Big Sound on Big Shows Nominated for the 39th Annual Sports Emmy Awards ABC/ESPN, Fox Sports, NBC Sports are noted for work on iconic sports events By Dan Daley, Audio Editor
Thursday, May 3, 2018 - 10:55 am
Print This Story
Story Highlights
Audio is the focus of one of the nine Live and Technical categories of the Sports Emmy Awards, which will be presented Tuesday at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Frederick P. Rose Hall, and ABC/ESPN, Fox Sports, and NBC Sports are nominated for Outstanding Live Event Audio/Sound, having made some wonderful noise covering some of last year's biggest sports events.
Here's an in-depth look at the nominees and their shows:
ESPN on ABC: Indianapolis 500
To cover the 2017 Indianapolis 500, ESPN on ABC deployed 287 microphone elements - 235 of which were effects mics - tied together by some 170,000 ft. of fiber-optic cable, underscoring just how much sound there was to capture at the most iconic of all U.S. open-wheel motorsports races.
A1 Denis Ryan (left) oversaw 287 microphone elements capturing the Indianapolis 500.
A football field is 100 yards long, a baseball field is roughly the same size, and a soccer pitch is a bit larger. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is 2.5 miles long and is the largest-capacity sports venue in the world, says ESPN Remote Audio Specialist Kevin Cleary, describing the scale of the event from a broadcast perspective. The drivers make their way around the oval in less than 40 seconds. Capturing the speed and the power of these men and machines in a discrete 5.1 workflow is no small accomplishment. There are multiple reasons for the success of this show, most notably the audio team, which focuses on the goal of capturing the nuances of racing, including speed shots, downshift audio in the turns, driver radios, and, of course, the pit stops. Add the sound of more than 300,000 fans onsite, in seats and in the infield, and it's easy to see how the SPL can approach 120 dBA, adroitly captured by A1 Denis Ryan and submixer Steve Urick working with ESPN Remote Production Operations Director Dennis Cleary. It really is a different event from any of the other motorsports races on television, says Kevin Cleary. Much more equipment and manpower are deployed. The sheer size and scope of the project is of a scale far above the average sporting event.
Fox Sports: NASCAR on Fox; Fox/FS1: MLB on Fox
Fox Sports' season-long MLB coverage was encapsulated by its broadcast of the 2017 Major League Baseball All-Star Game. For the 88th Midsummer Classic, live from Miami's Marlins Park, 13 on-field microphones were installed beneath the playing surface, capturing natural sound from definitive moments in the game. Also deployed were eight RF FX mics, nine RF base mics, 78 field microphones, and 14 RF infield microphones.
Placement plot for overall effects mics for Fox Sports' coverage of the 2017 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
Two of the on-field microphones were located in front of the pitcher's mound: one for right-handed pitchers, the other for lefties. The remaining 11 spots included one behind the pitcher's mound, two on either side of the infield, where the dirt meets the outfield grass, and six in the outfield between the infield and the wall. In addition to the on-field microphones, Fox Sports also had two parabolic mics positioned out of play on either side of the field and more than 100 All-Star microphones.
We experimented with field mics last year in San Diego and got some great results, says Fox Sports Senior Audio Mixer Joe Carpenter, a 10-time Sports Emmy winner. The sounds and grunts you get from guys like Max Scherzer and Madison Bumgarner as they complete their pitches add so much to the feeling of being there.
The MLB All-Star Game initiatives marked the latest effort from Fox Sports Lab, a designed approach to exploring technical partnerships that give viewers a fresh perspective and ad-sales teams more-targeted sports integrations.
NBC/NBC Sports Network: NASCAR on NBC, 35th America's Cup
For NBC Sports' NASCAR coverage, as many as 35 announce positions were deployed around the tracks. Their configurations comprised traditional three-person booths, dual booths with six announcers interacting, and multiple announce positions around a road course; in addition, six RF announce packs included an announcer driving a race car at speed and describing the track live. The open-air NBC stage setup could be used live, produced directly through the network's mobile units onsite or remotely through the Stamford, CT, in a hybrid approach using both conventional and at-home-style workflows. The Pit Box announce position, which debuted in 2017, was positioned trackside among the teams, sitting directly on pit road and providing an up-close POV for the crew-chief analysts overlooking pit stops and direct access to team members during race action.
NASCAR is all about effects, and NBC put plenty of those on the sonic canvas. Painting the ambience for racing can be a very busy job, observes Denis Ryan, A1 for NASCAR on NBC, who worked closely with A1 Steven Urick, who submixed the track effects. Each camera cut is matched with opening and closing multiple faders, sometimes even using pedal control of fill sound. At a short track, this can mean five or six transitions during a 16-second lap. Audio-follow is used in certain types of racing coverage, but nothing beats the human touch.'
Audio Director Steve Hartley at the Lawo MC266 console aboard NEP Sweden's HD1 in Bermuda, creating multiple iso mixes for NBC Sports coverage of the Americas Cup.
Microphone mounting, Ryan continues, has to take into consideration weather elements, fan access, and dangerous impact locations that can't be serviced while cars are on the track. Dependability and accuracy is key. C
Most recent headlines
09/11/2025
Dalet today announced a transformative leap forward for media operations: Agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI) that unifies the Dalet ecosystem under one natura...
23/10/2025
A deadline is looming for a new carriage deal between Verizon's Fios TV and Nexstar, with both Verizon and the pay TV-backed American Television Alliance bl...
23/10/2025
NEW YORK During a high-profile session at NAB Show New York, new survey data was shared that revealed significant public concern over artificial intelligence (A...
23/10/2025
BELLEVUE, Wash. and NEW YORK Fox Weather has tapped T-Mobile has as its preferred communications provider and announced that all Fox Weather reporters are being...
23/10/2025
PBS and Amazon Web Services have announced the network is using generative AI to provide enhanced search results to viewers on the PBS App and PBS LearningMedia...
23/10/2025
Series three of the award winning, hit comedy entertainment series The 2 Johnnies Late Night Lock In is back on your screens, celebrating the very best of all t...
23/10/2025
Performances by Michael Flatley, Andy Irvine, Cuckoo's Nest, Foster and Allen and more
Friday 24 October, 8pm on RT One and RT Player
Fleadh Cheoil re...
23/10/2025
The nights grow longer and the shadows get bolder with Vampire The Masquerade: B...
22/10/2025
Prime Video Inks Deal To Present NFL Black Friday Game Worldwide By SVG Staff
Wednesday, October 22, 2025 - 10:06 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story ...
22/10/2025
NBA Tip-Off: ESPN Goes 1080p HDR End-to-End, Flipping HDR Switch on REMI and REM...
22/10/2025
FloSports Empowers Division II, III Athletic Departments With Turnkey Production...
22/10/2025
Wall Street Video Summit Debuts, Bringing Together 200 Financial Enterprise Vide...
22/10/2025
Dueling Pianos: International Chopin Piano Competition Is as Competitive as a Ba...
22/10/2025
In 1995, a young Colombian artist released an album that would change Latin pop ...
22/10/2025
Over the past few months, a photovoltaic system has been installed on a three-he...
22/10/2025
The Orion spacecraft for NASA's Artemis II mission is stacked on the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket in High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kenn...
22/10/2025
L3Harris' Hybrid SATCOM is resilient by design, offering path diversity that eliminates vulnerabilities by routing data across the best available networks i...
22/10/2025
WASHINGTON, D.C. Organizers of NAB Show New York said they are expecting more than 12,000 registered attendees from about 100 countries along with 260 exhibitor...
22/10/2025
WASHINGTON, D.C The organizers of The 2025 NAB Show New York have announced that they are expecting more than 12,000 registered attendees from about 100 countr...
22/10/2025
Masque Sound, a leading theatrical sound reinforcement, installation and design company, supplied an extensive gear package of professional-grade equipment for ...
22/10/2025
Lightware, a global leader in signal management and AV connectivity solutions, is seeing strong market momentum for the UCX-3x3-TPX-RX20, a compact transmitter-...
22/10/2025
MELVILLE, N.Y. Chyron has released PAINT 10.2, the latest update for its telestration platform, adding support for SMPTE ST 2110 IP workflows, expanding brandin...
22/10/2025
WASHINGTON Run3TV today said NBCUniversal is joining as an investor in the ATSC 3.0 Framework Authority, which develops the Run3TV NextGen TV application platfo...
22/10/2025
ATLANTA swXtch.io will feature two new networking solutions extending the company's reach across more cloud and on-prem workflows at NAB Show New York, set ...
22/10/2025
The Warner Bros. Discoverys HBO Max streaming services has increased prices for all its streaming tiers effectively immediately for new customers. Existing cust...
22/10/2025
LOS ANGELES OpenDrives has signed a new distribution partnership deal with Versatile Distribution Services (VDS) to strengthen its channel and streamline how it...
22/10/2025
WASHINGTON, D.C The organizers of The 2025 NAB Show New York have announced that they are expecting more than 12,000 registered attendees from about 100 countr...
22/10/2025
Samora Pinderhughes Brings Immersive Sound to Berklee's Signature Series The artist and composer, who's worked with Herbie Hancock, Robert Glasper, Co...
22/10/2025
BMI Day at Berklee Celebrates Composer Fil Eisler and Awards Scholarship to Stud...
22/10/2025
October 22nd, 2025 TRIBECA ANNOUNCES STAR-STUDDED LINEUP OF MEMBERSHIP EVENTS F...
22/10/2025
Rohde & Schwarz and TRUMPF cooperate in drone defense Rohde & Schwarz and TRUMPF partner to deliver a comprehensive drone defense solution combining Rohde & S...
22/10/2025
European Broadcaster Upgrades To Grass Valley's NativeIP LDX 135 Cameras And...
22/10/2025
Everyone Gets a Better Deal on Verizon with New FOX One Perk The $15 FOX One streaming service perk is yet another way Verizon continues to add savings for cu...
22/10/2025
First Look Hidden Assets Series 3
Premieres on 9th November 9:30pm on RT One & RT Player
WATCH HERE Promo Link: Hidden Assets Series 3 | RT
The Crimin...
21/10/2025
NAB New York 2025: Although AES Show Is on Its Own, Audio Will Be a Major Part o...
21/10/2025
NAB New York 2025: Business of Broadcast and Media,' Future of Content'...
21/10/2025
SVG All-Stars: Ethan Folz, Senior Director, Digital Operations and Quality of Ex...
21/10/2025
NBA on NBC/Peacock: Livestream Offers Graphic Overlays, Predictive Gaming, Ancil...
21/10/2025
NBA on NBC/Peacock: At the Front Bench With Producer Frank DiGraci and Director ...
21/10/2025
NBA on NBC/Peacock: NBC Sports, NEP Build Ultra-Flexible Production Plan That Se...
21/10/2025
Indigenous storytelling has been at the heart of the work of the Sundance Instit...
21/10/2025
Top L-R: Mysterious Skin, American Dream Second Row L-R: Little Miss Sunshine, D...
21/10/2025
Last week, Spotify and Columbia Records transformed Pier 4 at the Brooklyn Army ...
21/10/2025
SBS Learn's Dharug Ngurra resource empowers classrooms to meaningfully celeb...
21/10/2025
As global operators simplify and evolve their digital platforms, NPS improvement...
21/10/2025
Critical Design Review completion is a key milestone on the path toward Wideband Global Satellite Communications certification for the network in 2026, opening ...
21/10/2025
New Australian undersea training range to implement and improve warfighting tactics, proficiency and safety; enable joint/allied training that contributes to pr...
21/10/2025
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({...
21/10/2025
September, the beginning of autumn, brought an expected revival to the TV market, largely due to the new fall TV schedules. The time spent in front of the TV sc...
Big Sound on Big Shows Nominated for the 39th Annual Sports Emmy Awards ABC/ESPN, Fox Sports, NBC Sports are noted for work on iconic sports events By Dan Daley, Audio Editor 
