translation would then switch the respective channels on their headsets in order to listen to the video in either French, Spanish or Russian. Credit for this idea goes to David Gappy.
The effect of playing the DVD in a regular stereo TV or computer is particularly funny, because all four languages are heard speaking over each other. On a 5.1 setup, the voices surround you, each coming out of a different speaker in the room.
Although the program cannot be shown outside of its intended context, and therefore I cannot post it, the response from the orientees has been very positive. It was an important learning experience in conveying information as clearly as possible, addressing items for which there were no images or photographs available and thus needed some form of creative representation, and perfecting voice recording techniques, as well as foreign-language-voice-editing skills… Bienvenue!