Jeri Palumbo Discusses her Extensive Career, eSports and the Future of Audio Mixing posted: 17/07/2019
Jeri Palumbo is a television broadcast engineer, audio mixer and RF tech who's worked on hi-profile sports shows for more than 25 years. She's been part of the TV audio team for all of the most celebrated sporting events, including the Super Bowl, NBA and NHL playoffs, and most recently, the World Series. Not only did Jeri have some great stories, but she also explained so much about what goes on behind the scenes at sporting events that we never get to see, including the many types of audio jobs and even the hierarchy of NFL games. Let's put it like this - it's nothing like life in a recording studio.
Q: Can you provide some background on who you are and what you do?
I have nearly 30 years of technical experience, ranging from live audio engineering of major league sports and entertainment broadcasts to being a recording engineer/producer and arranger, where it all started. I also have a background in IT technology and dabbled as an Avid editor. My first real job, though, was in marketing and merchandising for Radio City Music Hall.
Q: How did you get into the broadcast audio business?
As a composition orchestration major at Julliard, I was hired to do an orchestration/arrangement for an artist who was making a small indie record in New York. As the musical director on the project, I would sit with the engineer for the mix-down and part of the tracking. The engineer on that project was using a Fairlight - an audio wave manipulator that was kind of like a precursor to Pro Tools - and it really just rocked my world. It was the first time I ever encountered that type of tool and I was fascinated by it. I started hanging out with the engineers and watching what they were doing - how they were tracking and capturing sound - and just kind of following them around. That's how I ended up on what I call, the other side of the glass.
To be fair, I grew up recording and hacking and splicing tape before I even knew what I was doing. Being from a family of musicians, we always had various recording equipment options around, one being a reel-to-reel Revere tape machine; which I still own today. I used it for every single recording I made from about six to 18 years old, when I went off to college.
Q: What challenges come along with being a woman in audio/broadcast?
You really have to know your stuff - and even when you know your stuff, I feel women get questioned more than our counterparts because engineering is still a male-dominated industry. When I walk into a new environment, even though I have 27 years of experience, I often face the same misconceptions. The best answer I have found to this is to do my job well, surround myself with good people and never second-guess my abilities. Every time someone asks me about this topic, I reference the Paul F. Davis quote: Go where you are celebrated, not where merely tolerated. I truly live my life by that viewpoint - I make my career decisions by it and I stand by it.
Q: How have you seen audio technologies evolve over your career? How has this changed sports programming and the way in which you work?
It's gotten far more complicated; there are far more responsibilities on the A1 than there used to be. We have progressed significantly in the way we handle our source material and the way we disperse it - and that's all been through the digital age and products like Calrec. Brands that could foresee what was coming, and tried to find a way to not only condense it, but also find different ways to matrix that out seamlessly has really helped the day-to-day for A1s. There is just so much that we're now doing for domestic feeds, or any other feeds, that we didn't normally do years ago. We've added 5.1 mixes, when it used to be a stereo out. Weve added multiple stereo outputs simultaneously for music cuts. We've also condensed a lot of elements that would have been impossible to handle by one person. One thing that has not changed for the A1 in the sports broadcast world is that we are still responsible for all the comms as well. In the entertainment world, you rarely see an A1 mixing their own comms, but we still do that in the sports broadcast world. So now our job is far more complicated - but the technology, and we as engineers, have also come a long, long way.
Jeri Palumbo Studio Set-up
Q: What Calrec consoles do you use during broadcasts and what are some of the standout features or functions that have been helpful?
I use Calrec's Artemis console - the 5.1 direct out is extremely helpful for me because I use it all the time, along with the auto mix. For me, this feature is not so much about the auto mixing, but rather the fact that I never have an issue with volume wars between commentators/reporters, and I know that has a lot to do with the auto mixer on the console. The parametric EQs can be copied from fader-to-fader, and the Artemis' compressors are dynamite and work seamlessly for me. Also, I use the cloning functionality all the time for my workflow. I make homes for my original sources and I clone everything from my top sources. So, cloning, 5.1 direct out, auto-mixer, parametric EQs and great-sounding compressors are all invaluable tools from Calrec; I use these all the time.
Q: How does mixing for eSports differ from traditional broadcast sports?
Mixing for eSports is dramatically different than live sports. For one, there is a significant difference in the air-time between the two; eSports can be live for sometimes 12 hours, or more, depending on the length of a round. But, the other, significant difference is that live sports is somewhat predictable, whereas eSports is like the wild west. But, that's the fun part.
eSports is mostly Web-based with a lot of audio
Most recent headlines
04/08/2024
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, is excited to announce Santiago Solanas as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO)....
03/06/2024
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, a...
29/04/2024
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......
29/04/2024
Codemill aims to revolutionize media workflow efficiency at this years NAB Show by introducing Just-In-Time (JIT) playback technology in Accurate.Video Validate...
29/04/2024
April 29, 2024
-- TF1 Chooses Broadpeak to Power Targeted Advertising for New...
29/04/2024
LOS ANGELES Allen Media Group (AMG) has partnered with LG Electronics to bring 223 Local Now FAST channels to LG's free streaming service, LG Channels, avai...
29/04/2024
OTTAWA Ross Video has announced the introduction of Raiden, a data-driven weather graphics software that combines data gathering, processing, and visualization ...
29/04/2024
Panalux, a leading rental provider of lighting and power solutions for the motion-picture industry and part of Panavision's end-to-end service offerings for...
29/04/2024
Cobalt Iron Inc., a leading provider of SaaS-based enterprise data protection, today announced that it has received a patent on its technology for dynamic autho...
29/04/2024
SDVI, the leading platform provider for cloud-native media supply chains, today announced that Rally Access Workstation, a fully managed solution for editing in...
29/04/2024
Premier Sports, a premium sports broadcaster, has selected QuickLink's Remote Commentary solution for introducing professional, high-quality remote commenta...
29/04/2024
Glookast has chosen Jigsaw24 Media as the only UK channel partner to represent their portfolio of ingest and workflow optimisation products. The agreement, sign...
29/04/2024
Clear-Com played a pivotal role in the seamless coverage of the recent solar eclipse on April 8, 2024. Leveraging its cutting-edge Eclipse HX Digital Matrix i...
29/04/2024
PlayBox Neo will promote its complete range of television channel management, graphic branding and playout solutions to EMEA region media content owners and bro...
29/04/2024
Lingo, RuPaul's word-twisting game show, returns for season two on CBS Friday, May 24. Two episodes air that night, and stream on Paramount Plus, too....
29/04/2024
ESPN and Amazon Prime Video are reportedly close to scoring television rights to the National Basketball Association, according to published reports....
29/04/2024
Judge Judy and Hot Bench, CBS Media Ventures' genre-leading court shows, have been renewed through the 2025-26 TV season in more than 95% of the country, Gr...
29/04/2024
Premier Sports, an Irish-based premium sports broadcaster, has selected QuickLink's Remote Commentary solution for introducing professional, high-quality re...
29/04/2024
The awards celebrate the craft of behind-the-scenes TV talent and the best programmes of 2023
By Matthew Corrigan
Published: April 29, 2024
The awards cel...
29/04/2024
The team at Milk had to create and deliver the VFX and environment work for the royal residences featured in the drama from scratch
By Jenny Priestley
Publis...
29/04/2024
CEO Bob Bakish is expected to leave the company as early as today, with a new leadership committee likely to run the company on an interim basis
By Jenny Pries...
29/04/2024
Albena Ivanova, director, media and entertainment and strategic products at CHAOS talks to TVBEurope about her route into the industry
By TVBEurope Staff
Pub...
29/04/2024
The acquisition gives Grand Technix the opportunity to expand its footprint in the audio visual and broadcast technology sectors
By Jenny Priestley
Published...
29/04/2024
29 04 2024 - Media release Screen Australia announces James J. Robinson's debut feature First Light
First Light
Principal Photography is underway on Firs...
29/04/2024
Capitol Broadcasting recently became the inaugural company honored with inductio...
29/04/2024
Tonight on Smoke and Mirrors: Fanyana feels embarrassed about his sexual mishapDon't miss Monday, 29 April's riveting episode of South African soapie Sm...
29/04/2024
Talk about commitment. When startup SEA.AI, an NVIDIA Metropolis partner, set out to create a system that would use AI to scan the seas to enhance maritime safe...
28/04/2024
Mediahaus delivers the first SRT live-streaming sports production over 5G with U...
27/04/2024
On April 26, L3Harris Chair and CEO Christopher E. Kubasik joined CNBC's Mor...
27/04/2024
PORTLAND, Oregon Audinate Group Limited, the developer of the Dante AV-over-IP solution, announced significant new additions to Dante Connect, its cloud-based D...
27/04/2024
TORONTO Bell Media has launched 10 English and French-language FAST channels featuring entertainment, factual, news, and sports programming. The new free stream...
27/04/2024
An extensive new analysis of the news segments in the broadcast evening news programs of ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS has found that broadcasters devoted most of their...
27/04/2024
GERMANTOWN, Md. EchoStar's Hughes Network Systems has opened a new manufacturing facility and private 5G incubation center in Germantown, Maryland....
27/04/2024
Harry Pappas, one of three brothers who founded Pappas Telecasting Companies in 1971, died April 24. He was 78 years old....
27/04/2024
ATLANTA and LONDON Mexican telecommunications and broadcast company Televisa has selected Synamedia for an overhaul of its broadcast distribution....
27/04/2024
Participate in the Survey - The Impact of AI on Media and the Creative Industry
Pascal Wagner April 26, 2024
0 Comments
By participating in this surve...
27/04/2024
SDVI Rally Access Workstation Earns Two Top Awards at 2024 NAB Show
Brie Clayton April 26, 2024
0 Comments
SDVI, the leading platform provider for clo...
27/04/2024
Berklee's Music and Health Institute Launches Community Health Musician Cert...
27/04/2024
Charter Communications reported higher first-quarter profits despite continued cord-cutting and competition for broadband customers....
27/04/2024
Two environmentally-focused groups are partnering to engage the unscripted TV world in finding better ways to address climate change. Reality of Change is an ec...
27/04/2024
Sarah Garcia has been promoted to weekend anchor at KTLM McAllen, Texas, known as Telemundo 40. Starting April 27, she will anchor Noticias Telemundo 40 weekend...
27/04/2024
CBS Sports said it launched a new 24-hour free, ad supported streaming television (FAST) channel devoted to the UEFA Champions League....
27/04/2024
Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts received $35.4 million in compensation in 2023, up 11% from the previous year, according to a proxy statement filed by th...
27/04/2024
Art Happens Here With John Lithgow, which sees the actor study dance, ceramics, silk-screen printing and vocal jazz with students in Los Angeles, debuts on PBS ...
27/04/2024
Remember Leave It to Beaver? Bewitched? Dragnet? When cable ratings were rising?...
27/04/2024
Next up for the weekend binge at Catchy Comedy is Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. Every weekend, Catchy Comedy features The Catchy Binge, a marathon of a classic sitcom....
26/04/2024
Sundance Film Festival CDMX 2024 kicks-off today with screenings in 5 theaters in Mexico City and the opening-night film, FRIDA, directed by Carla Guti rrez...
26/04/2024
[Editor's Note: This interview is part of a larger feature about the women d...
26/04/2024
Once again this year, SGL Carbon opened its doors to interested children and young people. On the occasion of the German Girls and Boys Day, which took place on...
Jeri Palumbo Discusses her Extensive Career, eSports and the Future of Audio Mixing posted: 17/07/2019 
