Thank you to Chuck Ibey, A1 & Sound Guarantor from Dome Productions in Canada for sharing this insightful blog on what it's like to work in the NHL Bubble.
Chuck, who has been sharing mixing duties on a Calrec Artemis audio console since 24th July 2020, has written this very current and relevant back to work account that provides a window into the world of audio inside the NHL Bubble.
NHL is Back
With the NHL returning to North America, we had a very unique sound situation to deal with. Obviously we'd be returning with no crowd in the arena, and new guidelines in place to restrict the spread of COVID-19. The NHL has done an amazing job of sheltering it's players, staff, officials, broadcast crews, and service industry workers inside a secure bubble. We're all tested daily for COVID-19, plus undergo a screening questionnaire and temperature check before entering the venue and hotels. We're committed to staying inside the NHL bubble until the end of the Playoff series, which could go until early October. It's an adjustment, being confined to a small area including your hotel and the hockey rink, but we're all excited to be back doing what we love.
The Crew & Setup
Our audio crew is from across Canada and includes Patrick Castonguay and myself sharing the broadcast mix duties in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Benito Altobelli is with us as relief and backup A1 in the (hopefully) unlikely case of someone getting sick. Jeff Kozak is in charge of the Synthetic Crowd mix, and we have 2 of the best A2s in North America, Mike Cleasby and Steve Hilder.
This event is very much like how a world feed would be done for an event like the Olympics. We have 2 broadcast trucks from Dome Productions handling the production of the game, with national and regional broadcasters taking our packaged audio/video feed of the games and adding their own commentators, graphics, and other content down the line. Inside our truck, we deal with the sounds of the game only and do not have to worry about announcers like a traditional broadcast. The other thing we don't have to deal with is a crowd. Obviously, because of the current pandemic, the arena is empty. An arena that can typically hold over 18,000 cheering fans.
The Crowd
The NHL's solution to this was to produce a synthetic crowd layer that can react to the game in real-time. Using a library of recorded crowd beds and sounds from EA Sports, Jeff Kozak is playing the crowd in real-time during the game with an Ableton Live setup and midi trigger. Someone's on a break-away scoring chance, you'll hear the anticipation of the crowd as he skates toward the goal. The home team scores a comeback goal, you'll hear the building go crazy with team-specific goal horns and fans cheering. Once we had everything dialed in with the mix, you could close your eyes and it sounded like any other playoff hockey game.
Acoustic Issues & Solutions
We quickly found that having an empty arena provided a lot of acoustic issues. We are mixing these games in 5.1 surround sound and placed a number of ambient microphones throughout the arena to capture the live sound of the building. The PA is still playing inside the arena, and we wanted to ensure we captured the live ambience of that and the players. Unfortunately because of the empty seats, we heard a lot of echo and slap delay as the sound hit all of our microphones at different times. It's something that wasn't noticeable during typical hockey games. Our solution was to time-align all of our microphones and the feed we take of the PA. Dialing in delay from 1 or 2 frames all the way up to 17 frames or so, we managed to get the whole building to sound in sync. Another unusual aspect of the mix was the inclusion of the PA feed into the mix full-time. In a typical hockey game, we'll mix in the PA feed during anthems and referee calls, but never during the game itself. It's just too much sound, and the PA is typically cranked to 11 inside the building, so it's all we ever hear in our microphones. During this event however, the PA is being played much quieter, and we felt a lot of energy and presence missing in the mix. That formed the NHL's decision to include some of the PA feed directly into our broadcast mix.
Calrec Artemis
The Calrec Artemis console we are using quickly showed it's usefulness during this event. We have somewhere around 65 channels of transmission audio, spread over 24 different transmission paths, going all over North America to many different national and regional broadcasters. We have our primary 5.1 mix, plus a number of other 5.1 or stereo mixes and stems available for broadcasters to choose from. Having such a large need for flexible and adaptable routing was exactly what the Calrec was made for. The ability to create such a high number of outputs and different mixes was a must-have for this, and we needed to work with multiple layers. Having 3 different A1's mixing these games, with a very short turn-around in between games meant there was no time for re-configuring or reloading of the console. With the use of cloned faders, paired faders, and multiple layers, we're able to each have our own operating layer organized the way we like it. We have our own presets saved for compression/EQ/automixing, and can quickly load those as the next A1 sits down to mix his/her game. Sound is a very expressive and subjective medium, and we didn't want to shoehorn any of us into working a certain way.
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...
19/08/2026
As the cost of IP nears price parity with traditional SDI, Reynolds argues that ...
19/08/2026
A private 5G bubble was chosen instead of traditional broadcast RF for the race ...
19/08/2026
(L-R) Rafael Manuel and Isabel Sicat attend the Filipi ana premiere during the 2026 Sundance Film Festival at The Ray Theatre on January 23, 2026, in Park Cit...
19/08/2026
Studio owners invited to have their say on rates cuts
The Music Producers Guild (MPG) are inviting UK-based studios to take part in an in-depth survey that ...
19/08/2026
Vintage-inspired desktop interface revealed
Harrison's latest hardware offering sees them head into the world of audio interfaces, delivering a 10-in/12...
19/08/2026
Granular effect remains locked to scale and tempo
Described as your dream granular effect , Minimal Audio's latest creation is capable of turning any s...
19/08/2026
First polyphonic SWAM instrument incoming
Audio Modeling's latest physical-modelling orchestral instrument is just around the corner, and is now availab...
19/08/2026
World Cup Games Generate 84 Billion Minutes Across FOX, Fox Sports 1 and NBCU...
19/08/2026
July brought typical peak-holiday drops in viewership, driven primarily by viewers stepping away from screens and a visible decline in reach across both traditi...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Henry joins BCE as the company accelerates its commercial strategy and expands its international presence across the media, broadcast and technology markets. He...
19/08/2026
iWedia, a leading provider of software solutions for connected TV devices, today announced a major milestone in Android platform optimization with the successfu...
19/08/2026
NTP Technology announces that ST 2110-30 audio-over-IP connectivity with AES67 and RAVENNA capabilities is now available for the brand's world-class audio i...
19/08/2026
Net Insight has been selected to provide its Nimbra platform by the service provider Big Blue Marble, formerly ORS Group, as the core media transport solution f...
19/08/2026
LiveU has supported Coventry City FC and several other top-flight UK football clubs through one of their most demanding live production challenges of the year, ...
19/08/2026
Nature Seekers Documentary Shot with Blackmagic URSA Cine 12K LF
Brie Clayton August 18, 2026
0 Comments
Filming endangered turtles required camera...
19/08/2026
Neyrinck Brings D-Control Consoles Back to Life on Apple Silicon with D-Control ...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Riedel Communications today announced that Edith Cowan University (ECU) in Perth, Australia, implemented a comprehensive communications infrastructure that brin...
19/08/2026
QuickLink, a leading provider of award-winning video production and remote guest contribution solutions, will spotlight a major leap forward in remote guest con...
19/08/2026
Integrated platform melds media asset management, playout automation and newsroom workflows
EMAM, PlayBox Neo and SNEWS have officially launched Nuvex, a conne...
19/08/2026
Screen Australia releases the Private Investment Toolkit to strengthen screen in...
19/08/2026
Do Aussies truly value local content? Unpacking Screen Currency 2026 with Deirdr...
19/08/2026
There's an early Christmas gift for Bookish fans, as UKTV confirms the re-commission of the hit U&alibi drama, created by and starring Mark Gatiss. Viewers ...
19/08/2026
Wednesday 19 August 2026
Sky gives sports fans the chance to watch multiple liv...
19/08/2026
On Saturday September 5 Katie Taylor will step into the ring for the fight of her life against Flora Pili in front of 80,000 fans in Croke Park. A legendary fig...
18/08/2026
SportStream 2026, a free three-day virtual event, will take place September 15-17. One registration provides access to all three days of live programming and on...
18/08/2026
BeckTV will introduce BeckFlow to the European market at IBC2026, demonstrated on the Providius stand (10.F53).
BeckFlow is a web-based schematic documentation...
18/08/2026
Boland Communications will introduce a SMPTE ST 2110 input option for its 4K monitors at IBC2026, along with a new 55-inch super-narrow bezel display for video ...
18/08/2026
Dolby Laboratories and the Seattle Seahawks have announced a partnership integrating Dolby OptiView into the Seahawks' live streaming coverage, making the S...
18/08/2026
For BMG Executive Producer of Sports Production, Graham Taylor, producing live s...
18/08/2026
TMRW Sports has appointed Rufus Hack as President of Golf, a newly created role in which he will lead the company's golf businesses including TGL presented ...
18/08/2026
SMT will provide race technology for FOX Sports' coverage of the Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington, D.C. on August 23, when the NTT INDYCAR SERIES races ...
18/08/2026
The live, YouTube-native roundtables combine fan voices, credentialed reporters,...
18/08/2026
Behind The Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, includ...
18/08/2026
The industry legend sounds off on replacing the Heat's iconic Medusa score...
18/08/2026
William F. Rasmussen, the sports fan-turned broadcaster and entrepreneur whose out-of-the-box idea of a 24-hour cable sports network, ESPN, changed forever the ...
18/08/2026
DAZN Group has completed its acquisition of ViewLift, a provider of streaming and digital solutions for sports content owners. The acquisition was first announc...
18/08/2026
The American Association of Professional Baseball (AAPB) has added SI TV, Sports Illustrated's 24/7 streaming channel, as a broadcast partner for the remain...
18/08/2026
The Esports Foundation has announced that the inaugural Esports Nations Cup (ENC), originally scheduled for November 2026 in Riyadh, will be postponed to Novemb...
18/08/2026
Diversified has announced a new Global Managed Services Practice, consolidating the company's managed services capabilities into one organization. Rob Mello...
18/08/2026
Appear has completed a proof of concept with Thoroughbred Racing Productions (TRP), demonstrating multi-camera remote live production over bonded 5G cellular an...
Thank you to Chuck Ibey, A1 & Sound Guarantor from Dome Productions in Canada for sharing this insightful blog on what it's like to work in the NHL Bubble.
