Audio revolution: MotoGP's Sergi Sendra on the evolution of the top two-wheeled motorsport's sound By Heather McLean Tuesday, January 14, 2025 - 08:49
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MotoGP is now entering the third generation of its audio evolution, which will mean riders listening to safety messages from Race Direction, then potentially rider discussions with their teams making it to air live from the race track as the bikes hit phenomenal speeds
MotoGP was the first motorsport world championship when it was born in 1949, with a first season comprising only six Grands Prix. Since then, the sport has grown to a calendar of more than 22 Grands Prix across five continents, and its popularity has soared to a global fanbase of over 500 million. Its live TV coverage has equally expanded into a global, high-octane show reaching more than 200 territories.
In the beginning, MotoGP focused on the visual aspects of its broadcast production rather than the audio, which remained a missing piece for some time, given the sheer volume of sound these prototype machines are able to generate. Yet in 2013 it discovered a partner in audio with Lawo, which took MotoGP from analogue to digital sound.
Sergi Sendra, head of global technology at MotoGP, tells the story: We spent so much effort on the video developing the cameras, developing a methodology for directing, and graphics. There were a lot of things and audio was there, but we didn't have a partner for many years and we were looking for somebody.
The first audio partner [we found was] Lawo in 2013 and 2014, and it's important for me to remember what we achieved with them, thanks to Philipp Lawo and his agreement with us then.
On what those achievements were, he says: That was a way to mix signals, mixing voices, and sound from the track because we were on an analogue system before going digital with them; 2013 was the preparation and we went digital in 2014. But when we made this effort to start producing in surround sound and multichannel sound in 2014, the reality was the audio was still not yet good enough. We realised to make any kind of approach to 5.1 was really, really a big challenge.
The new MotoGP logo, which launched in November 2024
New audio partner
MotoGP then began to look for a new audio partner that could evolve the sound of the sport further. That is when Audio-Technica appeared on the scene, says Sendra. One day in 2018, Audio-Technica approached us to ask if we would be interested in working together. That was in Valencia in 2018.
Rodrigo Thomaz [project manager for broadcast partnerships, Audio-Technica Europe] from Audio-Technica visited us, then he communicated to Robert [Morgan-Males, CEO at Audio-Technica] and we set up a very special meeting in Barcelona, reminisces Sendra.
It was close to Christmas but we had to make it happen. They were interested, but they needed more information. So Robert came to Barcelona and I remember we spent three hours together, and we said, okay, we'll do it .
Audio-Technica was prepared to work with MotoGP to bring the true sound of the sport the bikes themselves to viewers at home. Continues Sendra: The reason [we went for it with Audio-Technica] was somebody for the first time was going to provide audio tools touching the ground for capture. Because at the end of the day, capturing MotoGP is the most complex thing. We're talking about huge spaces; you could fit more than 100 football pitches in a MotoGP circuit, like Austin or Silverstone. I mean, there's so much space to cover.
The roar of those bikes is anything but simple to capture, with a high level of audio contamination that makes focussing on a single subject detail difficult. Says Sendra: And again, it's easier to put a camera in and envision a one kilometre [area of track] than listening to the progression of speed and changes between that point that you see that original point to the end point where the camera will be able to still give you a shot, he explains.
We are talking about sound that's related to bikes, which is kind of a special sound. I don't want to call it noise. It's pure sound. And we didn't have a proper audio system installed on the bikes. We didn't have a proper audio system installed in the garages. We didn't have proper audio system installed on the track side.
Concept for sound
Audio-Technica then set about developing a concept for sound that turned into specialist microphones specifically designed for the unique and challenging MotoGP race track.
The first generation of sound for MotoGP was micing up the overall audio of the track itself. The second generation was about immersive sound, micing the pitlane, the paddock, the crowd, and capturing the atmosphere on the straight, as well as getting microphones on the bikes to accompany the cameras.
Now, the third generation comes from a sporting area request; providing sound from Race Direction to riders as a further safety measure and way to connect them. And this adds also a new chance for MotoGP to mic the riders themselves to capture what they say as they hurtle around the track, as well as any possible conversations with their teams, all of which is set to be no easy task.
Says Sendra: It's now been six years non-stop, developing the concept, the microphones, the capsules, everything related to the way you want to transmit a real environment where there are people, there is noise, there are sounds, there are voices, there's silence. When the bike stops on the track and you want to hear the marshals shouting, and we achieve it.
On the bike microphones, Sendra says: On the bikes we are now able to install up to eight microphones, which is crazy. And why eight microphones? Because we have four cameras. That was an agreement between Sony and Audio-Technica. Each
