Legends Behind the Lens: Fred Aldous The man with a musicians ear took sports television audio into a new dimension By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital
Thursday, June 25, 2020 - 11:30 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
The story of American sports television is engrained in the history of this nation, rising on the achievements of countless incredible men and women who never once appeared on our screens. During this pause in live sports, SVG is proud to present a celebration of this great industry. Legends Behind the Lens is a look at how we got here seen through the people who willed it to be. Each weekday, we will share with you the story of a person whose impact on the sports-television industry is indelible.
Legends Behind the Lens is presented in association with the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame and the SVG Sports Broadcasting Fund. In these trying times - with so many video-production professionals out of work - we hope that you will consider (if you are able) donating to the Sports Broadcasting Fund. Do so by visiting sportsbroadcastfund.org.
___________________________
By Dan Daley
Fred Aldous brought a musician's ear to broadcast-sports audio. That's evident in Crank It Up - a three- to four-minute drum solo composed solely of sound effects from NASCAR tracks and cars and now a fixture on Fox Sports' coverage of NASCAR races - and in the collaborative audio-team effort that he led.
In college, Aldous's instruments were the trombone and the guitar, and his passion blossomed, in the late 1970s, in the recording studio. But he found it far more interesting to be on the other side of the glass, in the control room.
His bridge to broadcasting was a visit to a television station, where, within minutes, he spotted and fixed a monitoring problem the audio team had been experiencing.
The rush of live television was sensational, Fred recalls. Knowing you have one shot at making it right was intense. I was hooked.
Twenty-three Emmy Awards later, the sports-broadcasting industry is glad he did.
From News to Sports
Starting in 1981 at KUTV Salt Lake City, he began mixing weekend newscasts. The stations - and the responsibilities and experience - became progressively larger, and the connections to broadcast sports began to take shape. At Video West Productions, the postproduction arm of KSL-TV Salt Lake City, Aldous mixed Utah Jazz games and other sports events from the company's 35-ft. single-frame remote truck. Then came Mizlou TV Sports, an independent sports-production company that had the broadcast rights to several college bowl games.
I started to hone my sports-mixing chops working the games for Mizlou, he remembers, adding that this was the gig that began his peripatetic career as a traveling A1. They were paying me to travel to cover sporting events. My travel career had begun!
Aldous went freelance in 1986, a move sparked when CBS Sports had come to Salt Lake City to do a skiing event and needed audio support.
CBS liked what I did and started to call me to mix NCAA basketball coverage, he says. This was my start into network broadcasting. It was happening pretty fast because the amount of sports coverage had increased and the broadcasters needed more freelancers to get it done.
Working with CBS, Aldous extended his portfolio of sports shows to NFL; MLB; NASCAR; NCAA basketball; the 1992, 1994, and 1996 Olympics; and a host of other freelance gigs. During that time, he benefited from guidance from Mike Rokosa, who would become director of field operations, and especially from the mentoring he received from Bob Seiderman, CBS's lead audio mixer.
It was a great time in my career, Aldous says. I was fortunate enough to be involved with high-profile events, including Super Bowls, World Series, the Olympics, the Daytona 500, and many NCAA Final Fours with CBS.
When the big moments are happening, Freddie is always going to have the best sound. Fox Sports director Artie Kempner
As his sports portfolio broadened, so did the outlets he was mixing for. He did shows for NBC Sports, ABC Sports/ESPN, Turner Sports, Showtime, and HBO as well as for CBS Sports into the 1990s, when sports on television began to become the media juggernaut it is today.
And a philosophy was emerging, one that would guide the arc of his career. I want the viewer at home to be a part of the audience in the stands, he told the Verge, because the field of play never moves in front of you when you're in the stands.
But it was with Fox Sports that Aldous hit his stride. In 1994, when Fox Sports landed the broadcasting rights to the NFL's NFC conference, he was one of the first hires by Emmy Award-winner Jerry Gepner, who led Fox Sports' nascent NFL initiative, which had to be assembled in a matter of months. As he had done with every other aspect of his career, Aldous learned quickly and innovated.
It was the first time the NFL had allowed us to put microphones on the field of play, he recalls. We put microphones on the umpires. The sound was tremendous.
In fact, it was a turning point in the sound of broadcast sports, as broadcast audio became the way to bring viewers more deeply into a game than ever before.
There were meetings about where the microphones would be placed because size and safety was a concern, Aldous told LineUp in 2014. I have had to work out a balance to keep it interesting to the viewer and acceptable to players and league. There are a lot of sounds that we have to be careful about broadcasting. My job is working with producers, directors, and engineering to figure out what it takes to do something.
Observes Jerry Steinberg, retired SVP of field operations for Fox Sports, What Freddy brought to the sound of broadcast sports was a desire to push the envelope, to bring the sound of th
Most recent headlines
04/08/2024
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, is excited to announce Santiago Solanas as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO)....
03/06/2024
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, a...
01/06/2024
Busy this week catching up from the Memorial Day holiday? Our TV Tech weekly wrap-up of all our coverage of new products, services and deployments will get you ...
01/06/2024
Young Sherlock, with Guy Ritchie directing and executive producing, is a go at Prime Video. Hero Fiennes Tiffin plays Sherlock. Prime Video calls it the origin...
01/06/2024
The Los Angeles Sparks-Indiana Fever game on Friday featuring the top two WNBA draft picks, Caitlin Clark and Cameron Brink, was the most watched WNBA game on I...
01/06/2024
Lionsgate, which increased its majority stake in 3 Arts Entertainment in January, said it named Brian Weinstein co-CEO of 3 Arts....
01/06/2024
Netflix is launching four video games based on unscripted series this year. They...
01/06/2024
ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox affiliates switched from their regular programming to carry live coverage of the verdicts in the porn star hush-money trial of former Pres...
31/05/2024
A U.S. Marine fires an FIM-92 Stinger missile during a training exercise in Yuma...
31/05/2024
NEW YORK The global body that sets technical standards for digital advertising h...
31/05/2024
In a new analysis of what services might make up a good bundle and what services might benefit the most from bundling, Antenna has released new data that highli...
31/05/2024
Global SVOD revenues will increase by $116.6 billion by 2031, a growth rate of 13.3% per year over the next eight years, according to a new report from MIDiA Re...
31/05/2024
WASHINGTON, D.C. The FCC Media Bureau has announced that effective August 1, 2024 the Commission's TVStudy software will incorporate the most recent U.S. Ce...
31/05/2024
NBCUniversal has announced that its FAST channel TNBC will be rebranding to NBC Comedy Vault on June 1 and that the free streaming service will officially launc...
31/05/2024
PARIS Ateme has announced that the Indonesian public broadcaster TVRI is making the transition to 4K UHD OTT streaming using Ateme technologies....
31/05/2024
The proposal had received support from James Cameron, Andy Serkis, Paul Greengrass, Richard Curtis, and Jeremy Irons
By Matthew Corrigan
Published: May 31, 2...
31/05/2024
According to multiple reports, the new bid from Skydance offers a better deal to Paramounts Class B shareholders, who were said to be unhappy with the companys ...
31/05/2024
The awards recognise women and companies who are stand-out performers, innovators and leaders in the broadcast media technology industry
By Matthew Corrigan
...
31/05/2024
NEW YORK The global body that sets technical standards for digital advertising has expanded the reach of its measurement software development kit to include Sam...
31/05/2024
The rise of digital platforms is fundamentally changing the broadcast newsroom and its investment in technology according to Jon Roberts, director of technology...
31/05/2024
In a new analysis of what services might make up a good bundle and what services might benefit the most from bundling, Antenna has released new data that highli...
31/05/2024
WASHINGTON, D.C. Fifty state broadcasters associations, including the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, have sent a letter to Congressio...
31/05/2024
EVS has announced the appointment of Richard Katz as senior vice president of operations for the North and Latin American (NALA) region. This appointment is par...
31/05/2024
CommScope has announced that it was selected by Casa Systems, Inc. as the highest to acquire Casa's cable business assets and that the two companies have en...
31/05/2024
Robert De Niro won't be receiving the Service to America Leadership Award from the NAB Leadership Foundation after all....
31/05/2024
Viant Technology said it formed an integration with Google Cloud's BigQuery data clean rooms...
31/05/2024
The CW said it will broadcast the 2024 Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl presented by Gin & Juice by Dre and Snoop Last year, The CW aired the game when it was called Bar...
31/05/2024
Allen Media Group said it made a deal with Amazon's Fire TV Channel that will make content from several of Allen's outlet available via Fire TV and Echo...
31/05/2024
Robert De Niro, announced as the winner of the NAB's Leadership Foundation's Service to America Leadership Award on May 28, will not get the award. The ...
31/05/2024
Comcast Technology Solutions was selected by AccuWeather to create, manage and distribute linear and over-the-top video channels....
31/05/2024
Connected TV is becoming a bigger deal for consumers and advertisers, according to a new report from TVision....
31/05/2024
By Craig Anderton
Let's get right to what this sounds like. It's not quite feedback or tape reverse, it's well, listen to what it does in this blue...
31/05/2024
31 May 2024
VEON discloses April YTD trading update at its AGM Amsterdam, 31 May 2024 07:00 CEST -
VEON April YTD 2024 Highlights
Total revenue of USD 1,278 ...
31/05/2024
31 May 2024
VEON Announces Its New Board, Names Founder Augie Fabela as Chairman Amsterdam, 31 May 2024, 16.00 CET: VEON Ltd. (NASDAQ: VEON, Euronext Amsterdam...
31/05/2024
May 31st, 2024
TRIBECA FESTIVAL AND OPEN AI ANNOUNCE SORA SHORTS'
Five Commissioned Short Films Created Using Sora Debut at 2024 Tribeca Festival
New ...
31/05/2024
In-Venue Technology Wrap-Up: How 4K, IP, and More are Changing the Game Pres Gam...
31/05/2024
UEFA Champions League Final 2024: The host broadcast facts and figures for Real ...
31/05/2024
UEFA Europa Conference League Final 2024: Bringing the broadcast to global TV sc...
31/05/2024
Willow Offers Free 2024 ICC T20 Cricket World Cup Preview via DirecTV, Verizon, ...
31/05/2024
Women's College World Series: ESPN Brings Live Drone, Two-Point Cabled, and ...
31/05/2024
SVG College Summit Brings Video-Production Industry Together in Atlanta in the M...
31/05/2024
UEFA Champions League Final 2024: CBS Sports' UCL Today Studio Show Is Pitch...
31/05/2024
Back to All News
Master of the House' Unveils a Scandalous Tale of Power and Greed on July 18
Entertainment
31 May 2024
GlobalThailand
Link copied to ...
31/05/2024
Back to All News
JEEtu Bhaiya is Back: Kota Factory' Season 3 Arrives on Netflix June 20
Entertainment
31 May 2024
GlobalIndia
Link copied to clipboar...
31/05/2024
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
With around 9,000 employees, Ground Transportation Systems is a global leader in Rail Signaling and Train Control Systems, Telec...
31/05/2024
RT 2FM is the home of music this summer, entertaining listeners across the day and night, with the best music, chat and interviews providing the soundtrack to ...
31/05/2024
After the 2008 financial crisis and increased risk-management regulations that f...
31/05/2024
RT Supporting the Arts: What's On this June
Watch our promo: RT Supporting the Arts | What's on YouTube
This June, RT is delighted to support Lim...
30/05/2024
When to Upgrade Software or Firmware This post is from our blog and news archive. The information may be out of date. Please contact us for further information ...
Legends Behind the Lens: Fred Aldous The man with a musicians ear took sports television audio into a new dimension By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital 
