Dolby Atmos Audio To Make Live NASCAR Debut Inside CRAS Mobile Unit

Dolby Atmos Audio To Make Live NASCAR Debut Inside CRAS Mobile Unit The effort will help develop a training regimen for application of the audio system By Dan Daley, Audio Editor

Friday, November 10, 2017 - 7:30 am

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In a historic first, Dolby's object-based Atmos audio system will be deployed this weekend in the Conservatory of Recording Arts & Sciences (CRAS) mobile broadcasting unit at Phoenix Raceway for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, XFINITY Series, and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races.

CRAS's mobile unit, part of the school's broadcast-audio-training program, will take audio feeds over two MADI lines from NBC's Peacock truck onsite. For the past several years, NBC Sports, ESPN, and Fox Sports have allowed the school to shadow their broadcasts: students mix races and other area sports events in real time, recording to digital multitrack recorders for future educational uses. This weekend, they will also deploy a Sennheiser Ambeo VR microphone to create the four height channels that Atmos offers.

Kirt Hamm, Administrator, Conservatory of Recording Arts & Sciences

CRAS's mobile unit is the first use of Dolby Atmos at a major NASCAR race. The event is also part of the process of developing a training regimen for Atmos broadcast applications that CRAS is creating for Dolby.

According to Robert Brock, director, Broadcast Audio Department, CRAS, the mobile unit was very recently outfitted with Dolby's DP-590 Atmos processor, four additional JBL Control 1 speakers in the overhead position powered by a Crown CT4150 amplifier, and JBL's Intonato 24 monitor-management-tuning system. The Intonato unit will be used to calibrate the additional overhead speakers to match the mixing environment as well as to provide bass management.

The Ambeo VR microphone, which is being provided by Sennheiser and can be remotely controlled and aimed, will be run through a Soundfield surround decoder to create the additional four channels. The raw Ambeo output will be run first to the NBC truck, where A1 Denis Ryan can use it as part of his on-air mix; the output of the Soundfield processor can be taken from the CRAS truck back to the NBC truck, if desired, over an additional MADI line used for comms between the two units.

We will be getting some amazing practical experience from this event, Brock says. That will in turn make the Atmos training program we're developing for Dolby that much better.

CRAS Administrator Kirt Hamm says that both NBC and NASCAR are cooperating in the effort, which will also help develop practices and guidelines for the use of Atmos for sports broadcasting.

Asked whether he feels that this is history in the making, Hamm says that the Atmos integration and deployment process has come about so quickly - final installation was completed Monday, the day before the CRAS mobile unit was moved to the Phoenix Raceway for trackside setup - that its implications for broadcast audio are just becoming clear. But we do know that this is the wave of the future, he says. And we're glad to be part of it.

LINK:	https://www.sportsvideo.org/2017/11/10/cras-prepares-to-deploy-dolby-a...
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