Tech Focus: Training, Part 1 - Changes Reflect Complexities of Broadcast-Audio Workflows Practices are affected by new technologies, a return to in-person, dwindling workforce By Dan Daley, Audio Editor Wednesday, May 3, 2023 - 11:29 am
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COVID may be largely over, but it has left its mark on broadcast-audio workflow. From the lowliest midweek match to the Olympics, remote control of at least some aspects of broadcast audio has become more norm than exception, and changes in training reflect that.
In fact, the evolution of training for on-air audio embodies the larger changes in television and televised-sports sound, from lessons on Dolby Atmos for immersive audio to building and using an IP network.
Calrec's Dave Letson: [Training] has changed in the last several years, going from most people being rather inexperienced with IP to the OB companies like NEP and Game Creek now building their new trucks as IP [environments].
For instance, Calrec's Sound Institute training program comprises more than 6,000 courses ranging from online to hands-on trainings delivered as part of console and other product installations. It is split between two platforms - the company's Brio and Type R systems - and curricula are focused on networked technology and, most recently, Atmos. The IP courses - based in part on Calrec's eight-part IP Network Primer, which emphasizes the role of SMPTE 2100-7 in network redundancy, and whitepaper on IP resilience for broadcast - now encompass Calrec's recently introduced IP-based Argo work surface. Nearly 1,000 online students have followed or competed the courses, according to Calrec VP, Sales, Dave Letson, and a total of 3,000 students have signed up and completed around 4,500 courses.
A lot has changed in the last several years, he says, going from most people being rather inexperienced with IP to the OB companies like NEP and Game Creek now building their new trucks as IP [environments].
He notes that the knowledge landscape has become more dense and complex in the wake of COVID, which accelerated an ongoing migration toward more remote-production workflows. A1s simply need to know more about more things, he contends, making comprehensive training even more critical.
Back to In-Person Shure's Dave Klein: When events moved from live to streaming, so did the way we taught the technology and techniques. Now we're moving back to live events and teaching in person again.
Although online training remains popular and a way to reach people beyond a few key locations, live training is resurgent, say some training specialists. Dave Klein, director, Shure Audio Institute, now part of Shure's Technical Publications and Technical Content teams, notes that in-person training, focused on topics like frequency-spectrum management and live mixing, has increased significantly in the past six to eight months. Shure's Master Class events have gone wider in that time, including in New York, the UK, and, more recently, Latin America. He believes that the return of trade-show attendance has been a force in getting people once again comfortable about travel and being with crowds.
When events moved from live to streaming, so did the way we taught the technology and techniques, he says, referring to such content as the Shure Webinar: Workflow - Inside the NBA Bubble and Shure Webinar: Workflow - Broadcast From Home, developed specifically for broadcast sports during the COVID era. Now we're moving back to live events and teaching in person again.
Integrated Approach Crew provider Program Productions Inc. (PPI) has been taking an integrated approach to training, trying to ameliorate the persistent labor shortage in broadcast production, which has seen a 30% decrease in its workforce since COVID, while also expanding training. According to PPI Associate Director, People, Kelly Hammonds, the company has encouraged cross-training of clients' existing employees, such as adding audio or video capabilities to a utility person's skill set and thus adding an A2 or V2 to the roster; in other instances, an A2 could be uptrained to become an A1, or a studio A1 could achieve additional specific skills applicable to a truck environment for remote-production work.
PPI's Kelly Hammonds: When we can, we prefer to establish a training locally.
The training itself is done most often by one of PPI's verified freelancers already working onsite or by an A1 or V1 that PPI sends to a location to work a game or an event, adding a bump to their regular compensation. This allows training to take place in a local, hands-on environment and enables trainees to have their follow-up questions answered quickly. Clients, which include RSNs like Bally Sports, encourage and largely fund the effort.
Keeping the training local, Hammonds points, will keep down the long-term travel costs, which have become astronomical. If we can't find someone local to do the training, we'll send someone else out at the regular day-rate to do the training, but, when we can, we prefer to establish a training locally.
Impact on Trends Interestingly, the shift to IP and a more complex technical broadcast-audio universe in general comes as the industry's workforce continues to contract. Shure's Klein estimates that between 2020 and 2021, fully half the A1s and others critical to broadcast and installed audio - across the NAB and Infocomm cohorts, which impact sports on the air and in the venue, respectively - who were considering retiring actually did so, a number that increased to 55% last year.
It has left a lot of job openings in the entire audio-video industry, including in broadcast, he says.
At the same time, the UK's A1 base has become more freelance-oriented, with production incr
