
ESPN's NHL Coverage Creates Hot Sound on the Ice Audio effort means more mics on the nets, more talk time for players By Dan Daley, Audio Editor
Monday, October 25, 2021 - 10:37 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
ESPN is venturing out on what will be its most ambitious audio outing yet for its NHL coverage. Innovations include an inventive approach to capturing sound in and around the goals, more - and more integrated - player audio, and more effects microphones in and around the rink.
ESPN lead A1 Dan Buddha Bernstein notes proudly what he called the network's boldest audio move: an array of three RF lav mics in an L-C-R configuration, which creates what he calls a surround-type sonic environment around the goals.
A1 Dan Buddha Bernstein: In game coverage, [an array of three RF lav mics will provide] a much more crisp and dynamic sound around the goal.
The arrays are the result of extensive experimentation with placement and processing. Notably, the center mic is processed through a DTS Neural Mono2Stereo processor (either a hardware or Waves plug-in version, depending on what's available aboard the mobile production unit) and panned wide and to the rear of the 5.1-surround mix to enable Bernstein or A1 Steve Miller, on alternating broadcasts, to keep the announcer audio clear and intelligible in the same center channel.
In game coverage, says Bernstein, it will feel like a much more crisp and dynamic sound around the goal. It adds a little inherent delay, so it feels almost like reverb around the crease, but it really fills out the sound. And if we do a real-time replay from the cameras in the net, it'll put you directly in that environment, which can be pretty exciting, sonically.
Noting that the new approaches to hockey sound remind him of mixing X Games for ESPN, he adds that the new net array is the logical conclusion to two decades of focusing on that key point on the ice but it had to overcome some significant challenges.
We were doing it 20 years ago when I was first doing hockey with ESPN, using a single microphone, which got great sounds, Bernstein explains. But one of the requests from production this year was they wanted to feel more life around the creases. However, we could put microphones only where the NHL allows us to mount them, and there is a finite amount of space in the goal to put transmitters, with all of the cameras and other electronics that are in there. So three [microphones] seemed like the most we could put in there and still maintain the amount of space that we needed for separation between the transmitters [to prevent] intermodulation between them.
And the outcome, he adds, has been spectacular: During our game in Chicago the other night, one particular goal that was scored rang off one of the pipes, and it sounded like an explosion! In a way, it's a similar effect to what we have been able to accomplish on Sunday Night Baseball with microphones around home plate, where it feels like a sonic experience and not just like a random noise occurring in the course of the game.
Player Audio Is Complicated ESPN can place microphones on up to two players per side and is using the Q5X PlayerMic for that application. What's different this season is that the same mics will also be used for on-ice interviews before and during breaks in the games, with the athletes also fitted with wireless IFBs.
The technique lets the audio follow the player through various environments throughout the match but comes with its own challenges because each environment has its own sonic characteristics. For instance, the action around play has one type of ambience, and an on-ice interview will have the player's voice competing with the PA system, which Bernstein says is usually at its loudest before the game and during breaks.
The solution he has devised is to create two separate input channels for the same PlayerMic, each channel with equalization and dynamics parameters tuned for the specific ambient environment.
One version of it gets isolated to tape for recording and package playback, he explains. The other version I would use live for an interview, with less low end and more high mids to cut through the ambient thump of the arena. It's an exciting innovation and an opportunity that I haven't seen before: having the player out in their natural environment, skating around and talking to us and interviewing with and interacting with teammates and others on the ice. We're fighting the PA a bit, but it's also part of the natural environment.
Crowd microphones this season are much the same as before: at booth level, a surround array of Sennheiser 416 shotguns for the front left and right and a pair of Audio-Technica 5100's for the surrounds. The mics focused on the rink also are mostly the same as in past years, including a dozen boundary mics around the outside of the glass, but Bernstein says the techniques for using them have been ramped up.
One of the other things that I've tried to do this year, he says, is to be much more aggressive with stereo shotgun microphones on the robo cameras that are all around the ice - right above, in the center in the penalty box area of the ice, on the bench area of the ice - to get more-effective coverage of the center of the rink. The center of the ice has always been a sort of fallow area for sound because microphones around the perimeter are so far away from the center of the ice.
Atmos and Skate Effects Are Down the Road ESPN looked at a couple of other audio tricks for this season, including the use of Dolby Atmos format and placement of microphones in the ice to catch skate effects. Bernstein says the latter idea has been sidelined, at least for regular-season play, because of the amount of time it takes to install an in-ice array; it may
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
02/05/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
01/04/2026
January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION
Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...
06/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
06/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
06/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
06/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
06/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
06/02/2026
How invisible vaccine scaffolding boosts HIV immune response Scripps Research scientists designed a DNA scaffold that carries HIV vaccine proteins into the bo...
05/02/2026
Three examples of how wireless microphones are deployed to bring fans in deep an...
05/02/2026
Broadcast coverage will include 25 cameras distributed around the venues, including to some athletes; Galaxy AI Interpreter will also be deployed
The Opening C...
05/02/2026
Kiswe has partnered with the Mountain West Conference to power the next iteratio...
05/02/2026
NBCUniversal and Roku announce the launch of the 2026 NBC Winter Olympics Experience, a destination delivering NBCUniversal's comprehensive CTV coverage of ...
05/02/2026
Vizrt, which specializes in live production technology as well as transforming v...
05/02/2026
Canon USA has launched the RF7-14mm F2.8-3.5 L fisheye STM zoom lens and the RF14mm F1.4 L VCM prime lens. Building on Canon's legacy of innovative optics, ...
05/02/2026
The Paul E. Tsongas Center at UMass Lowell in Massachusetts has chosen Ikegami cameras for incorporation into its broadcast-quality television production facili...
05/02/2026
Once again, service members and Veterans worldwide will enjoy free access to NBC...
05/02/2026
Advanced Systems Group, LLC (ASG), a technology and services provider for media ...
05/02/2026
Broadcast Management Group (BMG) is strengthening its leadership team to support...
05/02/2026
NBC Sports selects Comcast Technology Solutions (CTS) to provide multiscreen vid...
05/02/2026
AIM Sports Group, a sports enterprise dedicated to elevating youth athletics thr...
05/02/2026
Designed for efficient use of shared services and resources, the home of OBS pro...
05/02/2026
The Yankees fan from Connecticut is executive producer of BTN StudentU for the Wolverines
In the live-sports-video industry, the future is bright. Our series S...
05/02/2026
In an Olympic first, the ceremony will be held in four locations simultaneously...
05/02/2026
Members of the broadcast and tech communities share four decades of memories of the technology leader
The 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics are upon us, and every O...
05/02/2026
Key vendors include Appear, Audio-Technica, Canon, Chyron, Cisco, Comcast Techno...
05/02/2026
Since bringing audiobooks to Spotify in 2022, we've helped listeners discove...
05/02/2026
Today, Spotify announced two new updates to give book lovers a more personalized...
05/02/2026
A U.S. Coast Guard HC-130J aircraft during a test flight at L3Harris' facility in Waco, Texas....
05/02/2026
Al Seer Marine and L3Harris have announced a strategic partnership combining UAE...
05/02/2026
AI should balance automation (replacing tasks) and augmentation (empowering humans). Automate the mundane and augment the creative by applying the right AI type...
05/02/2026
During this period, streaming comprised the majority of ad supported TV (45.6%),...
05/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
05/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
05/02/2026
Advanced Systems Group, LLC (ASG), a technology and services provider for media creatives and content owners, announced the appointment of Derek Pezzotti as Sen...
05/02/2026
Taurus Technologies, a Dallas-area professional AV systems integrator, has upgraded its in-house podcast studio with Brightline Lighting's AV/720 low-voltag...
05/02/2026
NBC Universal to Present XXV Olympic Winter Games Feb. 6-22 and Milan Cortina Paralympics March 6-15
NBC Sports to Utilize Grass Valley's Frame Rate Conver...
05/02/2026
Atomos today announced Shogun AV-19, a rack-mountable, 19-inch 4K HDR monitor-recorder-switcher designed for professional live production, broadcast, and video ...
05/02/2026
Vizrt, the leader in live production technology, revolutionizing viewer experience and engagement, today introduces two brand new solutions in partnership with ...
05/02/2026
Appear, a global leader in live production technology, today announced the appointment of Simon Frost in a newly created role as Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). ...
05/02/2026
New York gaffer Noah Chamis, ICLS ( You Deserve Each Other , The Half of It , Project Runway ) practices a mix of technical precision and creative play in his...
05/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
05/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
05/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
05/02/2026
BBC Studios and UKTV have appointed Karin Marelle to lead their Global Acquisitions team, overseeing the sourcing of content across BBC Studios' global chan...
05/02/2026
Thursday 5 February 2026
The Miniature Wife, A Sky Exclusive comedy drama starr...
05/02/2026
Thursday 5 February 2026
Trailer Revealed for Sky Original Film FUZE starring A...
05/02/2026
Rohde & Schwarz at MWC Barcelona 2026: Enabling connections, empowering innovati...