
NBA All-Star: More Games, More Teams, More Music, More Sound From the Court Turner Sports' team will deploy familiar tech to capture all the audio By Dan Daley, Audio Editor
Friday, February 14, 2025 - 7:00 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
Almost everything about the NBA All-Star Game in San Francisco on Sunday (Chase Center, 8 p.m. ET, TNT, TruTV, and MAX) will be different. The game will take the form of a mini-tournament, with four teams and three games. Two teams of eight players each will meet in one semifinal; the remaining two teams, in the other semifinal. The winning teams from the matches - the first to reach or surpass 40 points in each game - will advance to face each other in the championship game.
The format may be unconventional, but the sound will be quite familiar, with all the sneaker squeaks, ball thumps, and hoop clangs that NBA viewers have come to expect and enjoy.
That's largely due to the presence of Dave Grundtvig, senior audio supervisor, remote operations, Turner Sports. The longtime audio guru has been fine-tuning the sound and its capture for TNT Sports for much of the broadcaster's 35 years as the NBA's TV home, a run that ends with this season. (Disney's ABC and ESPN, Comcast's NBA and Peacock, and Amazon will be airing all NBA nationally televised games from the 2025-26 season through the 2035-36 season, an 11-year deal worth an estimated $76 billion.)
Submixer Alex Rohr (left) with the MXA901 mic array and Audio Supervisor Dave Grundtvig holding a Shure KSM313/NE bi-directional ribbon microphone used to create TNT Sports' NBA All-Star Game broadcast's 5.1 ambience channels
The [All-Star] format has changed to these mini games and four teams, but that doesn't necessarily affect our coverage, he says. We're trying to capture basketball sounds, and we're trying to capture audience reaction. That is front and center. And foremost, the formula hasn't changed for the tools we use to capture all that.
Standard and Bespoke Mics Those tools include the usual microphones in the broadcast-sports arsenal - long shotguns to pick up crowd noise, short shotguns aimed around the court floor for close-in sound - as well as more-specialized ones for basketball. Among the last are the custom-made contact microphones that Grundtvig developed to capture court effects during the NBA's COVID bubble in Orlando in 2020 and '21 and places under floor openings to pick up the action near each basket.
He has been deploying one other specialty transducer for NBA games, one originally developed for a very different application: microphone arrays designed for use in corporate conference rooms. Specifically, Shure's MXA710 linear microphone array, which he deployed initially for the 2022 NBA Summer League and has since deployed for NBA regular-season games and other events on TNT Sports. For the 2023 and 2024 Summer League, Grundtvig moved up to the MXA910, a planar array with more lobes and a wider pickup range, covering as much as a 20- x 20-ft. space around it. As with the 710 model, he uses Shure's firmware and software enabling the output to be grouped into separate lobes and controlled wirelessly and remotely. A pair of the units mounted vertically on the basket stanchion picks up sounds around the goal and as much as another fifth of a 94- x 50-ft. NBA court.
It's like a parabolic, but on steroids, he quips. A parabolic gives you one [microphone] output; this gives you eight. Take just the three-point [shot] arc: everything inside that three-point circle I can designate a lobe for, and it can be automixed and manipulated to capture squeaks and bounces.
Both MXA units integrate Shure's IntelliMix digital-signal processing for such applications as acoustic echo cancellation, noise reduction, automatic mixing, automatic gain control (AGC), compression, delay, and equalization. The software can also look for steady-state noise and remove it. Audio routing is controlled through a remote device on a Dante or AES67 network, and digital-signal processing is controllable from any computer on the network.
Conventional microphones are much more narrowly focused, he explains. You pick your spots where you think the action is going to be and get pretty good coverage, but you don't get the coverage that the array gives you. The auto-mix output is much faster than the human can open a mic: essentially, the array constantly has a lobe open and ready versus a human trying to open four or five microphones. The mix is definitely smoother.
Sound and Safety In addition to the extra range, the array units offer a player-safety benefit: their location about 9 ft. above the goal area and back from the basket itself means that Grundtvig can capture a of close-up sound without putting any hardware near lunging ballplayers.
That same reasoning is behind the use of Q5X's PlayerMics at the All-Star Game. Their small, padded form factors are designed to minimize injury in case of falls. They will be worn by a total of eight players during the various games, and the company's RefMics and CoachMics will be worn by two officials and two coaches.
Cue the Music Some audio novelties will be deployed. Increasingly, the emphasis at All-Star Weekend is on entertainment, and this edition will feature music performances by hip-hop artists Too $hort and Saweetie, multi-platinum vocal group En Vogue, five-time Grammy winner H.E.R., and rapper LiAngelo GELO Ball on the arena stage and Noah Kahan, The Chainsmokers, Zedd and 2 Chainz, and Flo Rida at Pier 48 throughout the weekend as part of the NBA All-Star Concert Series. Grundtvig, A1s Jason Blood (Friday and Sunday) and Jeff Walker (Saturday), submixer Alex Rohr, audio guarantee Dave Bjornson, and A2s Shaun Studevent and Jay Davis will ha
North America Stories
13/04/2026
Telos Alliance has announced that J nger Audio has joined the EBU ADM Implementers Group (ADM-IG) as a founding member. The group is focused on advancing ADM an...
13/04/2026
Grass Valley will demonstrate its Alliance Partner ecosystem at NAB Show 2026 (Booth C2408, Central Hall, April 19-22), showing AMPP integrations across live pr...
13/04/2026
Media Links will exhibit at NAB Show 2026 (Booth W2033), demonstrating IP transport solutions for live production including hitless protection technology, Xscen...
13/04/2026
NBC Sports has announced a programming, distribution, and sales partnership with...
13/04/2026
FloSports has promoted Chief Operating Officer Jayar Donlan to President, effective immediately. In his new role, Donlan will lead the company's commercial,...
13/04/2026
PanCam Pictures, the documentary production company founded by Paul Camarata, us...
13/04/2026
Mimir will exhibit at NAB Show 2026 (North Hall, Booth N2850), demonstrating its cloud-native media production platform with new capabilities including Mimir Cu...
13/04/2026
BBright has announced that its IP Gateway now supports the Reliable Internet Stream Transport (RIST) protocol. The addition will be introduced at NAB Show 2026 ...
13/04/2026
Net Insight has been awarded a development project through the European Space Agency's Navigation Innovation and Support Program (NAVISP), with co-funding f...
13/04/2026
intoPIX will exhibit at NAB Show 2026, marking the company's 20th anniversary. The company will demonstrate its JPEG XS compression portfolio and IPMX-appro...
13/04/2026
Starting from scratch, the team built an in-house content platform comprising ga...
13/04/2026
Here's a look at some of the new products and updates, along with audio-centric conferences, that attendees will find next week at the show
When the 2026 N...
13/04/2026
Avid will launch new integrated newsroom capabilities for Avid for News at NAB Show 2026 (Booth N2226, April 18-22), demonstrating how Avid Content Core connect...
13/04/2026
Synamedia has announced a new version of Quortex PowerVu, an IP-native, software...
13/04/2026
Mediaproxy has developed a suite of AI-powered tools for brand and advertisement tracking, integrated into its LogServer compliance logging and analysis platfor...
13/04/2026
Disguise will demonstrate its media servers and software at NAB Show 2026, appearing across five partner booths in Central Hall: MRMC, B&H, Planar, CarbonBlack,...
13/04/2026
OpenDrives is introducing OpenDrives Edge at NAB Show 2026, a hybrid cloud-edge performance accelerator for distributed video and rich media workflows. The prod...
13/04/2026
The show will deploy 18 cameras across two sets and the draft floor, including a...
13/04/2026
L3Harris is accelerating the development of infrared payloads for Space Development Agency's Tranche 2 Tracking Layer, to help meet urgent national defense ...
13/04/2026
By leveraging cutting-edge unfilmed Gen III image intensifier technology, NOVA delivers unmatched clarity, range, and reliability in low-light environments - en...
13/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/04/2026
Explore new Disguise plugins, including Sony's VP integration; Listen to panels across partner booths at Sony and B&H
Disguise, the company powering everyt...
13/04/2026
TAG Video Systems, the leading IP-native Realtime Media Platform, has announced its participation in the Media Exchange Layer (MXL) interop initiative. TAG has ...
13/04/2026
Today, Chaos launched V-Ray for Blender Community Edition at BCON Austin 2026, making its production-proven 3D renderer free for all Blender users. The same Aca...
13/04/2026
Additions strengthen LTN's leadership as broadcasters scale satellite-to-IP transition
LTN today announced the appointments of Mark Romano as Vice Presiden...
13/04/2026
LEEDS, UK, APRIL 13, 2026 NUGEN Audio releases Halo Vision v1.2, a significant update to its real time, customizable audio analysis suite for 3D, surround and...
13/04/2026
Atomos today announced the acquisition of Flanders Scientific (FSI), one of the most respected names in professional reference monitoring. This strategic move r...
13/04/2026
How Mei Semones Built Her Sound from J-Pop, Jazz, and Bilingual Songwriting The indie-pop artist combines agile guitar lines, rhythmic shifts, and lyrics that...
13/04/2026
Cue the Change: Jonathon Heyward Is Making Classical Music More Relatable Nicknamed the Converse Conductor, the Boston Conservatory alum holds top conductin...
13/04/2026
Heat Wave: Inside Miamis Sizzling, Boundary-Blurring Latin Music Scene In a city shaped by migration and exchange, Berklee alumni are helping drive a Latin mu...
13/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/04/2026
DHD audio, developer and manufacturer of digital audio systems for professional broadcast, has launched a comprehensive brand update to mark its 30th anniversar...
13/04/2026
Stegawave, an Irish technology company specialising in forensic watermarking for video content, today announced the launch of its anti-piracy platform for live ...
13/04/2026
New version of Quortex PowerVu delivers a standards-based approach to satellite-to-IP transitions, eliminating the need for baseband workflows and complex infra...
13/04/2026
Grass Valley LDX camera systems enable leading German production company to support broadcast and cinematic live production within a single environment.
Grass ...
13/04/2026
London, UK, 13 April 2026 Techex and MediaKind today announced a partnership to integrate Techexs IP transport and orchestration technology, tx edge, directly...
13/04/2026
In today's hybrid education environments, there is no one-size-fits-all' AV solution. Lightware's extensive AV portfolio addresses this challenge, ...
13/04/2026
Mediaproxy, the global standard for software-based IP compliance monitoring and multiviewing solutions, has developed a new suite of AI-powered tools designed t...
13/04/2026
Freelance Video Cameraman - Los Angeles
Brie Clayton April 13, 2026
0 Comments
Freelance Video Cameraman
April 8, 2026COW Jobs: Director Needed for ...
13/04/2026
Atomos to Acquire Flanders Scientific
Brie Clayton April 13, 2026
0 Comments
Strengthening commitment to precision monitoring, from camera to delivery...
13/04/2026
Digital Anarchy Announces ShotNotes, A Notepad and Task Tracking Panel for Premi...
13/04/2026
NAB 2026 Live Demo at HP Booth Highlights JALI Powered Interactive AI Character ...
13/04/2026
Manifold Introduces AT300 Multiviewer Support at NAB 2026
Brie Clayton April 13, 2026
0 Comments
and adds HDR-SDR conversion to the recently announced...
13/04/2026
Back to All News
Thank You Next, Another Self and Graveyard Return to Netflix W...
13/04/2026
Back to All News
Rafa, the Rafael Nadal Documentary, Premieres on Netflix on May 29
Entertainment
13 April 2026
GlobalSpain
Link copied to clipboard
Disco...
12/04/2026
Beeble expands AI production workflow ahead of NAB 2026 with background remover
Brie Clayton April 11, 2026
0 Comments
Ahead of its upcoming participa...
12/04/2026
Like and Transcribe Mei Semones BM '22 blends languages and techniques to create her singular style.
April 10, 2026
By
Bryan Parys
Mei Semones BM '...
12/04/2026
Cue the Change Nicknamed the Converse Conductor, Jonathon Heyward BM '14 is making classical music more relatable.
April 10, 2026
By
Sarah Godcher Murp...
12/04/2026
Heat Wave Inside Miamis sizzling, boundary-blurring Latin music scene.
April 13, 2026
By
Ricardo Herrera Bandrich
Image by Stella Levi
Down there: Thats ...