Politeness Pays Off for Canadian Onfield Audio Salty language isn't a problem despite the ability to capture more sound By Dan Daley, Audio Editor
Thursday, July 13, 2017 - 10:29 am
Print This Story
Story Highlights
If Canadian sports viewers get a bit more real-time, up-close sound from the field, the pitch, or the rink, it may be because of a subtle but significant cultural difference. Unlike in the U.S., where leagues and networks keep a tight leash on on-field and player audio, sound gathered from the sidelines of Canadian baseball, CFL, and MLS games tends to be curated by the A1s and A2s themselves, who are prepared to lower a parabolic or pull back an effects-submix fader on their own. Helping the process is a greater awareness among players to keep their tongues in check during games, something that many say comes more naturally to inherently polite Canadians.
That's what Steve Koubridis, a longtime Toronto-based freelance A1 for TSN and Dome Productions for football, hockey, and soccer games, has discovered, mixing all three of those sports and worked comms audio for ESPN coverage of the X Games and Little League World Series. Two years ago, he introduced the A1 for the Grey Cup (the CFL's equivalent of the Super Bowl) to the deeper 26-in. parabolic-dish microphones from Klover that Koubridis had encountered while working on some U.S. games. The 26-in. dishes captured sideline audio better than the ones the network had been using, enough so that the broadcasters purchased five sets of them.
A 9-in. Klover parabolic mic positioned beneath a remotely controlled camera covering centerfield at an MLS match captured more sound than the shotgun atop the camera.
That paved the way for another experiment Koubridis tried earlier this year. He got hold of a new 9-in. Klover parabolic and positioned it beneath the remotely controlled camera covering centerfield at an MLS match. Atop the camera lens was a Sennheiser 816 long shotgun, the same microphone in the same position that he had been using for years. However, he discovered, the 9-in. parabolic was able to capture far more sound than the shotgun mic.
There was really no comparison, he says. We did an A-B comparison, and we could hear the onfield chatter and ball kicks very, very clearly. There was no wind noise, and, with the microphone under the lens, it was sheltered from the rain sound, too.
Since then, Koubridis has also used the same combination of camera and small parabolic on a CFL game, the Calgary Stampeders' home opener against the Ottawa Redblacks. He mounted the parabolic on a camera cart, allowing the microphone to get between the two teams' benches, which are on the same side of the field in CFL stadiums.
That let me get sound I'd never been able to get before, he recalls. We don't have a microphone on the center in the CFL like you do in the NFL, so this was able to pick up sound from so many places that had been inaccessible to us before.
Koubridis credits U.S. A1s who pioneered onfield sound, such as late ESPN audio guru Ron Scalise, for paving the way for Canada to begin to enhance its effects sound for sports. That's now happening at a fairly fast clip, thanks to less (though certainly not an absence of) institutional concern about salty language making it to air and the combination of sonically vigilant A1s, verbally circumspect athletes, and more-precise sound-gathering technologies.
The parab operators here know that, when the whistle sounds, they'll lower the dishes and raise them again when they hear the huddle clap, Koubridis explains. That makes the mixers' job easier, too. As a result, we're now getting more of the cadence, more of the helmet crashes, more great onfield sound in general. We're all working together to bring the viewer right down on the field.
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
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...
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 ...
Politeness Pays Off for Canadian Onfield Audio Salty language isn't a problem despite the ability to capture more sound By Dan Daley, Audio Editor 
