Lance Gordon, co-owner Soundcheck Technologies, Emmy winner, talks modern mixing

Lance Gordon, co-owner Soundcheck Technologies, Emmy winner, talks modern mixing posted: 15/01/2020

by A craft interview - Calrec

Q: Can you provide some background on who you are and what you do?

A: As a freelance audio engineer and co-owner of Soundcheck Technologies, I have worked with some of the biggest rock bands and largest sporting events in the world. I have done just about everything from the Superbowl to NBA Finals, Winter Olympics and even the Ping Pong World Championships. I won an Emmy for the 2010 Winter Olympics and have been nominated multiple times for mixing other sporting events. It's a crazy industry and I have been fortunate to have had the opportunity to work in it for more than three decades.

Q: Tell us about some of the recent projects you have been involved in.

A: Today, my primary focus is in the sports television world, mostly doing broadcast audio for combat-style sporting events. My most prominent productions include MMA and Bellator MMA tournaments for the Paramount Network, as well as WCW and WWE wrestling and ESPN's live boxing events. I have also had the opportunity to mix many of the Winter Olympics events for NBC, and I've mixed sports for all the major networks - ABC, CBS and FOX. Recently, a friend of mine in the industry asked me to assist with productions at EA Sports' new arena and studio, which led to my involvement with the Madden World Championship tournament. At Soundcheck Technologies, we also produce events such as the Alamo Bowl luncheons, galas and press conferences, as well as the U.S. Army All-American Bowl Awards banquet.

Q: How did you get into the industry?

A: My interest in the industry began back in the in seventh grade when I was acting with my local theatre; I was always looking at ways to improve the lights and production value. I started working behind the scenes and doing mostly lighting, set building, designing lighting rigs and providing audio assistance. This led to me working with some local bands and I ended up in Hollywood with a permanent gig. While in Hollywood, in the late 80s and early 90s, I worked at all the big rock clubs, such as the Troubadour, Roxy and Whiskey, with some of the top bands of that time - M tley Cr e, Poison and Guns N' Roses.

I was mostly a lighting guy up until about 1990 and then I graduated' to gospel television production. After moving back to Texas, I started a lighting company with a friend of mine and we worked on all the big festivals, with artists like Garth Brooks, Shania Twain, Trisha Yearwood and Alan Jackson, to name a few. I began to tire of the lighting gigs because we were always the first-in and last-out, so I started a transition into audio. I was fortunate to have my then-business partner Earl McCoy by my side as it helped ease that move. His father-in-law was Doug Sahm of the Texas Tornadoes. Their tour needed a monitor engineer, so Earl recommended me for the job. He showed me the ropes and threw me into the gig, and I've been doing audio ever since.

Q: What led you from music and gospel to the world of combat sports?

Eventually, Earl and I dissolved our partnership and I took a position with Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, where I was really able to hone my audio skills. I ended up going out on the road with TV evangelist TD Jakes, doing stadium and arena tours that included massive choirs and bands - all broadcast live. In 1999, the San Antonio Spurs were in the NBA Finals and the broadcasters found themselves shorthanded for the visiting team's mix. Somehow, word got out that I was a local who could mix audio and, next thing I knew, I had the gig. Similarly, when Bellator MMA director, Rick Beczynski- who has been very instrumental to my career - found out that I was available during an event, he asked me to mix. He offered me a permanent role with Bellator, and I've been with them for about 10 years now. It's become my favorite sport.

Q: Describe your typical workflow.

A: I don't really use much outboard gear other than maybe some fader stuff to get rid of PA noise; I never really have. In combat sports, it's not always pretty or perfect because it's hard to incorporate outboard gear. You're in and out so quickly that you don't have a lot of time to integrate these things. On the Calrec consoles, especially for Bellator, I use the auto mixer, compression, EQ, dynamics, gates, delay and GPI; I pretty much use all the features. The Bellator desk has 24 subgroups, eight main outs and 100 multi-tracks, and I've put them all to good use.

We use such a large board for Bellator because of all the miking that we incorporate. For instance, I have a specialty mic array set up above the cage, with five Sennheiser 60-Series mics, which allows me to hear the fighters speaking to one another. I also built eight mic setups that bolt to the catwalk around the ring - these make it possible to hear all the action of them grappling around the edges or while they're on the ground. We're also trying to pick up the live crowd reaction, without it being too overwhelming to the sounds of the fight. Honestly, though, a mic is just a mic; it's not magic. So, we have to try to EQ it in a way that we're removing the rumble of the PA and still capturing the audience screaming, the punches from within the ring, one fan reacting interestingly or the referee screaming he's out, he's out, while also not destroying the mix.

Q: How does an eSports workflow compare to traditional sports?

A: I pretty much approach eSports the same way as any other sports production - level consistency and maintaining input and output levels. For one of the more recent tournaments, we did a countdown or roll call where we went into the studio with the other players and asked some silly questions. Then we faded int

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