Creativecell Logo
Banner 5

Frequently asked questions

Is »Hasba Calling Sound System« an officially registered company?

Yes. The company's formal title is »Creativedition Heimo Bratke e.U.«, and has been registered at the County Court of Wiener Neustadt/Austria. »Hasba Calling Sound System« and »Creativecell Media« are brand names of this company, where HCSS covers the audio, and Creativecell the video branch. When talking about HCSS in the following paragraphs, we mean the company CREATIVEDITION Heimo Bratke e.U. for both brands.
See more details on the Contact page.

Which recording formats and cameras are common with HCSS?

Footage is taken in high definition exclusively, with both formats, HDV and DVCPRO-HD. HDV videos are generally rendered at a data rate of 18 Mbps, which is sufficient for DVD and web applications. DVCPRO-HD equipment operates with much higher data rates of up to 100 Mbps, allowing footage for high demanding BluRay productions.
Of course, the cutting & editing software is HD proof. On request, our currently used SONY and Panasonic branded cameras (HRV-Z1E and HVX200-P2) record also in standard resolution, i.e. 576i wide screen (16:9 anamorph).

Which video formats are used for the web video spots?

The standard format is a Quicktime movie 640x360 in MP4/H264 compression at 1500 kbps and audio MP3 at 96 kbps. Optionally the format may be customized to 480x270 or 800x450. On request the footage may be rendered also as Flash video at 1000 kbps. Bear in mind that the Quicktime player plug-in is part of the Apple system family with less extension in a MS Windows environment. However, QuickTime is the de facto standard of top quality media playback and definitely superior to a flash video. However, the most important reason to employ QuickTime is, that Flash has not been supported by any of Apple's hardware devices, such as Mac-books, iPads, iPhones etc.
In addition we may export our footage in all common formats, i.e.: MPEG2 for DVD SD 576i, MP4/H264 for BluRay Disc 720p or HDTV 1080i. Broadcast footage may be rendered on DigiBeta cassette for compensation of extra expenses.

Which audio formats are used for sound track recordings?

Each sound track will be sampled with 48kHz/16bit and stored as uncompressed PCM-WAV file. As such files become very large in disc space, they are not handy for distribution on the internet. For this reason, HCSS keeps all music available for download as MP3/96kHz/stereo. On request (and with a small surcharge) the PCM-WAVs are also available on CD-ROM.
See Download/Soundpool for more details.

What amount of time is required to produce a web video?

Beside the thematic preparation (in general cleared via telephone) you need to schedule about 4 to 6 hours of shooting time on site. The delivery of all web based files comes within one week.

Can HCSS also produce multilingual videos?

Yes. HCSS provides cooperation with native speakers (m/f) of the following languages: DE, EN, FR, ES, IT, NL, HU, RU.
In a DVD production, up to eight sound tracks may be linked to a single video track. This option is not given with flash or QT movies, which allow only one sound track per video stream. Hence a multilingual production will raise both, the costs of the post production as well as the storage size on the web server, proportionally to the number of languages in use.

Will the employer become the owner of a web video with unlimited copyrights?

Basically not. Similar to the music stuff distributed by HCSS, the employer acquires solely a license to use the work, unlimited in time, but restricted to several platforms: primarily, the license is granted for using the material in a web based environment, i.e. on the employer's web site or on related web platforms, like YouTube, Herold, MySpace and others. In addition, promotional use is allowed, f.i. in connection with trade fairs and exhibitions. Any further use, in particular partial reproduction and publication by third parties, shall require HCSS's explicite prior approval, being subject to individual bargains.

Does HCSS operate his own sound and film studio?

Sound - yes; film - no. For video shootings, which may not take place on live locations, we need to rent appropriate studio facilities, including all technical installations and staff. Cutting & post production though, shall be performed in our own premises.
Get more information about our sound studio on the Sound recording page.

Does HCSS also take care about the integration of the web video into the employer's web site?

No. This part of the job is the employer's task. Either doing it himself, provided that he posesses the know-how and the necessary software tools, or by contracting his web administrator. However, HCSS shall deliver all video files, as well as the code of javascripts and HTML, which are necessary for web implementation. The remaining task is simple for a specialist and requires only a small deal of time.

Is HCSS ready for sound recordings with solo musicians and bands?

Yes. In terms of technical equipment, size & space, our recording studio is capable of recording soloists and small combos (i.e. rock and jazz bands). Also to accommodate choirs up to 20 members is not a problem. Bigger ensembles or groups with bulky instruments (f.i. brass and large-scale percussion) need to be recorded on external locations. This, of course, may result in higher operating expenses.

What means »royalty-free music«?

Each release of literature, music or movie is protected by international copyright laws, where protection applies to the use of such material by persons other than the original copyright owner. Use implies in general producing copies on sound and data storage media, as well as any kind of public performance.
In order to grant the authors the deserved earnings for their creative achievements, most countries have established so called collective rights societies, whose task is to monitor the use of copyrighted material by third parties and to collect license fees in favor of their members (the authors, musicians, produceers a.o.). In Germany, f.i. this society is called »GEMA«, whereas »AustroMechana« and »Suisa« are the corresponding societies in Austria and Swizzerland.
Every author or composer however, is entitled to offer his work to others at his own discretion by arranging commercial conditions for using his work and collecting fees directly from the users. For this purpose, the copyright owner issues a standard release document in favor of the licensee, granting the permission to use the material without further payments to any of the collective rights societies. Music, which has been licensed to use on basis of such a standard release contract is called »royalty-free music«.
Any soundtrack released by »Hasba Calling Sound System« matches with these requirements, hence all of our musical work is to be considered as royalty free.

Can HCSS's music and video release be played back on every web platform?

Basically yes, provided that there is an appropriate standard of hard- and software installed on client side: a recent pentium series CPU, a powerful graphics and sound interface, a contemporary web browser and a state-of-the-art operating system. We check our productions with WinXP and Windows7, as well as with the latest versions of Internet Explorer, Firefox , Safari and Google Chrome.
HCSS's videos will be compiled on the development platform »Flash 10 professional« (or QuickTime movie version 7.6, respectively). Web users with older plug-ins need to update their system by downloading the latest player plug-in from the related software supplier. With modern browsers and operating systems, this update should occur automatically. In addition, HCSS's scripts provide links to software supplieres in order to allow the user to perform manual updates.