SADiE News

SADiE's Great African Adventure

Cambridge, UK: Prism Sound/SADiE is about to embark on an extensive tour of Africa, during which it will impart the workflow benefits of the world-renowned SADiE recording and editing system to broadcast practitioners and stakeholders in various African nations.

The theme of the tour is Creating and Maintaining a Suspension of Disbelief, and Prism Sound/SADiE is partnering with a number of different organisations including the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association (CBA), the British Council, Sound on Sound magazine and various broadcasting corporations including those in Ghana and South Africa, and SADiE's African distributor S.E.G.M.A.

SADiE specialist Pete Nash, who will be spearheading the initiative, says: "Africa is becoming highly sophisticated in terms of its broadcast infrastructure - indeed it is rolling out its digital networks faster than many European countries and is also in the enviable position of being able to build new Green facilities from scratch.

"This tour aims to deliver the message that SADiE is perfect for creative audio production in the broadcast world because it offers a reliable, simple and proven solution to the recording and editing process. We want to impart to African audiences the lessons that have already been learned by major broadcasters such as the BBC, which recently approved SADiE as its craft editor of choice for all radio production work. In terms of broadcasting innovation, Africa is a hugely exciting continent and we are delighted to be part of this development."

Prism Sound's Creative African Tour begins in East Africa where it will visit Nairobi, Kenya, on November 7th and 8th and Kigali, Rwanda, on November 9th. In both countries the presentations and workshops, on occasions with the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association, will continue the themes explored in the Live In Nairobi Digital East Africa event, which was held in July. They will focus on raising awareness of creative production processes and technological standards relevant to the Development Communication field and on the importance of fast and accurate workflow. The speakers will include Pete Nash and Akim Mogaji, from the CBA, along with a video presentation from director Peter Leslie Wild who will discuss producing and directing drama at the BBC.

The Nairobi event will be held at Shujaaz FM, a national communication effort that aims to empower young Kenyans with information, ideas and the motivation they need to become active participants in development, community and cohesion.

In Kigali, Rwanda, the event will be held at Urunana Development Communication, a Rwandan national NGO that arose from a Well Women Media Project founded in 1998. Urunana DC's message is delivered via the popular Urunana soap opera, which was launched in 1999 on the BBC Great Lakes Lifeline Service and is retransmitted on Radio Rwanda.

From East Africa, the Prism Sound Tour will move to South Africa where it will take in Johannesburg on November 10th and 11th and Capetown on November 14th and 15th. In both cases the presentations and workshops will be held at SABC, which is sponsoring the events.

The South African leg of the tour will follow Prism Sound's tried and Tested Mic To Monitor format and will include presentations from Pete Nash, Akim Mogaji and Sound on Sound journalist Hugh Robjohns on subjects such as microphone technique, location recording, mastering and studio acoustics. There will also be panel discussions and practical, hands-on demonstrations of Prism Sound Orpheus, SADiE 6, SADiE LRX, Adams speakers and more.

The final leg of the Prism Sound/SADiE Sepension of Disbelief Tour in Africa takes place from November 17th to 22nd as part of the CBA's Live in Accra event in Accra, Ghana.

Following immediately on from the World Electronic Media Forum, this 5-day event for West Africa will target content creators, those who support and develop the creation of content and those who market, exhibit and distribute the products.

CBA Live in Accra will explore and create fresh approaches to the creation of faction and fiction in the digital age on the theme of 'The Gender Agenda' for national and international markets. The event will be run in partnership with Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), the CBA's lead member in Ghana, the British Council Ghana (BCG) and SADiE.

Pete Nash says: "This event will consist of creative workshops, film screening and listening events, master-classes and seminars, and an audience based discussion designed for broadcast produced by Ghana Broadcasting Corporation. Its aim is to contribute to broadcast programming and print that raises awareness about development issues in the UK and across the Commonwealth."

Participants will come from the creative industries and be drawn from television and radio, film and print in particular. They will include writers, creative directors, journalists, editors, audience researchers, media students, NGOs, media managers and strategists. The event will be attended by commissioners and editors, content producers and programme makers from CBA members in Cameroon, Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra Leone, and the BBC.

For more information on the Prism Sound/SADiE African tour or any of the specific events included in the programme, please see the event section of this site or contact Pete Nash on pete.nash@sadie.com