Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

OBS Audio for the Tokyo Olympics To Feature Immersive Sound, Augmented Crowd Noise

23/07/2021

OBS Audio for the Tokyo Olympics To Feature Immersive Sound, Augmented Crowd Noise COVID delays, regulations pose both challenge and opportunity By Dan Daley, Audio Editor

Friday, July 23, 2021 - 11:43 am

Print This Story

Listen closely to the sound of the Tokyo Olympics, because there will be a lot of firsts. For instance, the broadcast by Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) will be the first in 5.4.1 immersive audio, with four overhead channels adding an upper dimension to indoor events. And, because of last-minute government-imposed COVID restrictions barring spectators from most venues, it will be the first-ever Olympics to deploy some form of artificial crowd noise.

Olympic Broadcasting Services' Nuno Duarte: Everybody's going to be out of their comfort zone. But it's going to be good.

Immersive sound is our biggest challenge, because it's new for 99% of the A1s and broadcast engineers, says Nuno Duarte, senior manager, audio, OBS, from the International Broadcast Center (IBC) in Tokyo.

Immersive Workflow The OBS production will encompass 42 competition venues, with customized production units and workflows. Overall, OBS will deploy 31 outside-broadcast (OB) vans and 22 flypack systems designed specifically for and outfitted to meet these Games' new and unique production and distribution requirements.

OBS will capture the sounds of the Tokyo Olympics through an immersive 5.1.4 audio configuration that expands on 5.1 surround sound: an overhead dimension in indoor venues is provided with the addition of four hanging ceiling microphones, whose height will be adjustable based on the venue, and two new microphones - using 4.0 and 8.0 transducer configurations - are designed specifically for immersive-audio production.

In total, OBS will deploy 3,600 microphones in 28 models. Three immersive-audio quality-control rooms will support the venue production and guarantee sonic consistency and quality across all sports. Only the coverage of the seven outside tennis courts will remain in HD. There will also be 46 stereo channels of radio feeds.

Broadcast-rights holders will take the immersive-audio signals from the OBS as a generic, linear, immersive 5.1.4 feed. Broadcasters deploying the Dolby Atmos codec in the U.S., UK, and Europe will encode their broadcasts locally. South Korea's SDS will broadcast the Games in UHDTV using the MPEG-H format, which can support up to 64 loudspeaker channels and 128 codec core channels, confirmed by the Fraunhofer Institute, the codec's owner.

NHK, the main Japanese national broadcaster, is scheduled to do an additional transmission using 24 audio channels. This 22.2 configuration is the audio component of the 8K television standard Super Hi-Vision, developed by NHK Science & Technical Research Laboratories. It uses 24 speakers, including two subwoofers, arranged in three layers plus an LFE layer: upper layer with nine channels, middle layer 10 channels, lower layer three channels plus two LFE channels. Super Hi-Vision will be produced from a limited number of venues and for limited distribution.

NBCUniversal, as it did with its broadcasts of the Rio and Sochi Olympics, has announced that it will take live coverage from Tokyo and work with distribution partners, such as parent company Comcast/Xfinity, to deliver the Games to viewers in Dolby Atmos. NBCUniversal Director, Sound Design, Karl Malone confirms that NBC is using Dolby's Atmos format, which will take the raw 5.1.4 PCM feed from the OBS and encode to Atmos at its Englewood Cliffs, NJ, facility. The process, he says, will work similarly to the Atmos workflow that NBC Sports developed over three seasons of Notre Dame Football broadcasts. We will build on the OBS base layer and then add our own microphones to it. he explains.

This is an unprecedented achievement by OBS to make immersive audio available to every single UHD rightsholder for every venue, every sport, and every event, says Roger Charlesworth, an independent Atmos audio-production consultant. This effort decisively brings premium sports audio up to the level of Hollywood episodic and feature content on Netflix, HBO, Disney, Apple, and Amazon.

Mics Everywhere Duarte attributes the huge number and diversity of microphones to the wide range of events at this Olympiad. New sports - skateboarding, sport climbing, karate, and surfing among them - particularly create new challenges for Olympics audio.

For example, [for] climbing, we're using a lot of microphones, as you can imagine, he says. You have three walls that you have to fill with microphones. We have a lot of new microphones - small shotguns, boundary microphones, new models, instead of the usual long shotguns - and it has been very successful. A big part of the OBS philosophy is to capture the details of the sports. Effects microphones are great for that.

Some of these sports will benefit from deployment of two new immersive 4.0 and 8.0 microphones developed with the Olympics microphone partners. Divided into upper and lower layers of transducers, these custom mics will allow the Games' audio technicians to capture conventional horizontal surround and the immersive vertical overhead channels from a single microphone.

The lower layer is used for 5.1 surround, Duarte explains. What the upper layer generates is the third dimension, used for events like the marathon or outside events, where it's more difficult to create these two layers with several microphones.

Sound-Design Approach Duarte, who has worked in various capacities on Olympics broadcasts since Beijing in 2008, says this year's approach to sound design is similar to what he has done in the past: building his sound design with a foundation of venue ambience, including crowds, and then layering effects and finally direct sound atop that - the detai
LINK: https://www.sportsvideo.org/2021/07/23/obs-audio-for-the-tokyo-olympic...
See more stories from svg

More from Sports Video Group

11/07/2025

Behind the Mic: Amazon Prime Preps for First Season of NBA Action; MSG Networks Adjusts Broadcast Booths for Rangers, Devils

Behind the Mic: Amazon Prime Preps for First Season of NBA Action; MSG Networks ...

11/07/2025

SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Suite Studios' Craig Hering on Adapting to Clients' Needs With Scalable Cloud-Based Storage

SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Suite Studios' Craig Hering on Adapting to Client...

11/07/2025

2025 SVG Content Management Forum Breaks Down AI's Impact, Continued Transition to the Cloud

2025 SVG Content Management Forum Breaks Down AI's Impact, Continued Transit...

11/07/2025

A Journey HOME: University of Nebraska's HuskerVision Goes IP

A Journey HOME: University of Nebraska's HuskerVision Goes IP Leaders from the HuskerVision and Lawo share their IP learnings By SVG Staff Friday, July 1...

11/07/2025

CMSI, Remote Picture Labs, Ace ESPN's Cloud-Based Editing Efforts for Wimbledon

CMSI, Remote Picture Labs, Ace ESPN's Cloud-Based Editing Efforts for Wimble...

11/07/2025

Netflix Enters the Live-Boxing-Production Ring for Round 2 With Historic Taylor-Serrano 3 Card at MSG

Netflix Enters the Live-Boxing-Production Ring for Round 2 With Historic Taylor-...

10/07/2025

5G for All? What the DFL's Use of Easy5G, RefCam Could Mean for Events in the Future

5G for all? What the DFL's use of Easy5G and RefCam could mean for events in...

10/07/2025

Save the Date: PGA TOUR Studios Welcomes SVG Remote Production Summit on Oct 14-15

Save the Date: PGA TOUR Studios Welcomes SVG Remote Production Summit on Oct 14-...

10/07/2025

Cloud on the Road: How Remote-Production-Service Providers Are Adapting to a New Era

Cloud on the Road: How Remote-Production-Service Providers Are Adapting to a New...

10/07/2025

Seattle Kraken's Ryan Schaber on the NHL Team Taking Live Game Productions In-House

Seattle Kraken's Ryan Schaber on the NHL Team Taking Live Game Productions I...

10/07/2025

FOX Sports Reboots Small Control Room in Los Angeles as Hub for Vertical-First Production

FOX Sports Reboots Small Control Room in Los Angeles as Hub for Vertical-First P...

10/07/2025

SVG Sit-Down: MSE's Zach Leonsis, ViewLift's Rick Allen Go Deep on Joint Venture Targeting Local-Sports-Media Market

SVG Sit-Down: MSE's Zach Leonsis, ViewLift's Rick Allen Go Deep on Joint...

09/07/2025

Monumental Sports & Entertainment, ViewLift Unveil Broadcast/Streaming Joint Venture as Regional Sports Market Transforms

Monumental Sports & Entertainment, ViewLift Unveil Broadcast/Streaming Joint Ven...

09/07/2025

SVG Europe Audio - State of Wireless Mics Forum: If We Lose the Spectrum, It's Going Back to the Boring Stuff

SVG Europe Audio State of Wireless Mics Forum: If we lose the spectrum, it...

09/07/2025

Tech Focus: Athlete Audio - Venues Provide Sound Just for the Players

Tech Focus: Athlete Audio - Venues Provide Sound Just for the Players From locker room to field of play, personalized systems help rev up the athletes By Dan D...

08/07/2025

Groundbreaking Gamecocks: Inside University of South Carolina's Four-Control Room Production Palace

Groundbreaking Gamecocks: Inside University of South Carolina's Four-Control...

08/07/2025

Monumental Sports & Entertainment's Samantha Brady on the Power of the RSN's Direct-to-Consumer Streaming Service Monumental+

Monumental Sports & Entertainment's Samantha Brady on the Power of the RSN&#...

08/07/2025

Live From 2025 FIFA Club World Cup: FIFA, HBS Focus on Tournament Wrap, With an Eye to 2026 Men's World Cup

Live From 2025 FIFA Club World Cup: FIFA, HBS Focus on Tournament Wrap, With an ...

08/07/2025

SVG Rewind: NESN Goes Behind the Scenes of 1975 Red Sox Retro Broadcast

SVG Rewind: NESN Goes Behind the Scenes of 1975 Red Sox Retro Broadcast NESN is following up the retrocast with a week-long celebration of the Green Monster By...

07/07/2025

1-2 Punch: The Cloud, Generative AI, and the Future of Sports-Content Distribution

1-2 Punch: The Cloud, Generative AI, and the Future of Sports-Content Distributi...

07/07/2025

Formula E: Host Broadcaster Aurora on Launching New AR Graphics at the Jakarta E-Prix

Tests and decisions: Formula E host broadcaster Aurora on launching new AR graph...

07/07/2025

Formula E: Using New AR Graphics for Storytelling at the Formula E Penultimate, Final E-Prix of the Season

Building tension: Using new AR graphics for storytelling at the Formula E penult...

07/07/2025

SVG Rewind: Four NFL Clubs Bring Us on Set of Respective Media Day Shoots

SVG Rewind: Four NFL Clubs Bring Us on Set of Respective Media Day Shoots An in-depth conversation with 49ers Laura Johnson, Ravens Jay O'Brien, Las Vegas R...

07/07/2025

Cosm To Build Fifth Shared Reality Venue in Cleveland as Part of Bedrock's Rock Block' Development

Cosm To Build Fifth Shared Reality Venue in Cleveland as Part of Bedrock's ...

02/07/2025

World RX of Sweden: Aurora's Matt Beal on Taking Up the Broadcast Reins Alongside the FIA

Progressive realism: Aurora on taking up the broadcast reins for World RX alongs...

02/07/2025

World RX of Sweden: Getting the Production Together With NEP Finland, Cloudbass Graphics

Great speed: New host broadcaster Aurora on getting the World RX 2025 season pro...

02/07/2025

World RX of Sweden: Host Broadcaster Aurora Looks Ahead to This Weekend's Second Race of the Season in Hljes

Seat of its pants: Aurora boxes clever and looks ahead for the FIA as new host b...

02/07/2025

UEFA Women's Euro 2025: EBU, BBC Sport, Sunset+Vine Talk Coverage Plans, Distribution and Maintaining Momentum

UEFA Women's Euro 2025: EBU, BBC Sport and Sunset Vine talk coverage plans, ...

02/07/2025

UEFA Women's Euro 2025: Women's Super League Launches New Content Series to Support Teams, Players Over Summer of Football

UEFA Women's Euro 2025: Women's Super League launches new content series...

02/07/2025

UEFA Women's Euro 2025: Ignite Puts Fans, Players Front and Center With Title Sequence for ITV

UEFA Women's Euro 2025: Ignite puts fans and players front and centre with t...

02/07/2025

Storytelling in the Live Game Broadcast: ESPN Director Jimmy Platt Breaks Down the Craft

Storytelling in the Live Game Broadcast: ESPN Director Jimmy Platt Breaks Down t...

02/07/2025

CONCACAF's Miguel Angel Garcia on the Gold Cup's Enhanced 2025 Production Plan

CONCACAF's Miguel Angel Garcia on the Gold Cup's Enhanced 2025 Productio...

01/07/2025

SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Spyrosoft's Jonathan Witty on Futher Business Expansion in the U.S.

SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Spyrosoft's Jonathan Witty on Futher Business Exp...

01/07/2025

The NIL Effect: How the Shifting Business of College Athletics Impacts On-Campus Video Production

The NIL Effect: How the Shifting Business of College Athletics Impacts On-Campus...

01/07/2025

Cherry On the Cake: Inside the Technical Production of the Tour de France 2025 with EMG / Gravity Media

Cherry on the cake: Inside the technical production of the Tour de France 2025 w...

01/07/2025

NESN's Josh Jun on Keeping Alternative Broadcasts Fresh for Boston Red Sox, Boston Bruins Fans

NESN's Josh Jun on Keeping Alternative Broadcasts Fresh for Boston Red Sox, ...

01/07/2025

TNT Sports Races Back Into NASCAR With Fresh Look, Familiar Edge

TNT Sports Races Back Into NASCAR With Fresh Look, Familiar Edge Production approach emphasizes creative freedom, bold storytelling, casual-fan-friendly tone B...

27/06/2025

How Smarter Video Compression is Creating a Sustainable Future

How smarter compression is creating a sustainable future By Michael Burns Monday, June 23, 2025 - 14:13 Print This Story Live sport is especially vulnerab...

27/06/2025

RTL Group To Acquire Sky Deutschland

RTL Group To Acquire Sky Deutschland By George Bevir, Editorial Director, SVG Europe Friday, June 27, 2025 - 8:00 am Print This Story | Subscribe Story ...

27/06/2025

Frictionless, At Scale: The Current State of Live Video Streaming Techology

Frictionless, At Scale: The Current State of Live Video Streaming Techology Leaders from Bitmovin, Comcast Technology Solutions, Harmonic, IMAX, and Phenix brea...

27/06/2025

Marquee Sports Network's Nick Steger on Meeting the Moment of the Contending Chicago Cubs

Marquee Sports Network's Nick Steger on Meeting the Moment of the Contending...

27/06/2025

NHL Draft 2025: The League Is Primed for First Decentralized Draft in Non-Pandemic Era

NHL Draft 2025: The League Is Primed for First Decentralized Draft in Non-Pandem...

26/06/2025

10th-Annual SVG Regional Sports Production Summit Presents Useful Roadmap for the Future of the RSN, Local Media Business

10th-Annual SVG Regional Sports Production Summit Presents Useful Roadmap for th...

26/06/2025

The Big Cloud Debate: Public vs. Private vs. Hybrid

The Big Cloud Debate: Public vs. Private vs. Hybrid Tech leaders from CineSys, Diversified, and Net Insight breaks down all flavors of cloud By Jason Dachman, ...

26/06/2025

Program Productions' Jess Kowatch on Training the Next and Current Generation of Sports TV Technicians

Program Productions' Jess Kowatch on Training the Next and Current Gener...

25/06/2025

SVG College Summit 2025: Select Sessions Now Available to Watch on SVG PLAY

SVG College Summit 2025: Select Sessions Now Available to Watch on SVG PLAY Tackling the latest in college sports video: NIL, live production, virtual productio...

25/06/2025

ESPN Is Set To Bring AR Graphics to Wimbledon, Revamps Bunker and Studio 18 VO Booths

ESPN Is Set To Bring AR Graphics to Wimbledon, Revamps Bunker and Studio 18 VO B...

24/06/2025

2025 NBA Draft: ABC/ESPN Prepares for Two-Day Draft at Barclays Center

2025 NBA Draft: ABC/ESPN Prepares for Two-Day Draft at Barclays Center Partners Game Creek Video, CP Communications, NEP Specialty Capture will be on hand By M...