WBD Sports' NBA Audio Continues TNT's Sonic Legacy Shure mic arrays and custom-made transducers are deployed on and around the court By Dan Daley, Audio Editor
Wednesday, November 2, 2022 - 7:00 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
The sound of NBA basketball on Warner Bros. Discovery Sports (formerly Turner Sports) this season will be the culmination of experimentation that goes back several years and a global pandemic.
According to Dave Grundtvig, senior audio supervisor, remote operations, WBD Sports, the audio operation deploys Shure MXA710 microphone arrays, a series of in-line transducers originally created for the conference-room market and adapted for broadcast sports starting with this year's NBA Summer League. Also being used are the custom-made, balanced, active-buffer pressure transducers he developed for the NBA during the COVID pandemic.
WBD Sports' Dave Grundtvig adapted Shure MXA710 microphone arrays for broadcast-audio use.
Six of the Shure mics are arrayed around the court: two on either side at floor level, two more attached to the basket stanchion. Meanwhile, four to six of the pressure-transducer microphones are attached to the courts, picking up the impact - as opposed to the direct sound - of basketballs bouncing and sneakers squeaking.
Those are the most basic, recognizable sound effects of basketball, notes Grundtvig. These [mics] are effective and efficient ways to capture them.
Shure's four-transducer array was originally intended to be installed in the ceilings of corporate conference rooms, using its proprietary Intellimix software to automatically steer, process, and ultimately mix voices based on programmable parameters. For instance, it can be tuned to listen for certain types of sounds or frequencies and either enhance or reject them.
During the Summer League, Grundtvig found that the software can detect key action near the mics and automatically highlight their sound in the broadcast mix. Additionally, the software's Denoiser function can automatically duck extraneous sounds around the arrays and keep the remotely aimable microphones continuously focused on the action.
The AI in the software can strip away all the arena audio artifacts and pull out the nuances of the play action on the floor and around the baskets, he explains. In arena sports, the challenge has always been extracting the desired audio from the noise around it in a hostile acoustical environment. This turned out to be a great and effective way to do that. It was mind-blowing during Summer League, and I'm sure it'll work just as well for NBA.
Each array under each basket has three active transducer lobes, Grundtvig says: one pointing toward the foul line, the other two toward the corners of the court. Based on such parameters as gainsharing, the lobes open and close themselves as the action moves beneath them (and more quickly than could a human finger on a fader, he adds), with that self-mixing process further enhanced by the application of the Denoiser function. A similar arrangement is used for floor-mounted arrays, whose lobes are aimed at the center-court and 3-point-shot lines.
It also takes some of the workload off the A1s, he adds, using the automixing feature of the arrays' software to create separate mixes from each of the six MXA710 units deployed, then automixing them down to a stereo-effects feed to the broadcast-truck console.
The custom transducer microphones are taped to the court surface or inserted beneath it about a foot in at the baselines and mostly under the stanchion (with several also on the backboards). They do not, however, extend to the underside of the court floor, a method Grundtvig deployed for the NBA's 2020-21 bubble in Orlando. ( Unlike in the NBA bubble, he says, I no longer have access to the underside of the entire court. ) As in Orlando, the microphones are simply left on, picking up the action on the wood surface as players move about.
You can pretty much leave them alone because they're not picking up the arena music or other artifacts, he says, but you're getting that nice percussive effect from them.
All the effects sound is being transported via Dante over just two strands of fiber cabling, which Grundtvig notes further reduces manpower requirements by vastly reducing the number of microphone lines that need to be run.
Although the audio is 5.1 surround again, he expects to continue experimenting with Dolby Atmos this season. We've already done the proof of concept around Atmos for NBA, he says. The problem is downstream, with the distribution of immersive audio through the cable-television infrastructure. But it'll get there.
The NBA season has also seen the return of the Q5X PlayerMic, a very small and light transmitter soft-sided to minimize the potential for injury in case of a fall.
WBD Sports, whose team is entering its 39th consecutive year of NBA coverage, has a 65-game schedule for the 2022-23 NBA regular season. It started with the Oct. 18 blockbuster Opening Night doubleheader and will feature a Martin Luther King Jr. Day doubleheader and appearances by the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors and other top teams.
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
01/12/2025
L3Harris and PentenAmio formalise their teaming agreement at MilCIS 2025, streng...
01/12/2025
Artemis II is NASA's first crewed flight test of the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft. The crew, from left: Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Vic...
01/12/2025
IRVINE, Calif. Wooden Camera has introduced its new Accessory Collection for the Canon EOS C50. The new lineup includes a low-profile, gimbal-ready cage, expand...
01/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has released a tentative agenda for its Dec. 18 Open Commission Meeting that will include a vote on a report an...
01/12/2025
In most years, a graph of annual local TV ad spending is about as predictable as an electrocardiogram of a reasonably healthy patient in a doctor's office. ...
01/12/2025
Many industries have seen big-ticket hardware turn into software. Switchers, though, demand a combination of real-time performance and sheer bandwidth that has ...
01/12/2025
GENEVA Shanghai will host the next quadrennial Radiocommunication Assembly (RA-27) and World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-27), Oct. 11-Nov. 12, 2027. This...
01/12/2025
NEW YORK Just in time for Giving Tuesday tomorrow (Dec. 2), the Broadcasters Foundation of America is seeking out donations to help television and radio industr...
01/12/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Net Insight CEO Crister Fritzson has informed the company's board that he will retire from the video transport and media cloud technology ...
01/12/2025
01 Dec 2025
Kyivstar and Ukrainian Ministry of Digital Transformation Select Go...
01/12/2025
The prequel to the global hit Sky Original mob crime saga, Gomorrah' is a s...
01/12/2025
Featuring Florence Welch, Red Hot Chilli Peppers' Flea, designer Bella Freud...
01/12/2025
Back to All News
A Down to Earth, All Too Relatable Hero: Cashero' Teaser ...
01/12/2025
In the rush to deliver content to every screen, many broadcasters overlook one of the most crucial steps in the workflow: format and frame rate conversion. Get ...
01/12/2025
Fox Corporation Chief Financial Officer Steve Tomsic to Participate in Upcoming ...
01/12/2025
Arvato Systems' Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) Receives BSI C5 Certification (T...
01/12/2025
Summary This short video gives you an summary of the changes in under two minutes.
--...
01/12/2025
As the festive season approaches, RT Supporting the Arts is proud to showcase a...
01/12/2025
Researchers worldwide rely on open-source technologies as the foundation of their work. To equip the community with the latest advancements in digital and physi...
01/12/2025
Festive specials of Christmas in Kilmainham presented by Marty Whelan, High Road Low Road, Callan Kicks the Year and Keys to My Life
Ring in the New Year with ...
01/12/2025
Architect and television presenter Hugh Wallace, best known to RT audiences as a long-serving judge on Home of the Year, has died at the age of 68.
In a state...
28/11/2025
Nadia Fall attends the 2025 Sundance Film Festival premiere of Brides at the Egyptian Theatre on January 24, 2025, in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Donyale West/...
28/11/2025
It's easy to ignore those little red update available badges. But when it ...
28/11/2025
WASHINGTON Federal Communications Commission has released a tentative agenda for the December Open Commission Meeting scheduled for Thursday, December 18, 2025 ...
28/11/2025
The Professional Fighters League is looking to super-serve fans of mixed martial...
28/11/2025
Fubo has released in beta on select Roku devices a new feature that lets users display up to four simultaneous streams at once....
28/11/2025
The WNBA playoffs and Week 4 of the NFL regular season highlight the list of live sports events airing on television this weekend....
28/11/2025
The 32nd class of honorees to the B+C Hall of Fame took to the stage at New York's Ziegfeld Ballroom on September 26 for a gala induction event. Click below...
28/11/2025
We hold in our hands the very last Next Text for Next TV, the weekly back-and-fo...
28/11/2025
DirecTV said it made a deal with EchoStar to buy EchoStar's video businesses, including satellite-TV provider Dish TV and virtual MVPD Sling TV, for $1 plus...
28/11/2025
The Broadcasting+Cable Hall of Fame, the premier industry event paying tribute to the influencers, innovators and shining lights of broadcast, cable and streami...
28/11/2025
Friday 28 November 2025
Sky Sports x Slawn drop limited-edition football jersey...
28/11/2025
Rohde & Schwarz shows resilience in a challenging environment, revenue exceeds t...
28/11/2025
Unwrapped: The Toy Show Appeal - airing this Sunday on RT One and RT Player- s...
27/11/2025
LONDON Vizrt has added several AI-driven advanced features offering improved speed, intelligence and accuracy in the newest version of its media asset managemen...
27/11/2025
Prime Video has launched AI-powered video season recaps in a beta version for select English-language Prime Original series in the U.S., a move Amazon is callin...
27/11/2025
Back to All News
Netflix's Raat Akeli Hai: The Bansal Murders Marks a Grand...
27/11/2025
27 Nov 2025
GSMA brings M360 Eurasia 2026 to Samarkand in partnership with VEON...
27/11/2025
Tahar Rahim and Izuka Hoyle star in the gripping six-part Sky Original from Acad...
27/11/2025
Thursday 27 November 2025
Sky Arts Reveals the Nation's Greatest Basslines - and Queen Reign Supreme
The UK's most iconic basslines have been revealed...
27/11/2025
Back to All News
Stranger Things 5': Prepare for One Last Adventure With O...
27/11/2025
The media industry has a paradox at its core. It's an industry built on light, color and imagination, yet behind the scenes, it's powered by one of the ...
27/11/2025
Rating reflects rating progress across areas including policies, diversity & inclusion, health & safety and Net Zero leadership
Winchester, UK, 27 November 202...
27/11/2025
What are the industry standards for Retail Media? Kathryn explains that certification is based on the IAB Europe Retail Media Measurement Standards and the IAB ...
27/11/2025
World champion boxer and Irish sporting icon Katie Taylor will be in studio this...
27/11/2025
Roblox, one of the world's most popular online gaming platforms for primary ...
27/11/2025
Black Friday is leveling up. Get ready to score one of the biggest deals of the season - 50% off the first three months of a new GeForce NOW Ultimate membership...
26/11/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Prime Video EP Mike Muriano Previews Massive Black Friday Slate Fe...
WBD Sports' NBA Audio Continues TNT's Sonic Legacy Shure mic arrays and custom-made transducers are deployed on and around the court By Dan Daley, Audio Editor 
