Engineering and Website History: Difference between pages

From URY Wiki
(Difference between pages)
Jump to navigation Jump to search
 
mNo edit summary
 
Line 1: Line 1:
{{Team
Here's a potted '''history''' of the URY '''website''', courtesy of the Wayback Machine.
  |tstyle={{Teamstyle Engineering}}
  |name=Engineering Team
  |brief=Maintains URY's audio and broadcast hardware. Also oversees building infrastructure and general maintenance.
  |csec=[[Constitution|Here]]
  |roles=[[Chief Engineer]]<br />[[Assistant Chief Engineer]]
  |teammail=engineering@ury.org.uk
  |freshermail=engineering@ury.org.uk
  |hotmail=chief.engineer@ury.org.uk
}}


'''Engineering Team''' is the URY team responsible for maintaining URY's broadcast equipment and providing suitable set-ups for outside broadcasting, live sessions, or anything else you can think of really. If it handles analogue or digital audio and isn't a computer, its probably ours!
== c.1999-Oct 2003 ==


==What do we do?==
[[File:ws1.png]]
From the moment a sound leaves anything (a computer, vinyl, human, cassette, instrument, etc) to the moment it goes in to a computer for streaming, we are responsible for it! Whether that's in the studio, a session recording, the transmission (Tx) cupboard in stores or at an Outside Broadcast (OB), it's our issue.  


===Studio 1===
The earliest version of the website available on the Web Archive was definitely a product of its time, with the bright orange branding of that era prominent throughout and a very 90s GIF-based sidebar on the left.
The main broadcasting studio, S1 was last re-built in 2011 with the support of Alumni funding (YuFund). The mixing desk is a Sonifex S2 split-chassis broadcast desk. There are: 5 mics; 2 vinyl decks; 2 CDJs; 2 CD players; 4 aux inputs; a telephone channel with jack input (for a smartphone); 3 BAPs channels (from the presenter PC); a guest PC input; a presenter PC input. For visualisation, there are also 2 HD ready cameras and 2 LED lights.


S1 is home to the Tardis. This contains all the outboard stuff used in the studio, including a RedNet 2; compression; patch panels; headphone distribution; Wil's Black Box; sonifex power; black magic (visualisation); speaker amps.
It even had a guestbook, with some rather ''interesting'' contents.


===Studio 2===
At one point in 2000, [[Gavin Atkinson]] updated the site.
Primarily used for recording, S2 was last re-built in 2012. The mixing desk is a Sonifex Sovereign broadcasting desk with custom modifications. There are: 3 mic; 2 aux inputs; 3 BAPs channels (from the presenter PC); a disconnected telephone channel.


S2 is home to the Blue Box. This contains a RedNet 2 (under construction); compression; patch panels; sonifex power; a speaker amp.
This design was created by [[Leo Warner]], and doesn't really work too well in 1080p.


===Production Office===
=== Webcasting ===


The production office is also the main office of URY. Day-to-day it is used by any member of the station as a space to plan shows, meet with other members or get some work done. At the far end is a production PC and mixing desk. These can be used for recording sessions, jingles, clips, etc. The desk is a Yamaha 01v96i digital sound desk with a MY-16AUD Dante expansion card. This is connected via USB and analogue cabling to the PC. It also has inputs from both office wall-PCs, the studios, the CD player, and a patch panel in S2.
At the start of Web Archive captures of the URY website, URY were still broadcasting only on 999kHz and did not yet simulcast on the Internet; however, by 2003, URY had leapt forward into the Internet Age by hosting a worldwide live stream... using ''RealPlayer''. Oh well...


===Transmission===
== Oct 2003-Summer? 2006 ==


URY is broadcast across campus on 1350AM. Our output is also streamed online at ury.org.uk, on radio player, iTunes radio, etc. The engineering team is responsible for getting the audio output to 1350AM and to the stream server for [[computing]] to stream. This all happens in the transmission (Tx) cupboard located in stores. Access to this is restricted to only the Head of Computing and Chief Engineer due to our licence, however they can grant access to anyone except the station manager.
[[File:ws2.png]]


The Tx cupboard contains a Radica transmitter and compressor, some outboard compression, a RedNet 3 and a Scarlett 18i20 (USB audio interface). It also contains a number of servers and computers.  
A radically new website design was launched in time for Autumn term 2003, featuring for the first time what seemed to be sensible web design (for it was a new millennium and the days of gaudy sidebars and orange on grey were far behind the URY computing team, in all their wisdom).


The transmitter is connected underground to a Radica tuner and the antenna (out the back of Vanbrugh Kitchen).
The guestbook and RealPlayer streams were still there, though.


===The bits between them all...===
This website ''does'' work quite well in 1080p, considering.


Currently in progress is a digital audio system to connect the studios, office, jukebox and Tx cupboard together. The system being used is an AoE (Audio over Ethernet) network, which sits within the URY network managed by [[Computing]]. We are using a protocol called [https://www.audinate.com/solutions/dante-overview Dante], which is developed by [https://www.audinate.com/ Audinate]. In order to access this network, we have a number of [http://uk.focusrite.com/ethernet-audio-interfaces/rednet RedNet] devices spread throughout the building. The Yamaha desk in the office is also Dante enabled.  
The then Head of Production, Simon Taghioff, was instrumental in this overhaul.


====RedNet 2====
== 2006-2010 ==


Placed in S1 and S2, the '2' is a 16 in, 16 out A-D and D-A.  
[[File:ws3.png]]


====RedNet 3====
A minor update of the previous website, with even more orange... and no guestbook in sight!  RealPlayer by now had been joined by MP3 and Ogg Vorbis streams as URY's streaming technology marched on.


Located in the Tx cupboard, the '3' is a digital interface, with up to 32 channels via ADAT fibre optical, AES or SPDIF.
What the ''hell'' is that font on the advertising banner?


====RedNet 4====
This design was jiggled around a bit over its four years of service, but remained mostly the same.


Floating between S2 and OBs, the '4' is an 8 channel mic pre.
== 2010-2011 ==


===Outside Broadcasts===
[[File:URYsite09.png]]


===Stores===
In what was probably the most short-lived (and expensive!) of website designs, URY got [http://www.freelancegraphicdesigner.co.uk/ury-web-design.html a professional graphics designer] in to completely redesign the website in conjunction with URY's comprehensive rebranding.


==The Kit==
The result was a lovely set of graphics (lovely being subjective on whether or not you like Impact as a font), but the code for the website wasn't as lovely.  According to legend, the site was programmed in under a week to meet harsh deadlines and was therefore effectively hacked together.  Despite all this, it worked for a year and as of writing the code is still there in heavily modified form.


==Recent History==
Sources indicate that a DaveX was responsible for the coding.


==Members (past and present)==
== 2011-2012 ==


===Chief Engineers===
[[File:ws2011.png]]
* ''2015 - present'': [[James Rudge]]
* ''2014 - 2015'': [[Adam Brain]]
* ''2013 - 2014'': [[Stephen 'Stevo' Clarke]]
* ''2012 - 2013'': [[Tom Haines]]
* ''2012 (summer)'': [[Wil Bennet]]
* ''2010 - 2012'': [[Luke Sarjant and Wil Bennet]]
* ''2009 - 2010'': [[Clement Sun]]
* ''2008 - 2009'': [[Dylan Jones]]
* ''2006 - 2008'': [[Matt Gray]]
* ''2006 (spring)'': [[Jonny Hardman]]
* ''2004 - 2006'': [[Iain Kelly]]
* ''2003 - 2004'': [[Matt Fullerton]]
* ''2003'': [[Terence Withers]]
* ''2001 - 2003'': [[Philip Stewart]]
* ''1997 - 2000'': [[Jonathan Ledbury]]
* ''1996 - 1998'': [[Paul Burns]]
* ''1996 - 1997'': [[Dave Stevenson]]
* ''1993 - 1994'': [[Mark Patrick]]
* ''1993 - 1994'': [[Alistair MacDonald]]


===Assistant Chief Engineers===
The current website was largely the result of a rehashing of the design from last year by the combined efforts of [[Darren Webb]] and [[Rob Stonehouse]] on design and [[Matt Windsor]] on programming (which mainly involved tidying up the previous round of code and implementing the design changes in HTML5 and CSS).


* ''2015 - present'': [[Stephen 'Stevo' Clarke]] & [[Mat Carrington-Mackenzie]]
This website won a YUM award in 2011.
* ''2014 - 2015'': [[Andy Durant]] & [[James Rudge]]
 
* ''2013 - 2014'': [[Andy Durant]] & [[Tom Haines]]
There's still no guestbook.
* ''2013 (summer)'': [[Andy Durant]] & [[Stephen 'Stevo' Clarke]]
 
* ''2012 - 2013'': [[Wil Bennet]] & [[Andy Durant]]
== 2012-2013 ==
* ''2011 - 2012'': [[Tom Haines]] & [[Jonathan Rees]]
[[File:ws2012.png]]
* ''2010 - 2011'': [[Launrence Hobden]]
 
* ''2006 (summer)'': [[Matt Gray]]
In October 2012, the website was completely replaced with a shinier, newer, completely re-written site based on Django (a Python web framework). Despite the shiny new design, we immediately regretted this decision. The site was put live before it was ready - features were missing and never were fully implemented on this generation, and large amounts of it relied on a completely new database schema, so all of the Members' Internal website tools broke with the replacement. It suffered in service for less than a year before it was retired on August 2013.
* ''2004 - 2005'': [[Jonny Hardman]]
 
* ''2003 - 2004'': [[Terence Withers]]
== 2013-Present ==
* ''2002 - 2003'': [[Matt Fullerton]]
''For a picture, load up [http://ury.org.uk ury.org.uk]!''
* ''2001 - 2002'': [[Adam Leith]] & [[Jonathan Aitken]]
 
* ''1995 - 1996'': [[Wim Roose]]
Sticking with the Python, Matt Windsor again went on an endeavour for a better website. With an entirely new codebase in Pyramid (another Python web framework) and SQLAlchemy, and a few shinifications to the actual design itself, this site went into production in August 2013, at the same time as our upgrade to Apache 2.4 and the replacement of Members' Internal with MyURY. Over the remainder of the Summer Holidays, MyURY was expanded to ensure it had capabilities to actually maintain this website, and so shiny Banner and Podcast systems were available and the site once again looked pretty.
 
There's still no guest book, but there is a sign up form on the Get Involved page.

Revision as of 21:43, 20 June 2020

Here's a potted history of the URY website, courtesy of the Wayback Machine.

c.1999-Oct 2003

The earliest version of the website available on the Web Archive was definitely a product of its time, with the bright orange branding of that era prominent throughout and a very 90s GIF-based sidebar on the left.

It even had a guestbook, with some rather interesting contents.

At one point in 2000, Gavin Atkinson updated the site.

This design was created by Leo Warner, and doesn't really work too well in 1080p.

Webcasting

At the start of Web Archive captures of the URY website, URY were still broadcasting only on 999kHz and did not yet simulcast on the Internet; however, by 2003, URY had leapt forward into the Internet Age by hosting a worldwide live stream... using RealPlayer. Oh well...

Oct 2003-Summer? 2006

A radically new website design was launched in time for Autumn term 2003, featuring for the first time what seemed to be sensible web design (for it was a new millennium and the days of gaudy sidebars and orange on grey were far behind the URY computing team, in all their wisdom).

The guestbook and RealPlayer streams were still there, though.

This website does work quite well in 1080p, considering.

The then Head of Production, Simon Taghioff, was instrumental in this overhaul.

2006-2010

A minor update of the previous website, with even more orange... and no guestbook in sight! RealPlayer by now had been joined by MP3 and Ogg Vorbis streams as URY's streaming technology marched on.

What the hell is that font on the advertising banner?

This design was jiggled around a bit over its four years of service, but remained mostly the same.

2010-2011

In what was probably the most short-lived (and expensive!) of website designs, URY got a professional graphics designer in to completely redesign the website in conjunction with URY's comprehensive rebranding.

The result was a lovely set of graphics (lovely being subjective on whether or not you like Impact as a font), but the code for the website wasn't as lovely. According to legend, the site was programmed in under a week to meet harsh deadlines and was therefore effectively hacked together. Despite all this, it worked for a year and as of writing the code is still there in heavily modified form.

Sources indicate that a DaveX was responsible for the coding.

2011-2012

The current website was largely the result of a rehashing of the design from last year by the combined efforts of Darren Webb and Rob Stonehouse on design and Matt Windsor on programming (which mainly involved tidying up the previous round of code and implementing the design changes in HTML5 and CSS).

This website won a YUM award in 2011.

There's still no guestbook.

2012-2013

In October 2012, the website was completely replaced with a shinier, newer, completely re-written site based on Django (a Python web framework). Despite the shiny new design, we immediately regretted this decision. The site was put live before it was ready - features were missing and never were fully implemented on this generation, and large amounts of it relied on a completely new database schema, so all of the Members' Internal website tools broke with the replacement. It suffered in service for less than a year before it was retired on August 2013.

2013-Present

For a picture, load up ury.org.uk!

Sticking with the Python, Matt Windsor again went on an endeavour for a better website. With an entirely new codebase in Pyramid (another Python web framework) and SQLAlchemy, and a few shinifications to the actual design itself, this site went into production in August 2013, at the same time as our upgrade to Apache 2.4 and the replacement of Members' Internal with MyURY. Over the remainder of the Summer Holidays, MyURY was expanded to ensure it had capabilities to actually maintain this website, and so shiny Banner and Podcast systems were available and the site once again looked pretty.

There's still no guest book, but there is a sign up form on the Get Involved page.

Retrieved from "https://ury.org.uk/wiki/mediawiki/index.php?title=Engineering&oldid=1137"