Better Technology
\n<\/strong>According to Howden, who also mixes the in-venue sound for all Philadelphia Eagles\u2019 home games at Lincoln Financial Field and a couple dozen Phillies baseball games each season at Citizens Bank Park, improvements in the precision of sound coverage have helped enable this trend. He notes that it hews to the cultural curve that has seen sports events move closer to entertainment.<\/p>\nHowever, he finds that it seems to work best in enclosed spaces, such as arenas. \u201cWe tried piping the studio broadcast into the stadium for the Eagles. That lasted about two games,\u201d he deadpans. \u201cAnd I\u2019ve never seen it at an MLB stadium, but they seem to love it for hockey and basketball.\u201d<\/p>\n
That kind of aural cross-pollination requires planning and a deft hand on the faders.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou need to zone the audio as much as possible,\u201d he explains. \u201cIf you\u2019re taking a live feed to broadcast and to the house, you need to isolate [the area] where the network talent would be. You need to reduce the amount of [sonic] energy that gets over there, by attenuating the speakers nearest them, in order to have a cleaner broadcast mix.\u201d What also helps, he adds, is that talent areas tend to have the budgets allocated to apply useful acoustical treatment, which further manages sound levels and reflections.<\/p>\n
Brian Elwell, senior consultant\/VP at AV-design firm Idibri, whose sports portfolio includes Dodger Stadium and Circuit of the Americas F1 track in Austin, TX, notes that the trend of overlapping sound for live and broadcast has increased steadily in recent years, with fans in the stands and suites deriving the biggest benefit, getting more of the sound effects that have become a foundational part of sports on television.<\/p>\n
\u201cGetting those effects back from the [remote-broadcast production] truck and into the PA is what I want to hear as a fan,\u201d he says, citing motor sports in particular. \u201cWe\u2019ve always provided pathways and distribution amplifiers in our [system] designs for the broadcast-audio engineers to be able to send anything from the truck back into the venue.\u201d<\/p>\n
Elwell points out that, in some venues \u2014 Baylor University\u2019s McLane Stadium in Waco, TX, for instance \u2014 the system design allows broadcast sound effects to be routed to the VIP suites and clubs.<\/p>\n
Not for Everyone
\n<\/strong>Where a caution flag comes up, however, is in the other direction: when too much sound from the venue finds its way into the broadcast. Which is why broadcast-audio mixers tend to take a dim view of the practice.<\/p>\nFred Aldous, senior mixer, Fox Sports, is one of them. \u201cThe biggest problem with this is that the PA bleeds back into our effects mics and announcer mics, causing an unwanted sound and potential feedback,\u201d he explains. \u201cThe PA levels have gotten so loud that it is hard enough for us to get sounds from the court without having to fight the sound of the \u2018swish\u2019 mics being pumped in as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Elwell also notes World Cup events, particularly the 2010 World Cup game in South Africa when the notorious vuvuzelas drowned out commentators\u2019 voices, as a prime example. \u201cAt home, the announcer is more important than the crowd sound,\u201d he says. \u201cThere are certain limits you have to stay within. But, if you do, everyone wins.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The line between the in-venue experience and the broadcast experience has been getting thinner in recent years. The blurring was noticeable on a grand scale during the 2014-15 NBA season, […]\n More<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":96150,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[9248,1760],"tags":[2839,7458,9042,7191],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96149"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96149"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/staging.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96149\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96215,"href":"https:\/\/staging.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96149\/revisions\/96215"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}