Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Tech Focus: Immersive Audio, Part 2 - Mixing for the Next Generation of Sound

04/12/2024

Tech Focus: Immersive Audio, Part 2 - Mixing for the Next Generation of Sound Console manufacturers adjust to the demands for more By Dan Daley, Audio Editor

Wednesday, December 4, 2024 - 7:00 am

Print This Story | Subscribe

Story Highlights

Over the decades, mix consoles have adapted to pro audio's relentless push to accommodate more inputs, driven mostly by music production; when tape's capacity maxed out at 48 tracks in the 1990s and recording moved to the (theoretically) infinite landscape of virtual tracks, consoles used digital layering to expand inputs while keeping work surfaces accessible.

The arrival of surround monitoring placed the challenge on outputs and bus structure, and immersive's 7.1.4 format further compounds that. Console manufacturers have adapted to that shift in emphasis.

Internal Console Architecture Calrec's Henry Goodman: One of the main challenges in moving to immersive is the wider bus structure that you need within a console.

One of the main challenges in moving to immersive is the wider bus structure that you need within a console, explains Henry Goodman, director, product management, Calrec. With our older consoles, it was possible to do, but the operator had to manage the buses in a not particularly ideal way. For example, for height [channel] buses, he had to use other main output buses and find novel ways of panning between them.

That has been addressed by Calrec's current generation of broadcast desks - including its Argo, Artemis, Apollo, and Impulse models - for which, he says, the company has designed wider bus structures, accommodating up to a dozen outputs. There were other challenges to accommodating immersive mixing, such as monitoring that reflected to wider bus structures and metering that can displays the full width of the immersive path as well.

Broadcasters are moving cautiously into immersive mixing in general, Goodman says, although some productions have pushed the format harder than most. More broadly, it's still constrained by downstream infrastructure: most cable systems aren't equipped to deliver Atmos end to end.

But, he adds, immersive is likely inevitable. I think, the way it's being driven, it will become a standard for the industry, but, like 5.1, it will take a long time for that to become the norm for productions.

Immersive Meets Consumer Expectations Although timelines are uncertain for various reasons, mixer manufacturers are nonetheless planning for an immersive broadcast-audio future, seeing it both as a natural progression from surround and a reflection of changing consumer culture.

Lawo's Wolfgang Huber: Sports broadcasters increasingly recognize the value of delivering soundscapes that place audiences in the stadium, capturing the energy of the crowd, the intensity of the game.

Demand for immersive audio is surging, says Wolfgang Huber, public relations manager, Lawo, especially for high-profile events where viewers expect to be fully immersed in the action. Sports broadcasters increasingly recognize the value of delivering soundscapes that place audiences in the stadium, capturing the energy of the crowd, the intensity of the game, and even the subtle environmental nuances. The rise of streaming platforms pushing Dolby Atmos content for live sports has [also] set a new benchmark. Traditional broadcasters are following suit, realizing that immersive sound is no longer optional but a competitive necessity.

Lawo's mc consoles, A__UHD cores, and HOME mc DSP app are designed with immersive audio in mind, natively support channel-based formats like Dolby Atmos and MPEG-H, and have an IP-native infrastructure, supporting SMPTE ST 2110 and AES67.

Anticipating challenges around mixing immersively, the platforms include built-in immersive panning capabilities, which treat height channels as an integral part of the mix. That, says Huber, acknowledges the tasks A1s face with immersive audio.

Immersive audio adds complexity to live production, he notes. One of the main challenges is managing the additional dimensions of sound - height channels, object-based mixing, and spatialization - without overwhelming the engineer. Live sports bring additional challenges: the unpredictability of crowd reactions, rapid transitions between field and studio audio, and the need to highlight specific moments - a goal or a dramatic play - within the immersive mix. To address those concerns, he adds, the consoles have such tools as built-in monitoring and rendering and integrated height-channel controls.

Even More Immersive Solid State Logic's System T broadcast desk, whose immersive features include channel and bus formats with integrated XYZ and rotational 3D panning, as well as 360-degree transcoder with A-B conversion for Sennheiser's AMBEO VR format (and Dante compatibility with the Voyage Audio SpatialMic), is already anticipating the next iterations of immersive: the latest software update in late 2024 brought its output-channel capability up to 9.1.6.

SSL's Berny Carpenter: The higher the quality at the beginning of the chain, the more options there are for everyone down the chain.

SSL Broadcast Product Manager Berny Carpenter points out that music has been leading the way into immersive in recent years; Apple Music and Dolby have been heavily promoting the combination, and that helps set the stage for further immersive implementation in broadcast.

All these things are helping gain traction with a wider audience, he says. But I hope sports broadcast will be a key part of this journey as well.

In the meantime, he adds, increasing channel counts also enhances brand visibility. When there are opportunities for us to innovate, we want to be at the forefront. It's great to be able to present to our customers new ways of doing things and work
LINK: https://www.sportsvideo.org/2024/12/04/tech-focus-immersive-audio-part...
See more stories from svg

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

07/10/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Media Operations from Ingest to Distribution

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...

06/09/2026

Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Germany with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos

June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...

21/08/2026

FOX Sports Rolls Out Its Most Ambitious Live Motorsports Production' Ever at IndyCar Freedom 250 GP in DC

A massive deployment of specialty cameras, graphics, and AR will showcase the na...

21/08/2026

Creative Studio Zookeeper Embraces Pinball Motif for West Coast Conference PSA

The West Coast Conference unveiled its new 30-second public service announcement, the latest expression of the Conference's We Rise in the West brand iden...

21/08/2026

ESPN Soft-Launches a New NFL Graphics Package, Scorebug During Thursday Night's Raiders-Texans Preseason Game

New look will serve as the foundation for ESPN's upcoming NFL season and Sup...

21/08/2026

ESPN to Debut Little League Alumni Alt-Cast for 2026 MLB Little League Classic

ESPN will air the ninth annual MLB Little League Classic presented by New York Life on Sunday, August 23, at 7 p.m. ET from Historic Bowman Field in Williamspor...

21/08/2026

His Story Becomes Part of Football History': Dean Grossman Honors His Father Sandy With Pete Rozelle Award Speech

In an emotional acceptance speech in Canton, Grossman celebrated the pioneering ...

21/08/2026

Rapid Flow release miniGRID

Hardware-style timing shifts for software instruments Following on from the release of Omniclock, Rapid Flow have launched a new sequencer plug-in that can ...

21/08/2026

Love Synthesizers announce First Love pre-orders

Highly anticipated synthesizer ships in October 2026 Iceland-based Love Synthesizers have announced that their highly anticipated synthesizer is now availab...

21/08/2026

The Forsytes' Adds Gregg Sulkin & Gabriel Antunes As PBS Masterpiece Series Starts Filming Season 3

Masterpiece PBS The Forsytes has expanded its cast as its begins production in ...

21/08/2026

BBC reveals haunting first look and further casting for The Witch Farm

The BBC has unveiled first-look pictures from The Witch Farm, a new ghost story and mystery set in the Welsh countryside, coming soon to BBC iPlayer and BBC One...

21/08/2026

A first look at Edward Bluemel as Hercule Poirot.

The BBC and BritBox have revealed the first look of Edward Bluemel as Hercule Poirot in the forthcoming six-part series Hercule from Mammoth Screen and Agatha C...

21/08/2026

Inside Euphoria's Editorial Heart: Aaron I. Butler, ACE on craft, collaboration and controlled madness

Our priority was making the best, most powerful, most meaningful story possible,...

21/08/2026

Clear-Com Appoints Venuetech as its Main Partner for the Middle East

eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......

21/08/2026

Techex Names Stuart Almond as Chief Revenue Officer

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

21/08/2026

Avid Brings Agentic Media Production to IBC2026

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

21/08/2026

Avid brings agentic media production to IBC2026

Avid will unveil how it is transforming production to help media organizations unite content, agentic workflows, and business insights at IBC2026 (RAI Amsterda...

21/08/2026

Grass Valley Connects SDI IP and Software as One Unified...

New routing, modular processing, orchestration and monitoring capabilities bridge dedicated hardware and software-based processing as part of the Dynamic Media ...

21/08/2026

Indiana Pacers Selects DAZN As Exclusive Streaming Partner

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

21/08/2026

Chyron To Showcase Newsroom Advancements At IBC 2026

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

21/08/2026

Broadpeak to Launch Multiview as a Service at IBC2026

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

21/08/2026

University of Maryland Deploys Sony FX30 Cameras

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

21/08/2026

Study: FAST Sports Programming Surges

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

21/08/2026

Spectrum SportsNet LA Launches in Former Cox Markets

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

21/08/2026

ESPN Airs Its Most-Watched WNBA Game

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

21/08/2026

Wisycom Wireless and DPA Microphones Support Pope Leo XIV...

When hundreds of thousands of people gather to hear a single voice, there is no room for compromise. Every word must be delivered clearly, every wireless transm...

21/08/2026

Telestream and ScorePlay Turn Live Sports into Immediate...

Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, today announced a strategic partnership with ScorePlay, the AI-powered media infrastructure that spo...

21/08/2026

NUGEN Audio Launches New Post and Producer Subscription P...

NUGEN Audio announces the launch of its new Post Plan and Producer Plan, two flexible subscription offerings designed to give audio professionals short term acc...

21/08/2026

Join the Screen Currency 2026 Ask Me Anything (AMA) Online

Join the Screen Currency 2026 Ask Me Anything (AMA) Online 20 August 2026 (L-R): Adrian Coates, Grainne Brunsdon, Deirdre Brennan, Rachael Perkins Got questio...

21/08/2026

** MEDIA ALERT ** VIZ Media Takes Over Anime NYC with BLEACH, BLACK TORCH, MAO and More

** MEDIA ALERT ** VIZ Media Takes Over Anime NYC with BLEACH, BLACK TORCH, M...

21/08/2026

Take five with Sophie

Tell us a little bit about your job I'm a Marketing Manager and work across a mix of clients and projects. No two days are ever quite the same, which defini...

21/08/2026

Irish Lottery heist documentary to air on RT

Beat The Lotto dives into the plot behind the 1980s National Lottery scandal 24 August 2026 at 9:35pm on RT One and RT Player Beat The Lotto is the story o...

21/08/2026

The Late Late Toy Show kicks off search for this year's stars

The countdown to the most wonderful night of the year has officially begun! Host Patrick Kielty is gearing up for another unforgettable Late Late Toy Show nig...

21/08/2026

New children's series Bellie and Whizz at Big School set to air on RT KIDSjr & RT Player from Monday, 24th August

Meet puppet duo Bellie and Whizz, who are about to explore all the big feelings ...

20/08/2026

NEP's Summer of Soccer Didn't End at World Cup: 1,100+ Domestic Productions Follow the Final

From host-broadcaster and rightsholder support in June and July to MLS, NWSL, US...

20/08/2026

SVG GameDay, Ep. 27: San Jose Sharks' Emily Garner - Production Tales From the Shark Tank

In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...

20/08/2026

IBC 2026: Veritone To Showcase Enterprise AI and Media Supply Chain Automation

At IBC this year, Veritone (14.A56) is bringing two connected themes to the booth: architectural independence in enterprise AI, and the automation of the media ...

20/08/2026

Telestream and ScorePlay Partner to Connect Live Sports Ingest with Media Management

Telestream and ScorePlay have announced a partnership combining Telestream's...

20/08/2026

Grand Slam of Curling and Rock League Sign Multi-Year Deal with ESPN

The Grand Slam of Curling and Rock League have announced a three-year agreement with ESPN, bringing more than 300 hours of live curling coverage to U.S. audienc...

20/08/2026

Nielsen Announces Measurement Enhancements Ahead of Fall TV Season

Nielsen has announced a series of enhancements to its Big Data + Panel currency measurement methodology, taking effect August 31. The updates were developed in ...

20/08/2026

ORF Deploys Net Insight Nimbra Platform for Nationwide IP Contribution Network

Net Insight has been selected by service provider Big Blue Marble (formerly ORS Group) to provide its Nimbra platform as the core media transport solution for a...

20/08/2026

2026 US Open Launches Fan Activations Across New York City

The 2026 US Open will bring a series of free fan activations across New York City ahead of and during the tournament, which runs August 23-September 13. We...

20/08/2026

Bridge Technologies Adds TS Playout to VB330 and VB220 Monitoring Probes

Bridge Technologies will announce a transport stream (TS) playout feature for its VB330 and VB220 compressed monitoring probes at IBC2026 (Booth 1.A71). The fe...

20/08/2026

IBC 2026: ENCO To Showcase AI and Automation Solutions

ENCO will demonstrate solutions across captioning, translation, AI production tools, automation, and virtual production at IBC2026 (Stand 7.A34, Amsterdam RAI, ...

20/08/2026

IBC 2026: MultiDyne MRMC To Exhibit for First Time as Part of MultiDyne Organization

MultiDyne Video and Fiber Optic Systems will demonstrate camera robotics and mot...

20/08/2026

IBC 2026: Chyron Showcases Newsroom Workflow Solutions

Chyron will demonstrate news workflow solutions at IBC2026 (Stand 7.A23), marking the company's 60th anniversary. Highlights include updates to PRIME HTML, ...

20/08/2026

Spectrum SportsNet LA Now Available to Customers in Former Cox Markets

Spectrum SportsNet LA, the exclusive television home of the Los Angeles Dodgers, is now available to Spectrum customers in former Cox markets following the clos...

20/08/2026

IBC 2026: swXtch.io Launches Expanded SRT Distribution and Native Multicast Services

swXtch.io will unveil expanded Global SRT Distribution and native multicast tran...

20/08/2026

Transformation Church Deploys Riedel Artist Intercom System

Riedel Communications has announced that Transformation Church in the United States has deployed a communications system built around the Artist intercom ecosys...