LAS VEGAS Audio mixers working on content for the small screen still face challenges several years after the industry's transition to ATSC. The ATSC transport allows for 5.1-channel audio, yet some broadcasters produce programming in stereo and others automatically upmix everything, leaving mixers sometimes uncertain about exactly how their content will be heard by consumers.
There isn't a standard practice, a best practice, and I would argue if the networks would say, Do this, don't do that,' it wouldn't be up for grabs. We could do it the same way every time and we could have some predictability, said Roger Charlesworth, executive director of the DTV Audio Group.
Bob Clearmountain, who has mixed various live music projects for broadcast, related a recent experience. We did this concert for Hurricane Sandy relief. It went out in stereo; nobody wanted to deal with the 5.1. I thought, This is going to be pretty safe.' I recorded it at home on two different channels, and I was appalled with what Lt/Rt does with the stereo. It didn't even sound close, he said.
The problem might have been that the show which was carried live by numerous broadcast and cable channels was, in this particular instance, upmixed for delivery, a situation that is not uncommon, Charlesworth said. It's in stereo, and somewhere, a box that nobody is listening to is turning that into 5.1, he said. Then someone is hearing, in the set-top box, a downmix of that 5.1 that no one in the production ever heard.
If we'd mixed it in 5.1, it probably would have translated better, Clearmountain said.
The issue, as Charlesworth has noted previously, is that someone on a production may decide that it's too time-consuming, too difficult or too expensive to work in 5.1, despite the fact that the production and post production workflows can easily handle it. Once a show is produced in stereo, it becomes very difficult to change to 5.1; rolling in clips from previous seasons can be a problem, for instance.
It's production economics, said Michael Abbott, an independent sound designer, engineer and consultant currently working on NBC's The Voice, which is produced in stereo. Whatever the required delivery spec, he said, the mixer should monitor in that format. I do a show for ESPN and they want live stereo delivered, he said. They know it's going to be upmixed to 5.1. When I mix the show, I listen to it upmixed.
A show like NBC's Saturday Night Live, on the other hand, is all 5.1 all the time. Josiah Gluck, the show's associate music mixer, is also a production and post-production mixer. It's archived as four 5.1-wide stems: audience, music, dialog, effects, he said. It enables us to unfurl things and create best-of packages and that sort of thing.
But Gluck did note that artists and their teams rarely consult with him on the live music segments. The first time Janet Jackson was on our show, I was stupefied no one from her camp ever came back to the room to talk to us about the mix, Gluck said. In their minds, it was how do the dancers look, how are the lights?
Clearmountain said that no artist he'd worked with had a 5.1 system in their home. Every record I've mixed in the last 10 or 12 years, I've also done a 5.1 mix, he said. Once we're done and everybody is happy, I'll say, check this out, and play the 5.1. It blows their minds.
A number of manufacturers have introduced products that allow consumers to alter the balance of a broadcast mix and emerging object-based audio schemes could end up making that even easier which poses another challenge: How much appetite is there for the creative side of the industry to yield a little more control downstream to consumers and allow them to turn things on and off, change the relationship between things, move them to places maybe they never anticipated? asked an audience member.
When we deliver it, it should be reproduced that way, replied music mixer Bruce Botnick. I don't want them remixing it; it's a disservice to the artist and to the show.
Botnick also recently experienced a transmission problem with a project. I got [a phone call] from Robbie Krieger of The Doors last week about this Hollywood Bowl show. He said, I don't understand it; there's no right channel.' I couldn't answer what happened. I know what we delivered. When it went to the network, Palladia, I don't know what they were using, whether it was a downmix, or what.
You cannot police the entire thing, Gluck said. You need to have a certain amount of blind faith that it's going to go out properly.
Most recent headlines
01/01/2026
Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation Announces 2026 Noel Schajris Scholarship The scholarship will cover tuition and housing for one Berklee College of Music stud...
01/01/2026
New year, new games, all with RTX 5080-powered cloud energy. GeForce NOW is kicking off 2026 by looking back at an unforgettable year of wins and wildly high fr...
31/12/2025
Back to All News
NFL Christmas Gameday on Netflix Scores Again With the Lions-V...
30/12/2025
As the College Football Playoff Enters the Quarterfinals, ESPN Blows Out Its Meg...
30/12/2025
SVG's Best of 2025: Original ArticlesTake a look back at all our coverage of big-time productions, game-changing technologies, and state-of-the-art new faci...
30/12/2025
MELBOURNE, Fla., Dec. 30, 2025 - L3Harris Technologies (NYSE: LHX) will release its fourth quarter 2025 financial results before the market opens on Thursday, J...
30/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
30/12/2025
It marked the first civilian operational authorization for a HAPS flight in Europe, led by Space42's subsidiary, Mira Aerospace
The flight demonstrated HAP...
29/12/2025
San Francisco 49ers Strike Gold With Halftime Laser SpectacularStunning display caps $200 million renovation of Levi's Stadium techBy Dan Daley, Audio Edito...
29/12/2025
The Cup's Around the Corner: An Inside Look at Broadcast Preparations for th...
29/12/2025
SVG's Best of 2025: Longform VideoWatch the standout keynote conversations, deep dives, and panel discussions from the year for free on SVG PLAY!By Brandon ...
29/12/2025
From crisper Lossless audio and immersive music videos in beta to new Audiobooks+ plans, custom transitions between tracks, and in-app Messages, we keep levelin...
29/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
27/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
26/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
26/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
25/12/2025
Holiday lights are twinkling, hot cocoa's on the stove and gamers are settling in for a well-earned break.
Whether staying in or heading on a winter getawa...
24/12/2025
What is AI good for? Posted by MTI Film on December 24, 2025
What is AI good for?
What is AI good for?
It's been three years since ChatGPT first cap...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Back to All News
The Boyfriend' Season 2 Unveils Heartwarming Trailer, Key...
24/12/2025
Back to All News
Love, Fights, and Everything in Between: Badly in Love' Returns for Season 2
Entertainment
24 December 2025
GlobalJapan
Link copied t...
24/12/2025
Scripps Research study links sleep variability with sleep apnea and hypertension How consumers' digital activity trackers could enable personalized health s...
23/12/2025
How guilas Cibae as Dominican Winter League Games Are Locally Produced for Glob...
23/12/2025
BitFire's Jim Akimchuk on Supplying Scalability and Customization in the Clo...
23/12/2025
CAMB.AI Enables European Athletics to Offer Multi-Language SupportPlan is to eventually offer translation into all languages spoken in EuropeBy Ken Kerschbaumer...
23/12/2025
Analysis: As sports media values trend negative, scarcity and quality are king By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Monday, December 22, 2025 - 14:08
Print ...
23/12/2025
ESPN, Disney, and NBA Return to the Animated Altcast Fray With Second Edition of...
23/12/2025
End the Year on a High Note and Donate to the Sports Broadcasting Fund Today!By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director
Tuesday, December 23, 2025 - 12:25 pm
P...
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
A Zeus motor is hot fire tested at L3Harris' Camden, Arkansas, solid rocket ...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Lightware will exhibit several major product innovations at ISE 2026, including the new USB-C BOOSTER-V1, Google Meet. integration for various Taurus UCX models...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Taking the Stage at Carnegie Hall-On a Global Scale Boston Conservatory Orchestra students reflect on their epic concert marking the 80th session of the UN Gene...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
Netflix's The Great Flood and Culinary Class Wars 2 Top Gl...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
Stranger Things By the Numbers: How the Global Phenomenon Shap...
23/12/2025
Experience the power of WO Automation for Radio's newest service, the System Effectiveness Review. Designed to help you achieve more, a System Effectiveness...
23/12/2025
23 Dec 2025
VEON's Beeline Kazakhstan and Rakuten Symphony Collaborate to A...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
How Steamy Can It Get? Single's Inferno' Season 5 Pre...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
33 Million Global Viewers on Netflix Watched Jake Paul vs. Ant...
LAS VEGAS Audio mixers working on content for the small screen still face challenges several years after the industry's transition to ATSC. The ATSC transport allows for 5.1-channel audio, yet some broadcasters produce programming in stereo and others automatically upmix everything, leaving mixers sometimes uncertain about exactly how their content will be heard by consumers.
