Doreen Greaton discovers how shotgun microphones and in-ear monitors helped Formula Es sound team make sure everything was crystal clear
By Contributor
Published: September 24, 2020
Doreen Greaton discovers how shotgun microphones and in-ear monitors helped Formula E's sound team make sure everything was crystal clear
target=_blank title=Share on LinkedIn class=share-linkedin> Doreen Greaton discovers how shotgun microphones and in-ear monitors helped Formula E's sound team make sure everything was crystal clear
https://www.tvbeurope.com/audio/boom-how-formula-e-used-shotgun-mics-to-maintain-social-distancing title=Share via Email class=share-email>
As live sports return to TV screens, the industry is making a massive effort to ensure people stay safe and protected from Covid-19. Many new protocols have been introduced that extend right across the board, covering everyone from talent and presenters to behind the scenes crews and technicians. Working in bubbles is the new norm, with crews often isolating for days before the start of a project just to ensure everyone is virus-free.
From the viewers' point of view, there have also been changes. The lack of fans and crowd noise at sports venues, for example, has taken a bit of getting used to, and some programmes look quite different with pundits sitting far apart in studios or only participating through video links. But for the most part audiences have been very accommodating because everyone understands the constraints imposed by this strange new world.
One change many viewers have noticed is the prevalence of the boom microphone, which are now visible in places where they were never allowed before. In pre-Covid times getting a boom in shot was a major blooper, but these days safety dictates that they are much better suited to certain situations and therefore compromises have to be made.
The sound recordists responsible for delivering this year's ABB FIA Formula E coverage are among those who have embraced boom mics, particularly for behind the scenes interviews.
Like so many sports, Formula E faced challenges because the Covid-19 pandemic threatened to scupper its 2019/2020 season. Normally Formula E's fully electric, single seater cars race around major city centres, but because of the high population density in these locations the usual format was deemed unsafe. After months of deliberation a novel solution was found - namely to complete the season by holding six races over nine days, behind closed doors, at Berlin's iconic Templehoff airport. Live TV coverage was provided by host broadcasters Aurora Media Worldwide and North One TV, known as Formula E TV, who supply the world feed to channels such as the BBC, Eurosport and Mediaset.
Formula E TV's sound supervisor Paul Halstead heads a dedicated crew of sound engineers, many with extensive live broadcast experience. Paul, who has been involved in Formula E since its first season six years ago, says: We work as a team but we have very distinct roles. My colleague Scott Morton looks after ENG crews and is involved with the live presentation element, while I handle mic allocation around the track and mixing the international feed, along with any additional race support presentation.
For the Berlin races, Scott and Paul had to contend with the German government's social distancing rules, which meant making changes to how the audio was captured. Handheld microphones shared between interviewers and drivers were obviously out, so they switched to boom microphones and used Bubblebee Industries' Spacer Bubble to get the right balance between wind protection and audio transparency.
Switching to boom mics was a major safety protocol and we used them for more than 80 per cent of our ENG and live presentation audio, Scott Morton explains. In this new landscape, presenters can't get close enough to the drivers to share a handheld mic, and our sound engineers are not allowed to touch the talent so we can't easily fit lavaliers. Our solution was to give presenters their own stick mic and couple them with a sound engineer who would use a boom mic to capture the interviewee's responses.
Morton adds that the three piece Spacer Bubble windshield system proved a real winner during the event because it could be adapted to suit the weather and ambient noise levels.
Unlike other systems that are full on fur or nothing, Spacer Bubble's modular nature allowed us to get variations in the shielding and adapt more quickly to changing weather conditions, he says. We used them with various R de and Sennheiser shotgun microphones and got excellent results. As so much of the audio for the Berlin event was captured on boom mics, we didn't worry about them being in shot during interviews because there was very little we could do about it.
Since its inception, Formula E broadcasters have had various audio challenges to overcome - not least the fact that electric cars don't sound anything like a Formula 1 sports car, something that viewers initially found disconcerting.
For the first two seasons, our sound department was under the microscope because we couldn't make the races sound like Formula 1, Halstead says. People often asked why we didn't add pre-recorded sounds but that wasn't the solution because you can't lie to the public. The cars sound how they sound and it is up to us to capture that as realistically as possible. Fans have now got used to it and accept that Formula E simply sounds different.
Another challenge - at least in a normal season - are the race venues. Because Formula E is held on public roads, the sound crew has to leave it until the 11th hour to position microphones to capture the sound of the cars.
On a public road you can't leave anything in place before the race or it may
Europe Stories
23/12/2025
The year is winding down, the weather outside is frightful, and it's the perfect time to escape into a story that warms the heart. For listeners looking for...
23/12/2025
23 Dec 2025
VEON's Beeline Kazakhstan and Rakuten Symphony Collaborate to A...
22/12/2025
For a decade, popular German podcast Fest & Flauschig has hosted an annual Chris...
22/12/2025
Monday 22 December 2025
Sky extends PGA TOUR partnership until 2029, as Sky Spo...
22/12/2025
Siobh n McSweeney, Rory McIlroy, Elon Musk, Catherine Connolly, Jim Gavin, Ivan Yates and Traitor Paudie Moloney lead new characters for Callan Kicks the Year 2...
22/12/2025
Winner announced in the picturesque surroundings of Wicklow's Avondale Tower and Treetop Walk
Andrew Trimble wins the show in his first series as coach
Th...
22/12/2025
The 2025 winners have been announced today, Sunday 21 December, for Ireland's largest choral competition Choirs for Christmas hosted by RT lyric fm.
Ove...
21/12/2025
John Shortt named Young Sportsperson of the Year Kerry are the Team of the Year
...
19/12/2025
With Playout Release 2025.4, ToolsOnAir continues to push professional playout w...
19/12/2025
19 Dec 2025
VEON's Mobilink Microfinance Bank Launches Islamic Banking Oper...
19/12/2025
The six-part drama, set in a close-knit Welsh town fractured by an unspeakable c...
19/12/2025
Rohde & Schwarz drives the future of mobility at CES 2026 At the 2026 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Rohde & Schwarz will present a powerful lineup o...
19/12/2025
RT is proud to return to the RDS to support the 2026 Stripe Young Scientist & T...
18/12/2025
Canada's largest indoor arena has transformed its live production capabilities with a full ST 2110 infrastructure and Calrec's compact Argo S console. S...
18/12/2025
Long-term agreement includes the SES SCORE platform and hybrid distribution worldwide to deliver more than 5,000 hours of golf tournaments annually featuring th...
18/12/2025
18 Dec 2025
VEON Upgraded to Nasdaq Global Select Market, Enhancing Investor Visibility Dubai, December 18, 2025 - VEON Ltd. (Nasdaq: VEON), a global digital o...
18/12/2025
Thursday 18 December 2025
Sky Sports remains the exclusive home of the Masters ...
18/12/2025
Using the additive process of 3D printing, layer after layer gets printed until an object is as close to the final shape needed as possible. Historically, machi...
18/12/2025
In 2025, RT proudly supported 185 arts and cultural events across the island of Ireland, reflecting significant growth since the scheme was re-launched in 2014...
18/12/2025
RT Sports Awards 2025 live on RT One and RT Player at 8:05pm on Saturday 20 December
On Saturday 20 December live on RT One and RT Player at the earlier t...
18/12/2025
RT lyric fm presents a very special Winter Solstice edition of Ambient Orbit, l...
18/12/2025
At 7.45pm on 1st January 1926, the precursor to RT , then 2RN, delivered the fledgling new Irish state's first public radio transmission. From those first c...
18/12/2025
December 18 2025, 05:30 (PST) The Movie Experience SLO Becomes First U.S. Exhib...
17/12/2025
Investigative journalists across the Western Balkans and T rkiye continue to con...
17/12/2025
The right playlist is essential on New Year's Eve, building the energy as you get ready and keeping it high as you count down to midnight. This year, Spotif...
17/12/2025
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({...
17/12/2025
Wuppertal December 17, 2025
Riedel Builds Global Communication and Commentary ...
17/12/2025
December 17 2025, 17:00 (PST) Dolby and LG Unveil a New Era of Home Audio With ...
17/12/2025
Wednesday 17 December 2025
Heated Rivalry will be coming to Sky and streaming service NOW on 10 JanuaryTurn on cookies to view this content. Go to Privacy opti...
17/12/2025
RT has announced that Kathy Fox has been appointed Commissioning Editor with re...
17/12/2025
With the new season of Dancing with the Stars shimmering in the not-too-distant future this New Year, the celebrity and dancer pairings of the twelve couples ha...
16/12/2025
Hawkins has landed on Spotify, just in time for Stranger Things Season 5, Volume...
16/12/2025
Wherever you are, your favorite music and audio content should go seamlessly with you. That's why Spotify has partnered with NAVER Corp, Korea's leading...
16/12/2025
2025 Wrapped arrived bigger and bolder than ever. This year's experience is designed to be ultra personal and shareable, with new features like Wrapped Part...
16/12/2025
16 Dec 2025
VEON Announces Release Date for Full Year and Fourth Quarter 2025 R...
16/12/2025
16 Dec 2025
VEON's Kyivstar Invests in Renewable Energy in Ukraine with Acq...
16/12/2025
Harmonic's XOS Advanced Media Processor Improves Streaming Video Quality and Boosts Viewer Engagement SAN JOSE, Calif. - Dec. 16, 2025 - Harmonic (NASDAQ: ...
16/12/2025
RT Sport Awards 2025 live on RT One and RT Player at 8:05pm on Saturday 20 December.
On Saturday 20 December live on RT One and RT Player at the earlier t...
16/12/2025
Singer -songwriter Brian Kennedy has been announced as the final celebrity dance...
15/12/2025
Cape Town, November 13, 2025 - SES and International artist and humanitarian, Fo...
15/12/2025
Luxembourg, December 15, 2025 - SES, a leading space solutions company, and Abra Group launched fast and reliable multi-orbit inflight connectivity service on t...
15/12/2025
15 Dec 2025
VEON's Beeline Kazakhstan Delivers First Starlink Direct to Cel...
15/12/2025
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor finds himself the topic of year's cracker jokes
Oasis, David Harbour, Celebrity Traitors and Angela Rayner all feature in this y...
15/12/2025
Comscore Expands Cross-Platform Campaign Measurement to Include Audio and Social New capabilities strengthen cross-platform campaign reporting suite; CCR rebran...
15/12/2025
RT .ie has reached one billion page views this year and is on track to finish 2025 2% ahead of last year. Average time spent on the site is up 3% on 2024, with ...
12/12/2025
Last month, Spotify announced a new collaboration with the ATP Tour, the global governing body of men's professional tennis, aimed at bringing the next gene...
12/12/2025
Friday 12 December 2025
Ted is back! Seth MacFarlane's live-action comedic ...
12/12/2025
Uachtar n na h ireann, Catherine Connolly visited RT Raidi na Gaeltachta's...
12/12/2025
Ireland AM host Eric Roberts has been revealed as the sixth contestant taking to...
Doreen Greaton discovers how shotgun microphones and in-ear monitors helped Formula Es sound team make sure everything was crystal clear
