
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 ...
07/10/2026
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
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
20/08/2026
From host-broadcaster and rightsholder support in June and July to MLS, NWSL, US...
20/08/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
20/08/2026
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 have announced a partnership combining Telestream's...
20/08/2026
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 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
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
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 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
ENCO will demonstrate solutions across captioning, translation, AI production tools, automation, and virtual production at IBC2026 (Stand 7.A34, Amsterdam RAI, ...
20/08/2026
MultiDyne Video and Fiber Optic Systems will demonstrate camera robotics and mot...
20/08/2026
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, 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
swXtch.io will unveil expanded Global SRT Distribution and native multicast tran...
20/08/2026
Riedel Communications has announced that Transformation Church in the United States has deployed a communications system built around the Artist intercom ecosys...
20/08/2026
The bestselling author and longtime Apple observer explores how product launches...
20/08/2026
The Orlando Magic entered last season with a dramatically upgraded in-venue prod...
20/08/2026
Pacers Sports and Entertainment has announced a partnership with DAZN, making it the exclusive streaming home of Indiana Pacers basketball. A team-branded strea...
20/08/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent ratings news and is derived from press re...
20/08/2026
The NHL has announced two major developments tied to its Germany growth strategy...
20/08/2026
Set up your own private remote collaboration infrastructure
SoundBridge have recently put together a tutorial video that provides users with a step-by-step ...
20/08/2026
New V-Control Pro features restore basic functionality
Neyrinck's V-Control software has long been keeping older Avid control surfaces compatible with n...
20/08/2026
TV, BritBox and Mammoth Screen have announced that filming is now underway on th...
20/08/2026
New York August 19, 2026 Nielsen today shared a number of key enhancements t...
20/08/2026
New Gracenote Data Hub analysis finds sports program titles up 31.2% and individ...
20/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/08/2026
At IBC, Profuz Digital will showcase at stand 8.A88 the SubtitleNEXT platform delivering innovative AI transcription integrations and stunning new features boos...
20/08/2026
Riedel Communications today announced that Transformation Church, one of the fastest-growing and most influential digital ministries in the United States, has d...
20/08/2026
QuickLink Showcases New 4K Capabilities Across StudioEdge and StudioCall at IBC ...
20/08/2026
The Boys Season Five Graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton August 20, 2026
0 Comments
Colorist Siggy Ferstl uses Depth Map to bring a three ...
20/08/2026
Adobe Firefly expands its creative AI studio: generate music, speech, and sound ...
20/08/2026
Multiview available via SaaS for streaming platforms and operators through broadpeak.io, with live demonstrations at IBC2026
Broadpeak , a leader in streaming ...
20/08/2026
Techex, a leading provider of live broadcast infrastructure solutions, has appointed Stuart Almond as Chief Revenue Officer, further strengthening its executive...
20/08/2026
Avid today announced that MediaCity Studios has upgraded its production infrastructure with an enhanced end-to-end Avid production ecosystem, including the dep...
20/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/08/2026
IPC Expands Brazilian Presence with New Channel Partner CCATech
Industry veterans Carlos Abrah o and Bruno Lopes strengthen local support and expand IPCs prese...
20/08/2026
Zixi Enters Mauritius Market Through Strategic Deployment with MTC Jockey Club
Worlds Oldest Horse Racing Club in the Southern Hemisphere Selects Zixis Softwar...
20/08/2026
LA JOLLA, CA-Scripps Research assistant professor Tiantian Liu has received a five-year NIAID DP2 award from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Di...
20/08/2026
Audiences reveal appetite for multicultural Australia on-screen 20 August 2026
Dr Georgie McClean, Dr Rebecca Huntley (L-R)
By Dr Georgie McClean and Dr Rebec...
20/08/2026
How Mavis Studio Is Expanding Live Production Teaching at Sussex
Brie Clayton August 19, 2026
0 Comments
Hero image displays a student about to mix be...
20/08/2026
Vertical Unscripted Series Legal Queens Captured with Blackmagic Design
Brie Clayton August 19, 2026
0 Comments
Reality TV veteran Eric Gardner create...
20/08/2026
Thursday 20 August 2026
Nina Sosanya, Rizzle Kicks, Roman Kemp and Paul Whiteho...
20/08/2026
Wuppertal August 20, 2026
Transformation Church Elevates Production Communicat...
20/08/2026
The music between the notes Coming together In the middle of 2026, as conversations around artificial intelligence continue to raise questions about how musi...