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 ...
14/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
14/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
14/11/2026
Newest Lenses, Horizon Anamorphic Seminar & Guided Lens Character Experience Highlight Creative Possibilities
At the 2026 Toru CAMERIMAGE Film Festival, ZEISS...
14/11/2026
Sonnet Announces Black Friday Sale on Select Products
Brie Clayton November 14, 2026
0 Comments
WHAT: Sonnet Technologies is having a sale on a select...
14/11/2026
Berklee Alumni Shine at the 2026 Latin Grammy Awards This year's winners included songwriters, engineers, and performers who contributed to acclaimed reco...
13/11/2026
The UIM E1 Series wraps its third season this week with the Bombay Sapphire E1 Miami GP, Nov. 11-14, on Biscayne Bay at the Miami Seaplane Base on Watson Island...
13/11/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
13/11/2026
Singer-songwriter Benson Boone will headline entertainment for the Discover NHL Winter Classic between the Utah Mammoth and Colorado Avalanche at Rice-Eccles St...
13/11/2026
Blackmagic Design has announced the Blackmagic Ambisonic Microphone, a 7th order ambisonic microphone array that captures spatial audio for immersive video prod...
13/11/2026
SMPTE has announced that The Studio B&H and Riedel Communications will provide the video infrastructure and communications technology for the Solutions Hub at t...
13/11/2026
The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) has announced the theme and program focus for the 2027 HPA Tech Retreat, which takes place Feb. 14-18, 2027, in La ...
13/11/2026
Football Manager 27 Touch is available on Apple Arcade starting today. The game ...
13/11/2026
MotoGP has announced a two-year media rights agreement with ESPN covering the Un...
13/11/2026
Apple Sports, the free iPhone app, has added the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) to its lineup of supported sports, in time for Saturday's UFC 334. The...
13/11/2026
The NBA and Fanatics Studios, the joint venture between Fanatics and entertainme...
13/11/2026
ESPN held its annual EDGE Innovation Conference last night and offered up an ove...
13/11/2026
Regional sports network gives Ithaca College, SUNY Cortland students a platform to thrive
One of the biggest games in Division III college football will be pla...
13/11/2026
Studer-inspired 500-series PWM compressor unveiled
The HLabs range already includes a couple of Studer-inspired offerings in the form of the PRE169 and EQ16...
13/11/2026
Download Now!
To view the white paper, please enter the following details:
--
First Name* First Name
Company*
Country* Please select your countryA...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Blue Lucy, the workflow orchestration and integration platform for broadcasters, rights owners and localisation companies, today announced an integration with c...
13/11/2026
Krotos announces Black Friday offers on Studio Pro and Studio Max
Brie Clayton November 12, 2026
0 Comments
First-year annual plans start at US$195.99...
13/11/2026
Blackmagic Design Announces Blackmagic Ambisonic Microphone
Brie Clayton November 12, 2026
0 Comments
New 7th order ambisonic microphone with 108 MEMS...
13/11/2026
Meet the Berklee Student Setting Planetary Motion to Music With his compositional platform SoniKosmos, Javier Roqueni aims to make the universe the ultimate i...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , er...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , er...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Amagi, the media industry cloud company, today announced a partnership with Golden Times Media Technology (stock code 920021.BJ), a Beijing-based media and tech...
13/11/2026
CGI (TSX: GIB.A) (NYSE: GIB), one of the largest independent IT and business consulting services firms in the world, together with its Malaysian partner, Cedar ...
13/11/2026
SMPTE, the home for media professionals, technologists and engineers, today announced that The Studio B&H and Riedel Communications will provide the video infra...
13/11/2026
iWedia, a global leader in connected TV software solutions, will present its software-first approach to DRAM optimization at Android TV APAC Summit 2026 in Bang...
13/11/2026
Beginning today, November 13, Apple HomeView is available for purchase at Apple Store locations, on the Apple Store online, and in the Apple Store app in select...
13/11/2026
From pediatric research to smart hospitals, AI is helping care teams spend less time on routine tasks and more time with patients.
Health systems and startups...
12/11/2026
Industry leaders examine how Dynamic Media Facility, Media eXchange Layer, and c...
12/11/2026
The junior Tar Heel is embracing the technical and creative challenges of live production while emerging as a leader and mentor in the control room...
12/11/2026
Gracenote, Nielsen's content intelligence business, has released its fifth a...
12/11/2026
RTL Deutschland will bring the NHL to free-to-air TV in Germany starting Nov. 30...
12/11/2026
Clear-Com supported On Air 2026, a 24-hour student-led broadcast connecting 45 u...
12/11/2026
uniqFEED has opened a Remote Operations Center (ROC) in Madrid, Spain. It is already operational, delivering virtual advertising for LaLiga matches. The ROC is ...
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 
