Starfish AD Pre-Mix Compiler

Audio Description Compiler

The Starfish Advantage Pre-Mix Complier is a software application that mixes the original program audio file with the Audio Description information contained within an ESEF file, to create a pre-mixed audio output file.

The ESEF file contains an associated set of Audio Description WAV files and mixing is controlled by the dip and fade information contained within the ESEF file. The output WAV consists of dipped programme sound with added Audio Descriptions and can be provided as BWAV or M4A. Programme audio must be sampled at 48 KHz.

ESEF is a widely used broadcast standard interchange format for Audio Description files and is the required source file format for all the Advantage Compiler products. An ESEF file set consists of an .esf file and a set of individual WAV files associated with each description. 

The .esf file contains - script data for each description, in-time and out-time timecodes of each description, the filename of the WAV file for each associated description - not the actual audio recording itself, the fade duration, fade depth and stereo pan data for each description.

The recommended fade depths for broadcast use are: 1/3dB, 3dB, 6dB, 9dB, 12dB, 15dB, 18dB, 21dB, "Maximum" i.e. no programme sound audible at all. The recommended fade durations for broadcast use are: 0 frames, 3 frames, 10 frames, 25 frames.

Key Features:

• User friendly interface
• Auto check on the input file timecode validity  
• Checks for overlapping timecodes
• Add or edit the BWAV header on the output Pre-mix file
• Processing controlled by the dip and fade information contained within the ESEF file
• Output options of BWAV or M4A

Licensing - The application is protected by means of a hardware security dongle.

Price Per License