Having operated in Malaysia since 2008 as an ad hoc training programme without any dedicated facilities, the Salzbrenner Stagetec Mediagroup Asia has formalised and opened the Mediagroup Academy in Kuala Lumpur.
‘We have been giving training to the local broadcast industry,’ Advon Tan, Sales Director Asia (Salzbrenner Stagetec Mediagroup Asia) and Head of Mediagroup Academyconfirms. ‘The course used to be either run at hotels or in customers offices before we established this training location. It gives us a home base and also reduces overall costs that would otherwise have been passed to our customers. So the facility has become a legitimate training centre, which conducts various types of training for affordable fees.
‘Training normally involves a lot of equipment, which hikes up the logistics costing,’ he adds. ‘So since March, we have been concentrating our training courses in the Academy where all facilities are provided. We not only cater for Malaysian customers but to participants from all over Asia. However, we are still offering customised trainings on location. We have a number of nationally and internationally operating teachers with different fields of expertise. For example, the trainer for those two seminars, Jean-Paul Moerman, is a broadcast specialist with extensive knowledge about production processes and sound systems. Some of his reference projects include the Junior Eurovision Song Contest and the Olympics 2012.’
Having opened its doors in March, by the end of September the training centre will have completed three courses attended by 15-30 participants each, with more courses to come. ‘The new facility allows us to increase the number and depth of training, so we will happily expand our services by, for example, a training unit on audio basics,’ Tan says. ‘We are also having a high number of requests for Dolby training, as the region is starting to request for more Dolby tech, surround sound and loudness. This is actually in line with the standardisation of digital TV, which will launch this year.’
Topics presently address both sound and A/V, covering Dolby, surround sound and audio theory courses, but the syllabus is set to expand.
‘General public courses are open, and I think I can proudly say that the number of our returning customers by far exceeds the number of dropouts,’ Tan reports. ‘The courses are directed at anyone who is interested in improving their audio skills on a highly professional level.
Two seminars have recently been held at the Academy during September 2015 – Immersive Sound: Introduction to Dolby Technologies and Revive the Concert: 5.1 Surround Sound Production, by Jean-Paul Moerman. ‘These proved spot-on presentations for what the Asia pro audio and broadcast sectors consider burning questions,’ Tan says. ‘A combined audience of 30 gathered at the Academy for each event, to learn about what today’s technology has to offer, planning 5.1 productions, improving the in-house workflow and devising strategies for leveraging the production content at hand for effective 5.1 productions.’
