UFC 306: Noche at Sphere - Immersive Sound System Promises New World of Audio Massive system has an aural granularity in which even spoken syllables are processed individually By Dan Daley, Audio Editor
Monday, October 7, 2024 - 1:04 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
The synergy of sports and entertainment is well on its way to becoming a singularity. With lavaliere microphones regularly worn by MLB outfielders, it might not be a stretch to see a left fielder strap on a Fender Stratocaster.
Less absurd, though, is how Sphere, the year-old futuristic event venue in Las Vegas, seems poised to become a sports stadium. Noche UFC (UFC 306 PPV) at Sphere - Suga Sean O'Malley vs. Merab The Machine Dvalishvili - held there on Sept. 14 and broadcast on ESPN sets the stage for that. The first sports event from the Madison Square Garden-owned, 18,600-seat spherical building off the Las Vegas Strip went out over multiple distribution channels: ESPN+ PPV (English and Spanish), with prelims available on ESPN+, ESPNEWS, ESPN Deportes, and SiriusXM Fight Nation 156.
How the UFC event came to be there reflects the ongoing integration of sports and entertainment. After attending a show during U2's 2023-24 residency at the venue, UFC President/CEO Dana White decided that he wanted to host an event there. That resulted in the mixed-martial-arts company's biggest production to date.
UFC 306: Noche was the first sports event at Las Vegas's Sphere.
The event's production credits also suggest that burgeoning synergy. Silent House Group, brought in to produce the in-venue show, was fresh off Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour. Audio Supervisor Michael Abbott, who has a four-decades-long association with the sound for the Grammy Awards telecast, was hired by Silent House to manage the 64-channel-audio playback of a series of purpose-produced 90-second video segments created to define the narrative around the marquee bout.
Complex Signal Path This audio was fed via MADI into Sphere's Holoplot sound system and to a pair of Lawo Powercores and into the Lawo router. The Lawo console used for front-of-house sound bused the audio tracks into the arrays of Sphere's Holoplot sound system, itself a technical beast. The world's largest concert-grade audio system, it consists of approximately 1,600 permanently installed and 300 movable Holoplot X1 matrix-array loudspeaker modules and comprises a total of 167,000 individually amplified speaker drivers. The system's 3D audio-beamforming and wavefield-synthesis technology delivers immersive sound and effects that can be highly localized throughout an entire audience area.
Not surprisingly for this first-of-its-type production, Abbott found that the audio strategy had to be built from the ground up. The project had multiple deliverables, he recalls. There was the broadcast that needed a stereo mix of the film content for the broadcast, a stereo downmix of that content, and an M&E [music & effects] stem without dialog for the international feed; and they added three languages - French, Spanish, and Portuguese - onto voiceovers of the [videos]. Then there was the added content for the world[-feed] transitions out of the interstitial films back into live, both for the broadcast and for the space, with a sound-design bed that would play out to transition into the fight sequence.
The Code In fact, the venue and the broadcast shared audio elements while producing completely separate shows (DJs in the house, sports announcers on-air) with shared music and effects (from both open mics and prerecords) across them, and audio mix had to follow direction from both the live and broadcast productions.
The way to manage that, says Abbott, who also supervised the audio for the NHL Draft held at Sphere in late June, was with SMPTE timecode. The emphasis on timecode-driven content, both audio and video, is growing and growing. It's the best way to manage a lot of content live.
The next element to be addressed was how the films' director, Glenn Weiss, and Fight Director Anthony Giordano managed the transitions out of the film/world-feed clips into the fighter-combo packages played out in the media plane. The videos of the fighter-combo packages had four EVS playout video channels sequenced into PiP Audio boxes on Sphere's 160,000-sq.-ft. LED media plane surrounding the audience. Both the audio and the multiple video clips had to be synchronized for these sequences.
The core audio for the fighter-combo packages from the EVS replay deck comprised eight key channels. Channels 1 and 2 would be the stereo for broadcast, 3 and 4 the international M&E tracks, 5 and 6 the M&E tracks for the live sound in the bowl, 7 the main dialog track, and 8 reserved for timecode.
Every triggered event was assigned a specific timecode address for the EVS fighter-combo package playout. Some actions shared an address; for instance, one triggered the music for two walk-ons as well as all the lighting cues and PixMob LED bracelets, like the ones Silent House deployed for Taylor Swift concerts.
The Venue as a Member of the Team Though kind of an arena on steroids, Sphere itself is its own technology proposition. What would also be the UFC's first show on ESPN broadcast in 1080p relied on UFC's typical truck, NEP NCP7 A and B units, the night before the fight as well as NEP EN3 A and B and Denali Summit A and B for production of the fight itself.
Abbott says that, over the past year, much of the time he has worked in the venue on various projects has been spent understanding just how different Sphere is as a production venue. For instance, achieving a high level of speech intelligibility - critical for noisy sports events - is no simple task when the number of transducers reaches national-debt level.
That's why we ended
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
06/12/2025
In a live broadcast from the Reagan National Defense Forum, L3Harris Chair and CEO Christopher Kubasik joined Morgan Brennan on CNBCs Closing Bell: Overtime. Ku...
06/12/2025
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. A new survey from Pixitmedia by Datacore revealed a major shift in the Media & Entertainment industry in media archiving, with 85% of resp...
06/12/2025
HACKENSACK, N.J. LiveU has announced that the national public broadcaster Czech Television has completed one of the largest LiveU live production deployments fo...
06/12/2025
NEW YORK The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) presented the Excellence in Production Technology Emmy Award to NASA+ and Dr. Tom Leight...
05/12/2025
2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nati...
05/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Veritone's Sean King on the Power of Mining Video, Audio DataThe company's Data Refinery offers users total control and governance over da...
05/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: Inside the Nashville Predators' Unified, Flexible, Sca...
05/12/2025
Netflix Reaches Agreement To Acquire Warner Bros. Following Planned WBD SplitThe deal does not include WBDs sports assets like TNT Sports (US, UK, LatAm), Euros...
05/12/2025
FOX Sports Returns to Indianapolis for Primetime Broadcast of Big Ten Championsh...
05/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Digital Engagement & Monetization Workshop Tackles the ...
05/12/2025
Atlanta United Lights Up New Emory Healthcare Studio With First Live Broadcast f...
05/12/2025
As Messi Takes the Pitch, MLS, Apple, NEP Roll Out Largest MLS Cup Production Ev...
05/12/2025
ESPN Enters College Football's Most Intense Month With Elevated Workflows fo...
05/12/2025
It's about that time! Awards season is in full swing, and the Film Independe...
05/12/2025
Every year, Spotify Wrapped offers a personalized look back at the audio that defined your year. It's a snapshot of your listening habits, designed to tell ...
05/12/2025
In 2025, Spotify's EQUAL, GLOW, and RADAR programs celebrated women, LGBTQIA , and emerging artists who turned moments into milestones. From breaking record...
05/12/2025
In our latest blog, we explain how Wi-Fi 7 rollouts can drive consumer loyalty with value-add services such as consumer cybersecurity. We also explore how this ...
05/12/2025
LOS ANGELES Netflix announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Nielsens Gracenote has launched Gracenote Content Connect, a new ad platform that provides agencies, brands, supply-side platforms (SSPs) and demand-si...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK In an most important update to the workings of deal-based programmatic advertising, IAB Tech Lab has released version 1.0 of its Deals API for public c...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Pass the turkey. Pass the stuffing. Pass the cranberry sauce. All are common requests of Americans celebrating Thanksgiving Day with family and f...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. Netflix announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has approved AT&T's $1.02 billion acquisition of spectrum from UScellular in a decision that was issued sho...
05/12/2025
The Best Coldplay Songs: 21 Tracks That Shoot for the Stars From Yellow to Viva La Vida, Fix You to Paradise, this playlist goes back to the start.
December ...
05/12/2025
Zafris Lecture Series Brings Nabil Ayers to Berklee The 32nd annual James G. Zafris Distinguished Lecture series was held on Thursday, November 13, with guest...
05/12/2025
Introducing New Perks to Help You Get Even More from LinkedIn Premium Published on Dec 5, 2025 Categories: Company News, Product News
LinkedIn Corporate Co...
05/12/2025
Friday 5 December 2025
A new Game of Thrones Tale: Official trailer for Sky Exc...
05/12/2025
Back to All News
Don Lee, Lee Jin-uk, and Lalisa Manobal to Star in Netflix Act...
05/12/2025
Tis the season of giving once again and this year we've taken our Give Back Fridays' concept and turned it on its head.
In the autumn we were approach...
05/12/2025
Brayden Gogis doesn't remember a time when he wasn't completely fixated on games in all forms. In preschool, when they asked us to dress up as what we ...
05/12/2025
The Grinch steals the spotlight as the theme for The Late Late Toy Show 2025
Tune in tonight at 9:35pm on RT One and worldwide on RT Player
#LateLateToyShow...
05/12/2025
RT Announces New Presenters of Flagship News Programmes
New RT Six One News co-presenter Tommy Meskill
Sarah McInerney & Justin McCarthy join Morning Ir...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir Blackmagic Design HyperDeck Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & ...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir AJA Ki Pro Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & just:in linux
More Details:Starting with version 5.5, both just:in mac pro and just:in linux sol...
04/12/2025
Wangu Kanuri from Kenya and Godwin Asediba from Ghana are two of this years finalists for Thomsons Young Journalist of the Year Award. The pair are runners-up i...
04/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: ProximaVision's Claudio Lisman on Why Tethered Drones Could Be...
04/12/2025
SVG Campus Shot Callers: Imry Halevi, Senior Associate Director of Athletics, Co...
04/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: LiveU Lightweight Sports Production: A Step Change in Spor...
04/12/2025
London to Riyadh: DAZN brings the boxing glamour to new production levels for Be...
04/12/2025
Analysis: Paramount bets on the battering ram' with Champions League play By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 10:12
Print ...
04/12/2025
Space City Home Network Launches SCHN DTC App for Astros and RocketsThe Rockets and Astros were previously the lone NBA and MLB teams without a DTC appBy Jason...
04/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Content Workflows Workshop Spotlights Evolution of Spor...
04/12/2025
New Sponsor Spotlight: Geotech's Patrick Wambold On the Unreal Engine Revolu...
04/12/2025
Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nationally and RegionallyBy Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Thursday, December 4, 2025 - 1:52 pm
Print This Sto...
04/12/2025
(L-R) Rebecca Lichtenfeld, Mohammadreza Eyni, Sara Khaki, and Judith Helfand att...
04/12/2025
SBS launches Future Frames initiative to support emerging First Nations video ed...
UFC 306: Noche at Sphere - Immersive Sound System Promises New World of Audio Massive system has an aural granularity in which even spoken syllables are processed individually By Dan Daley, Audio Editor 
