Ciaran Doran reports on a recent RTS Technology Centre event that heard about the challenge of getting sound on live TV events just right, including dealing with spill, amplifying the audience, foldback for the musicians, and clean feeds for external use
By Contributor
Published: March 14, 2024
Ciaran Doran reports on a recent RTS Technology Centre event that heard about the challenge of getting sound on live TV events just right, including dealing with spill', amplifying the audience, foldback for the musicians, and clean feeds for external use
target=_blank title=Share on LinkedIn class=share-linkedin> Ciaran Doran reports on a recent RTS Technology Centre event that heard about the challenge of getting sound on live TV events just right, including dealing with spill', amplifying the audience, foldback for the musicians, and clean feeds for external use
https://www.tvbeurope.com/audio/spilling-the-tea-the-challenges-of-live-music-for-television title=Share via Email class=share-email>
From Glastonbury to Glyndebourne, putting live music on television is challenging. TV doesn't lend itself naturally to music events - it always looks great but getting the audio right, for everyone, can be very hard work.
The University of Surrey, home to the famous Music and Sound Recording (Tonmeister) audio degree course, has produced some of the world's top BAFTA, Emmy and Oscar winning sound engineers. Earlier this month, Royal Television Society (RTS) members and guests were welcomed by Russell Mason, programme director for the Tonmeister course and Rupert Flindt, lecturer in recording techniques, to enjoy an informative and entertaining discussion with engineers Mike Hatch, Mike Felton and Tudor Davies.
Their TV credits include Later with Jools Holland, Eurovision, The Brit Awards, and Top of the Pops, not to mention the huge and iconic live events Glastonbury, BBC Proms in the Park, and touring with the band Simple Minds.
Speaking with guests as they arrived, there was an excitement in the air to learn about the complex art of audio for television, which is renowned for being difficult to get to grips with, given the many demands of running a live event.
Mike Hatch of Floating Earth with Tonmeister undergraduates How do you prepare for live music on television with multiple bands coming on stage sequentially or already there waiting their turn? Logistics and detailed planning are major factors because you simply can't predict what will happen on-location. Are we a guest here, fitting in with someone else's plan or are we in charge? Being in charge and the trust placed in your art as a sound engineer is rewarding and brings more freedom but it can be a lonely place. As in much of television, relationship-building is key.
Microphones get in the way of the cameras or lights. Cables can be a mess and get in the way of camera operators and artists. Live audiences are wonderful on camera and the director usually wants more cheering, clapping and buzz from the audience while the audio team are tearing their hair out to manage sound levels, amplification for the audience, foldback for musicians, clean feeds for external use and, of course, an amazing sound for us all to enjoy at home.
Among the many and wide-ranging problems faced at major live events such as Glastonbury is that the overall volume can be absolutely deafening and the spill nearly impossible to manage. A familiar scenario might be trying to manage spill from the drums over gentle strings while at the speaker stack is positioned to drown even the drums! There's the band that refuses to move to in-ear monitors and insists on cranking up the foldback volume on stage - perhaps to compete with the spill from another stage not far away. It's a constant battle to achieve a crisp sound and then maintain it, always riding the faders and manipulating many different areas to manage a dynamic situation.
In live classical music recording the spill can often be part of the mix but classical music for television can face quite different challenges. It's not uncommon to have a plan only to turn up on site and ditch it completely because someone has decided to position a dance set in the middle of the orchestra. However much you plan you generally have to make it work when you get on site. The key is to first understand what is to be achieved, who the target audience is and then work back from there while working out what good and bad things need to be taken care of from an audio point of view. At the Coronation, there were more than 190 microphones placed throughout and each one has to be carefully considered for not only the sonic quality but visual position to camera and congregation and spill.
Tudor Davies and Conrad Fletcher showing The Mixbus How does one choose the right microphone? There's often a feeling that the same old mics are used for years and without innovation getting through. As with relationships in any live location recording, trust is the element that can maintain a status quo; if an engineer prefers a mic because they know the exact sound they're looking to achieve and have a trusted mic that delivers it, then that's simply what will be used. The old phrase this is not a rehearsal becomes real with live production - there's no second chance and the sound engineer looks for surety as well as sonic pureness.
Speaking about the RTS event, Flindt said: Members and students engaged the sound engineers on various topics, including recording 5.1 surround sound for stereo home delivery, producing surround sound for TikTok, and maintaining uncorrupted metadata. They also explored the realities of limited rehearsal times and handling microphone failures during live performances.
This experience will undoubtedly be memorable for our students, significantly aidin
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
28/11/2025
Nadia Fall attends the 2025 Sundance Film Festival premiere of Brides at the Egyptian Theatre on January 24, 2025, in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Donyale West/...
28/11/2025
It's easy to ignore those little red update available badges. But when it ...
28/11/2025
WASHINGTON Federal Communications Commission has released a tentative agenda for the December Open Commission Meeting scheduled for Thursday, December 18, 2025 ...
28/11/2025
The Professional Fighters League is looking to super-serve fans of mixed martial...
28/11/2025
Fubo has released in beta on select Roku devices a new feature that lets users display up to four simultaneous streams at once....
28/11/2025
The WNBA playoffs and Week 4 of the NFL regular season highlight the list of live sports events airing on television this weekend....
28/11/2025
The 32nd class of honorees to the B+C Hall of Fame took to the stage at New York's Ziegfeld Ballroom on September 26 for a gala induction event. Click below...
28/11/2025
We hold in our hands the very last Next Text for Next TV, the weekly back-and-fo...
28/11/2025
DirecTV said it made a deal with EchoStar to buy EchoStar's video businesses, including satellite-TV provider Dish TV and virtual MVPD Sling TV, for $1 plus...
28/11/2025
The Broadcasting+Cable Hall of Fame, the premier industry event paying tribute to the influencers, innovators and shining lights of broadcast, cable and streami...
28/11/2025
Friday 28 November 2025
Sky Sports x Slawn drop limited-edition football jersey...
28/11/2025
Rohde & Schwarz shows resilience in a challenging environment, revenue exceeds t...
28/11/2025
Unwrapped: The Toy Show Appeal - airing this Sunday on RT One and RT Player- s...
27/11/2025
LONDON Vizrt has added several AI-driven advanced features offering improved speed, intelligence and accuracy in the newest version of its media asset managemen...
27/11/2025
Prime Video has launched AI-powered video season recaps in a beta version for select English-language Prime Original series in the U.S., a move Amazon is callin...
27/11/2025
Back to All News
Netflix's Raat Akeli Hai: The Bansal Murders Marks a Grand...
27/11/2025
27 Nov 2025
GSMA brings M360 Eurasia 2026 to Samarkand in partnership with VEON...
27/11/2025
Tahar Rahim and Izuka Hoyle star in the gripping six-part Sky Original from Acad...
27/11/2025
Thursday 27 November 2025
Sky Arts Reveals the Nation's Greatest Basslines - and Queen Reign Supreme
The UK's most iconic basslines have been revealed...
27/11/2025
Back to All News
Stranger Things 5': Prepare for One Last Adventure With O...
27/11/2025
The media industry has a paradox at its core. It's an industry built on light, color and imagination, yet behind the scenes, it's powered by one of the ...
27/11/2025
Rating reflects rating progress across areas including policies, diversity & inclusion, health & safety and Net Zero leadership
Winchester, UK, 27 November 202...
27/11/2025
What are the industry standards for Retail Media? Kathryn explains that certification is based on the IAB Europe Retail Media Measurement Standards and the IAB ...
27/11/2025
World champion boxer and Irish sporting icon Katie Taylor will be in studio this...
27/11/2025
Roblox, one of the world's most popular online gaming platforms for primary ...
27/11/2025
Black Friday is leveling up. Get ready to score one of the biggest deals of the season - 50% off the first three months of a new GeForce NOW Ultimate membership...
26/11/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Prime Video EP Mike Muriano Previews Massive Black Friday Slate Fe...
26/11/2025
A cinematic snow sculpture at the 1995 Sundance Film Festival. Photo by Randall Michelson...
26/11/2025
Book podcasts are booming. On Spotify, you'll find everything from celebrity book clubs to deep dives with bestselling authors. And in markets where audiobo...
26/11/2025
Mumbai, November 24, 2025: In a first-of-its-kind initiative, JioStar, in collab...
26/11/2025
LONDON Factual content producer ITN Productions has launched a new low-latency IP gallery for news bulletins....
26/11/2025
MIAMI TelevisaUnivision said it struck a new multiyear distribution agreement with YouTube TV that includes distribution of TelevisaUnivision's U.S. network...
26/11/2025
OpenDrives, Inc., a leader in software-defined data storage and data services, today announced the launch of the Atlas Corporate Creative Solution. This new Atl...
26/11/2025
Disguise, the industry-leading company powering the world's biggest live performances, is partnering with pioneering LED wall manufacturer DVS to give atten...
26/11/2025
HighField AI, the pioneer in agentic and multimodal automation for broadcast and media production, today announced the expansion of its global channel partner n...
26/11/2025
As high-stakes Premier League fixtures approach and additional premium content launches, with MONO positioning themselves to dominate Thailand's sports stre...
26/11/2025
Hosting a wide variety of events from high-intensity NHL games to complex live music concerts and major entertainment productions, Montreal's 21,000 capacit...
26/11/2025
Vizrt, the leader in live production technology revolutionizing viewer engagement and experience, releases AI-driven advances focusing on speed, intelligence, a...
26/11/2025
ITN Productions, an award-winning factual content producer, today launched a new low-latency IP gallery for news bulletins. Responsible for delivering a leading...
26/11/2025
Ikegami reports ongoing advances throughout 2025 in developing and delivering coordinated television production solutions that maximize quality, versatility and...
26/11/2025
Following the Nov. 21 blackout of NBCUniversal channels on Fubo, the two sides have traded barbs about their inability to reach a new carriage deal....
26/11/2025
LONDON As TV sports rights become increasingly important for both broadcasters and streamers, Ampere Analysis predicts global investment in the genre will surpa...
26/11/2025
LOS ANGELES Vubiquity said it has achieved the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Media & Entertainment Competency as part of the AWS Partner Network (APN). This designa...
26/11/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission's Enforcement Bureau said it has entered into a consent decree with Comcast calling for the cable company t...
26/11/2025
Berklee Named to the Hollywood Reporters Top Music Schools List The publication highlights the college's screen scoring program, industry partnerships, and ...
26/11/2025
Back to All News
Animated Series Love Through a Prism' Casts New Light on ...
26/11/2025
Back to All News
NALIP Unveils Fifth Cohort of Director Incubator
Social Impact
26 November 2025
United States
Link copied to clipboard
The National Assoc...
26/11/2025
YouView Achieves Greenly Gold Certification for SustainabilityNov 26, 2025
YouView is proud to announce a Gold Certification award from Greenly for our perform...
Ciaran Doran reports on a recent RTS Technology Centre event that heard about the challenge of getting sound on live TV events just right, including dealing with spill, amplifying the audience, foldback for the musicians, and clean feeds for external use
