I spearheaded the 2010 studio refit. The previous studios had been designed around CD, MD and vinyl, and the playout was awkwardly retrofitted. We tore everything out, rebuilt the benches in a different configuration, and added many more monitors and on-desk controls to make the way the studios were actually being used more ergonomic and to automate things.
At the same time, we built the Audio Management system, which I understand is still used in an updated version today. Actually it was the second attempt at Audio Management - the first proof of concept was made a year earlier, and while it worked fine it had a lot of room for improvement. The second version was a lot better, and won an SRA in 2010, although I still had things I wanted to implement on it long after I left.
We had many more ideas than we actually had budget for, so there was a lot of slightly bodged together hardware and custom software. We built a box that allowed a server to know which studio was routed to air (by putting relays across the 'accept' lights) and then used that to automatically update the website with the name of the show logged on in that studio, and the relevant webcam feed, and so on. I also designed a script to automatically post the hourly news bulletins to the website - it used the timing of the start and end jingles being played out to clip the relevant section from the transmission log and upload it to the website.
We were just starting to use 3G for OBs, particularly for the Varsity games. In 2011 it still wasn't hugely reliable, and we would frequently get cut off in the middle of the broadcast - but it was a huge improvement over the previous system of recording 20 minutes at a time onto minidisc, sending it back to the studio in a car and playing it out once it arrived!
(I could tell stories about my time at URN all day, so if there's any areas you'd particularly like to hear about, do let me know!)
Bio2 (Post-graduation)
I initially worked at a broadcast media management software company. Now I'm a freelance developer building software and websites for the entertainment industry.
Producer, The Pulse, autumn 2007 - early 2009
Producer, The Big Picture, early 2008 - not sure. I developed a new format for The Big Picture in the 2008-09 year; when I was first given the show, it was a 45-minute show of mostly reports with one or two short debates that was pre-recorded in bits and edited together to go out early on a Sunday morning. I came up with a new format of 3 topics, each with a report and a debate, that went out as an hour-long live show initially on a Sunday evening and later moved to after The Pulse on a Wednesday.
Committees
Website editor, 2008-9
Technical manager, 2009-10 and 2010-11
Awards
Audio Management won gold SRA for Best Technical Achievement in 2010. I received Honorary Lifetime Membership of the Students' Union for my work at URN.
Contact Preferences
Are we allowed to facilitate contact to this alumnus? Yes
Attempted File Generation
---
title: Thomas Preece
course:
- Electrical and Electronic Engineering with German
graduated: 2011
contact_allowed: true
careers:
undefined
links: *fill me out
https://thomaspreece.net
Twitter @tepreece
award: *fill me out
Audio Management won gold SRA for Best Technical Achievement in 2010. I received Honorary Lifetime Membership of the Students' Union for my work at URN.
submitted: 2019-10-17
---
I spearheaded the 2010 studio refit. The previous studios had been designed around CD, MD and vinyl, and the playout was awkwardly retrofitted. We tore everything out, rebuilt the benches in a different configuration, and added many more monitors and on-desk controls to make the way the studios were actually being used more ergonomic and to automate things.
At the same time, we built the Audio Management system, which I understand is still used in an updated version today. Actually it was the second attempt at Audio Management - the first proof of concept was made a year earlier, and while it worked fine it had a lot of room for improvement. The second version was a lot better, and won an SRA in 2010, although I still had things I wanted to implement on it long after I left.
We had many more ideas than we actually had budget for, so there was a lot of slightly bodged together hardware and custom software. We built a box that allowed a server to know which studio was routed to air (by putting relays across the 'accept' lights) and then used that to automatically update the website with the name of the show logged on in that studio, and the relevant webcam feed, and so on. I also designed a script to automatically post the hourly news bulletins to the website - it used the timing of the start and end jingles being played out to clip the relevant section from the transmission log and upload it to the website.
We were just starting to use 3G for OBs, particularly for the Varsity games. In 2011 it still wasn't hugely reliable, and we would frequently get cut off in the middle of the broadcast - but it was a huge improvement over the previous system of recording 20 minutes at a time onto minidisc, sending it back to the studio in a car and playing it out once it arrived!
(I could tell stories about my time at URN all day, so if there's any areas you'd particularly like to hear about, do let me know!)
I initially worked at a broadcast media management software company. Now I'm a freelance developer building software and websites for the entertainment industry.
End user submitted issue from page: /collect/person/
'Submit an almni bio' form submission
Bio1 (Time at station)
I spearheaded the 2010 studio refit. The previous studios had been designed around CD, MD and vinyl, and the playout was awkwardly retrofitted. We tore everything out, rebuilt the benches in a different configuration, and added many more monitors and on-desk controls to make the way the studios were actually being used more ergonomic and to automate things.
At the same time, we built the Audio Management system, which I understand is still used in an updated version today. Actually it was the second attempt at Audio Management - the first proof of concept was made a year earlier, and while it worked fine it had a lot of room for improvement. The second version was a lot better, and won an SRA in 2010, although I still had things I wanted to implement on it long after I left.
We had many more ideas than we actually had budget for, so there was a lot of slightly bodged together hardware and custom software. We built a box that allowed a server to know which studio was routed to air (by putting relays across the 'accept' lights) and then used that to automatically update the website with the name of the show logged on in that studio, and the relevant webcam feed, and so on. I also designed a script to automatically post the hourly news bulletins to the website - it used the timing of the start and end jingles being played out to clip the relevant section from the transmission log and upload it to the website.
We were just starting to use 3G for OBs, particularly for the Varsity games. In 2011 it still wasn't hugely reliable, and we would frequently get cut off in the middle of the broadcast - but it was a huge improvement over the previous system of recording 20 minutes at a time onto minidisc, sending it back to the studio in a car and playing it out once it arrived!
(I could tell stories about my time at URN all day, so if there's any areas you'd particularly like to hear about, do let me know!)
Bio2 (Post-graduation)
I initially worked at a broadcast media management software company. Now I'm a freelance developer building software and websites for the entertainment industry.
Links
https://thomaspreece.net Twitter @tepreece
Shows
Producer, The Pulse, autumn 2007 - early 2009 Producer, The Big Picture, early 2008 - not sure. I developed a new format for The Big Picture in the 2008-09 year; when I was first given the show, it was a 45-minute show of mostly reports with one or two short debates that was pre-recorded in bits and edited together to go out early on a Sunday morning. I came up with a new format of 3 topics, each with a report and a debate, that went out as an hour-long live show initially on a Sunday evening and later moved to after The Pulse on a Wednesday.
Committees
Website editor, 2008-9 Technical manager, 2009-10 and 2010-11
Awards
Audio Management won gold SRA for Best Technical Achievement in 2010. I received Honorary Lifetime Membership of the Students' Union for my work at URN.
Contact Preferences
Are we allowed to facilitate contact to this alumnus? Yes
Attempted File Generation
**