
Preparing for the Return of Sports: A1s Ready To Mix Live Broadcasts in the Age of Empty Arenas Viewers will realize that crowds add more to sports than ticket sales By Dan Daley, Audio Editor
Monday, March 30, 2020 - 11:49 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
The precipitous shutdown of most major-league sports three weeks ago, including the NCAA's iconic March Madness series, took almost everyone by surprise. But, even as the leagues were devising their doomsday scenarios, the frontline audio troops were working on tactical solutions for making the games happen in empty arenas - efforts that will likely still pay dividends: although the events are canceled for now, the solutions the audio teams have devised will be ready when sports return to the air, likely with fan attendance limited until the pandemic has significantly abated.
Phil Adler, who had been scheduled to mix the First Four games of the NCAA's March Madness for Turner's TruTV in Dayton, OH, describes what that might have sounded like.
Audio mixers have developed strategies in case attendance is limited when sports first return to television.
If it's a close game, that's when you're really going to miss the sound of the crowds, he says. We'll have lots of [court] effects and the announcers but minimal ambient sound. There's not much I can do about that.
Mixing NCAA games involves fewer audio sources than NBA games offer, because college basketball doesn't allow players or coaches to wear microphones. And piping in prerecorded ambient and crowd sounds is out of the question, Adler points out: We're here to document a live event; we're not making a film. If there is no one in the stands, then you can't fake it. It's a national [news] story.
Fewer Mics, Carefully Placed
Adler says he has had to deal with crowds of various sizes over the decade or so that he has mixed these games, so there is some precedent for dealing with sparsely populated echoic venues. Crowd microphones would still be deployed, to provide at least some ambience enveloping the more focused court effects. However, he cautions, their placement has to be carefully considered.
If they're too far away, like the two we usually have on the high-center cameras, too much of the court sound can get into them because they're not being filled with the crowd noise, and that can cause delay problems with the microphones that are picking up the court sounds directly, he explains. Instead, we'll move those mics to the slash-corner cameras, which are on more like a mezzanine level and closer in.
Veteran NCAA A1 Wendel Stevens's strategy for large reverberant arenas is less is more, dialing back his overall microphone count with the goal being to hear fewer discrete sounds.
My thought is that players and coaches will be too easily heard and understood, he says, creating specific bits of audio that could distract from the game instead of contributing to a larger ambient bed around it. In addition, dialog from the game could be colorful' and might compete in the mix with announcer dialog. I think I still have to put out rear [surround] mics to give the show some depth, even though they'll be pointed into an empty bowl. But we need something back there to swirl into the mix.
Crowds Count
The coronavirus pandemic has compelled broadcasters to radically rethink how sports audio may have to be mixed on television when the crowd-sound element is not available.
I don't think we mixers realize what a [foundational] ingredient the crowd noise is to a mix, Stevens observes, noting that the crowds provide both a palette of individual elements that mixers can emphasize when appropriate and a flexible sonic mortar that acts like a grout around the many other sound elements in a sports mix, helping hold them together. In addition, crowd sounds actually mask the mix process itself, making the audio experience seamless and transparent and helping create the sense that the home viewer is there in the stands.
We actively mix to pull out game sounds, with the crowd noise helping us hide all the mixing going on, he explains. It will probably be much easier to hear the actual mixing of sources without something there to smooth it over.
Wiring athletes for sound has added a huge new dimension to sports broadcasts in recent years. However, that intimate audio may depend more than many realize on being part of a larger, more complex mix.
I believe mixers will need to be more cautious with player mics, opines Sports Broadcasting Hall of Famer Fred Aldous, who mixed NFL and NASCAR in a long career. Without having the crowd as a base to mix in and out of, player mics have the potential to sound unnatural and too dry in the mix. There is also a greater potential of hearing more language that is not suitable for broadcast by not having the crowd to mix against and bury the unwanted language.
Uncertain Future
No one knows how this singular situation for sports on television will turn out, but Aldous sees two sides in possibly broadcasting with empty seats.
From an audio perspective, he explains, a positive by-product of not having the contamination of loud PA systems and loud crowd is that the sound of the event should be phenomenal; the mixer should be able to pick up the nuances of the sport that we would not normally get.
On the negative side, he continues, I am a fan of big, loud crowd at an event; it helps bring the energy level up for the players as well as bringing that excitement to the viewing audience at home. When I mix an NFL game, I prefer a louder crowd to mix in and out of, making the broadcast more exciting. If the crowd is not that into it, it makes it more difficult to bring the excitement to the viewer, albeit it allows the mixer to get be
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
09/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
09/07/2026
Cinematographer Aakash Subramaniam, WICA faced a conceptual challenge: how could he make a film about dying that doesn't feel like one? The film, Our Weird...
09/07/2026
This GFN Thursday brings more games, more power and more ways to play on GeForce NOW.
The cloud gaming service is expanding with a new GeForce RTX 5080-powere...
08/07/2026
The end of the Big A' marks the demise of one more iconic sports venue and its signature sound
After 132 years as one of the preeminent horse-racing track...
08/07/2026
Memphis Athletics and Learfield have signed a long-term renewal to their 25-year relationship, which sees Learfield's Tiger Sports Properties continue repre...
08/07/2026
MLB All-Star Week returns to Philadelphia for the first time in 30 years as Amer...
08/07/2026
Former Wall Street Video event expanded to include all Enterprise sectors
SVG Enterprise has announced the inaugural Enterprise Video Summit, taking place Oct....
08/07/2026
An offseason project enhanced eight video displays around the venue in time for ...
08/07/2026
Kaseya Center has a ton of new features that weren't available to the indust...
08/07/2026
The International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) and the Sundance Film Festival are pleased to announce the establishment of a FIPRESCI jury beginning wi...
08/07/2026
Latest analogue-emulation plug-ins revealed
Universal Audio have just added two new analogue-emulation plug-ins to their DSP-powered UAD line-up. Developed ...
08/07/2026
Turn any audio loop into a playable kit
Pitch Innovations have recently introduced an interesting new tool that's capable of creating playable kits from...
08/07/2026
Adds new keyboard-split function
MonkeyC have recently launched an update that overhauls their powerful software sampler. Described as the sampler that mad...
08/07/2026
Four new delay algorithms & dual-engine functionality
Strymon have just announced that the much-anticipated MX version of their hugely popular delay pedal i...
08/07/2026
Well over half of Australia have tuned in to watch the FIFA World Cup on SBS
7 July, 2026
Media releases
Australia's Round of 32 match against Egypt a...
08/07/2026
SBS and Koorie Heritage Trust announce three-year partnership to celebrate First...
08/07/2026
Rohde & Schwarz and China Mobile Research Institute jointly demonstrate generati...
08/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/07/2026
Collaboration demonstrates how managed IP distribution and cloud-based syndication workflows can support live television at national scale
Fox Television Stati...
08/07/2026
New ARRI ALEXA 35 Live Xtreme camera seamlessly delivers up to 8x HFR via SDI fo...
08/07/2026
Did You Know? Redshift for Cinema 4D: The Power of the Distance Node
Marc Potocnik July 8, 2026
0 Comments
The Did You Know? Redshift for Cinema 4D ...
08/07/2026
Lightware is introducing the biggest update yet to the LARA Wizard Touchpanel configuration experience, designed to help integrators work faster while deliverin...
08/07/2026
DMC Production has turned to Calrec in its quest to redefine outside broadcasting with a flexible approach to live production that reverse engineers the convent...
08/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/07/2026
Foundry today announced that Reel FX Animation Studios has adopted Flix to standardize their pipeline and streamline processes across departments. Flix is a vis...
08/07/2026
The right team. The right time.' How The Killings at Parrish Station stuck t...
08/07/2026
Australians in Film and Screen Australia launch FUTURE VISION Forward to elevate...
08/07/2026
Film follows the courageous fight for justice by survivors of Ireland's Magdalene Laundries & Mother and Baby Homes
TESTIMONY airs Wednesday 22 July at 9...
08/07/2026
NVIDIA Nemotron 3 Ultra is offering leading performance at lower cost than top c...
07/07/2026
Applications are now open for the Validation Booster, a six-month acceleration programme supporting journalists, media organisations, content creators, media in...
07/07/2026
The Universal Talent Identifier (HAND) has issued HAND IDs to 50 top prospects ahead of the 2026 MLB Draft, including consensus top-ranked players Roch Cholowsk...
07/07/2026
Cisco and the McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 Team have announced an extension of their partnership, expanding the scope from networking and communications to incl...
07/07/2026
LucidLink has announced a workflow integration with Adobe Frame.io that gives production teams unified access to Frame.io projects alongside supporting producti...
07/07/2026
Chyron has announced the appointment of Ahmed Magd as Sales Director for the Middle East. Magd joins from previous senior commercial roles at Riedel Communicati...
07/07/2026
Leader Electronics of Europe has announced that its PHABRIX Qx rasterizer and Le...
07/07/2026
eCLUTCH has announced it has acquired broadcast rights to the Esports World Cup 2026 for EMEA and MENA, covering the Middle East, Africa, the Balkans, Sweden, a...
07/07/2026
Riedel Communications and ARRI supported ORF's host broadcast of the Eurovis...
07/07/2026
ARRI has announced the ALEXA 35 Live Xtreme, a camera that adds high frame rate ...
07/07/2026
LiveU will exhibit at IBC 2026 (Stand 7.C24), showcasing the LU900Q Intelligent Production Unit, expanded Sony collaboration, and additions to its open IP-video...
07/07/2026
Telemundo's coverage is packaged with Multiview, Catch Up with Key Plays, in...
07/07/2026
The Australian Rugby League Commission (ARLC) has announced a seven-year media r...
07/07/2026
Produced onsite at The Star in Frisco, TX, live coverage of the
two-day event airs on ESPN platforms
The season for Football Media Days is here, and the Big ...
07/07/2026
Rogers Communications Inc. has announced an agreement to acquire the remaining 25% ownership stake in Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (MLSE) from Kilmer Spo...
07/07/2026
End-to-end broadcast solution includes fleet of mobile units, Cloud Control, and...
07/07/2026
Sports-production-tech experts sound off on the state of the industry...