Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

NHL All-Star 2023: For ESPN's Audio Team, the Event Is a Sports-Sound Lab

03/02/2023

NHL All-Star 2023: For ESPN's Audio Team, the Event Is a Sports-Sound Lab The game and the Skills Competition offer an opportunity to try out new tricks By Dan Daley, Audio Editor

Friday, February 3, 2023 - 10:51 am

Print This Story | Subscribe

Story Highlights

While the stick jockeys show their stuff during the Skills Competition tonight, prior to tomorrow's NHL All-Star Game, ESPN's audio team will be showing off some new techniques at the FLA Live Arena in Sunrise, FL.

ESPN's Dan Bernstein: It's its own kind of X Games, trying to mike up individual elements, like multiple mics in each goal for different kinds of shooting options. It's a test bed for new ideas.

Wireless lavaliere microphones placed in the cones the players navigate for the skating competition will pick up the unique sound that blades make in a tight turn, and shotgun mics on robocams will catch sonic nuances from a distance. Another idea under consideration: for the Accuracy contest, a pair of shotgun microphones in a golf-tee-box-style configuration to capture more of the explosive impact of the shots.

The Skills Competition on Friday affords us the opportunity to try some different things, a kind of Petri dish for different ideas we're trying out, says ESPN Lead A1 for Hockey Dan Buddha Bernstein, working on his second NHL All-Star event. It's a little bit more of a free-for-all compared to the actual game on Saturday. It's its own kind of X Games or even a gymnastics event, trying to mike up individual elements that people might hit, like multiple mics in each goal for different kinds of shooting options. It's a test bed for new ideas.

Hockey Is Noisy The effort takes place in an increasingly noisy environment. Bernstein notes that hockey is one of a number of sports that have been cranking up the broadcast audio, incorporating both the game's nat-sound FX and the environmental sound from music performances, as well as the PA system and other event sources.

During the Skills events, it can become almost like an NBA or WNBA game, where the PA is actively part of the show while the event is going on, he says. Those sources will be dialed back for the game itself, he adds, although they'll still be present at points, such as breaks, and are now part of what makes All-Star Games more event-like than regular-season matches.

The challenge, Bernstein notes, is finding microphones with enough gain to pick up the sounds but won't be overwhelmed by the PA system. We also have to find ways to put the microphone as close as possible to the source.

Many of the sound beds for the Skills events and the game come through the PCC boundary microphones that ring the rink, as they do for regular-season games. He says the robocam-mounted shotguns have been a particular success for those games and will be a major factor in the All-Star Game.

Noise in the Net A hallmark of hockey is the noise in the net, and there'll be plenty of that, given the multiple nets between the Skills events and the game. Bernstein says the team will be experimenting with variations on the three-microphone configuration used for regular-season games. The mics create a left-front, right-front, and synthesized-stereo center that establishes an audible sense of movement within the goal for viewers.

It sounds enormous, as though you were actually in the goal, he says. The live action around the crease is evident. It's skates and pucks, but you're also hearing the goalies directing the action. It's pretty spectacular.

The Skills segments also present an opportunity to place microphones on as many as four hand-held cameras that will be leaning in for shots.

But the big get for hockey audio is the miked-up player. As many as 16 will be wired for sound, thanks to the NHL's event format, in which four All-Star teams, representing the league's four divisions, compete in a single-elimination tournament.

We'd get access to maybe three or four players even in a Stanley Cup game, notes Bernstein, but here we have much more opportunity to mike the players. We've been establishing a sense of trust with the league and the teams to be able get more of that audio. We'll see at game time if we can even use some of that live during the All-Star Game. It's the sound that gets the personality of the players and the energy of the game across best.

Bernstein will be working from the audio compartment of Game Creek 79 producion truck, with submixer Ben Majchrzak mixing from Game Creek Spirit.

A dozen extra wireless microphones will be available during the weekend - tools and toys at hand for when engineering inspiration strikes, Bernstein says. In addition to the growing trust of the league, the audio team has a champion in ESPN VP, Production, Mike McQuade, who has been pushing us to amp up use of our nat-sound and player microphones.

All those additional microphones in South Florida's dense RF environment means that some will have to share frequencies. Lead RF tech Abi Sehga will be on hand to juggle them, turning them on and off as needed to conserve spectrum.

The NHL All-Star Game is all about hockey, of course, but its location this year in South Florida is a reminder that pitchers and catchers will be reporting to MLB training camps within a few weeks. Both Bernstein and Majchrzak mix ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball, so the comparison Buddha makes isn't out of place.

We're developing a rhythm for the [hockey-stick] shots and the hits in the net that are kind of like how we set up the sound of the [pitcher's] delivery from microphones around the mound to the catcher's mitt at home plate, he explains. There's that first point of impact followed by the second; they're each distinct but part of the same picture.
LINK: https://www.sportsvideo.org/2023/02/03/nhl-all-star-2023-for-espns-aud...
See more stories from svg

Most recent headlines

06/10/2025

France Tlvisions Wins Prestigious 2025 EBU Technology & Innovation Award in Groundbreaking Collaboration with Dalet

France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...

04/09/2025

Monumental Sports & Entertainment and Dalet Win Prestigious 2025 NAB Show Project of the Year Award

Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...

07/08/2025

Tata Motors & Dolby Bring Dolby Atmos to Harrier.ev, Redefining In-Car Entertainment Experience

July 8 2025, 22:30 (PDT) Tata Motors & Dolby Bring Dolby Atmos to Harrier.ev, R...

09/07/2025

NABLF Congratulates 2025 Broadcast Leadership Training Program Class

WASHINGTON The NAB Leadership Foundation (NABLF) has announced the graduation of the 2025 Broadcast Leadership Training (BLT) class. The classs successful compl...

09/07/2025

Survey: Consumers Signal Growing Interest in One Big Bundle

Faced with rising costs, the proliferation digital services and the difficulty of managing many different subscriptions, two-thirds (66%) of consumers say they ...

09/07/2025

Production Sound Mixer Daniel McCoy Deploys DPAs New 2061...

Daniel S. McCoy, a Production Sound Mixer and Sound Consultant for cinema, commercial and live events, has utilized DPA Microphones for over 25 years. In the ea...

09/07/2025

CVP Announces the Return of the European Lens Summit

- A Celebration of Optical Excellence Uniting the Lens World's Leading Optical Minds - CVP, one of Europe's leading resellers and providers of profe...

08/07/2025

MediaSafe Africa: A New Digital Safety Resource for Journalists

In an era where digital threats to journalists are becoming increasingly aggressive and widespread, MediaSafe Africa launches as a vital online resource to help...

08/07/2025

Give Me the Backstory: Get to Know Juan Meja Botero, the Director of Igualada: Refusing to Know Your Place

One of the most exciting things about the Sundance Film Festival is having a fro...

08/07/2025

Spotify's Our Game, Our Sound' Campaign Champions Community and Joy in Women's Football

This summer, as the energy builds for one of the biggest moments in women's ...

08/07/2025

SBS strengthens commitment to inclusion with new commissioning guidelines

SBS strengthens commitment to inclusion with new commissioning guidelines 8 July, 2025 Media releases SBS has launched new Commissioning Inclusion Guidelin...

08/07/2025

Secrets, Spies and Sabotage: 40 years on, SBS podcast investigates historic bombing of Greenpeace's Rainbow Warrior

Secrets, Spies and Sabotage: 40 years on, SBS podcast investigates historic bomb...

08/07/2025

Gray Media, Scripps Agree to Swap TV Stations

ATLANTA and CINCINNATI Gray Media and The E.W. Scripps Co. have agreed to swap television stations across five midsized and small markets, resulting in the crea...

08/07/2025

Clear-Com Adds Panel Support to Arcadia Central Station

ALAMEDA, Calif. Clear-Com has announced new software updates to its Arcadia Central Station that enable connectivity across Clear-Com products as well as third-...

08/07/2025

Triveni Digital Kicks Off NextGen TV Innovation Partnership Program

PRINCETON, N.J. Triveni Digital has launched its NextGen TV Innovation Partnership Program, an initiative to support public broadcasters in their transition to ...

08/07/2025

Sinclair, ATSC Raise Concerns about 5G Broadcasting in FCC Filings

WASHINGTON In response to a request by LPTV broadcaster HC2 that the Federal Communications Commission allow its stations to become datacasters using 5G broadca...

08/07/2025

Broadcasters Push AI to New Levels

As TV broadcasters shift from wary tire-kicking to increasingly enthusiastic adoption of AI technology, new ways of doing things are taking hold at lightning sp...

08/07/2025

Content Personalization Gets a Makeover

Content personalization has been a hot topic ever since the emergence of niche cable networks and the VCR in the 1980s allowed consumers to access content geare...

08/07/2025

RMC-BFM optimizes streaming monetization and viewer exper...

Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and monetization at scale, announces that major French media group RMC BFM has selected Broadpeak's server-side ad insertio...

08/07/2025

MBS Acquires SESs media services in Germany and UK - Rebr...

MBS, a leading service integrator and managed gateway operator, has announced an agreement with SES to acquire a part of its media services in Germany and the U...

08/07/2025

Carr Applauds Restoration of FCC Auction Authority

WASHINGTON Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr is applauding the passage of President Donald Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill and provision...

08/07/2025

Channel 7 Sydney Chooses RTS and Magna Systems for ST-2110 Upgrade

SYDNEY RTS has announced that Channel 7 Sydney has deployed a new comms system from the intercom vendor as part of a larger ST-2110 upgrade....

08/07/2025

Gray Media and Scripps Agree to Swap TV Stations

ATLANTA & CINCINNATI Gray Media, Inc. and The E.W. Scripps Company have entered into agreements to swap television stations across five mid-sized and small mark...

08/07/2025

Richard Watsham to depart UKTV following highly successful 14-year tenure

UKTV today announces that Richard Watsham, Chief Creative Officer at UKTV and Global Director of Acquisitions for BBC Studios/UKTV, has decided to step down fro...

08/07/2025

Groundbreaking Gamecocks: Inside University of South Carolina's Four-Control Room Production Palace

Groundbreaking Gamecocks: Inside University of South Carolina's Four-Control...

08/07/2025

Monumental Sports & Entertainment's Samantha Brady on the Power of the RSN's Direct-to-Consumer Streaming Service Monumental+

Monumental Sports & Entertainment's Samantha Brady on the Power of the RSN&#...

08/07/2025

Live From 2025 FIFA Club World Cup: FIFA, HBS Focus on Tournament Wrap, With an Eye to 2026 Men's World Cup

Live From 2025 FIFA Club World Cup: FIFA, HBS Focus on Tournament Wrap, With an ...

08/07/2025

SVG Rewind: NESN Goes Behind the Scenes of 1975 Red Sox Retro Broadcast

SVG Rewind: NESN Goes Behind the Scenes of 1975 Red Sox Retro Broadcast NESN is following up the retrocast with a week-long celebration of the Green Monster By...

08/07/2025

'The Monster of Florence': The Four-Episode TV Series Directed by Stefano Sollima Is Coming Only on Netflix on October 22

Back to All News The Monster of Florence: The Four-Episode TV Series Directed b...

08/07/2025

Shooting of '53 Sundays', Cesc Gay's New Project, Is Finished

Back to All News Shooting of 53 Sundays, Cesc Gays New Project, Is Finished Entertainment 08 July 2025 GlobalSpain Link copied to clipboard Download the f...

08/07/2025

Harmonic Sets DOCSIS 4.0 Record with 14 Gbps Downstream Speed at CableLabs Interoperability Event

SAN JOSE, Calif. - July 8, 2025 - Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) today announced a reco...

08/07/2025

Arvato Systems optimizes customer communication with AOK Niedersachsen

Arvato Systems Optimizes Customer Communication with AOK Niedersachsen New project in the statutory health insurance sector Arvato Systems and AOK Niedersach...

08/07/2025

2025-07-08

On August 7, Apple Arcade is adding four exclusive games to its diverse catalogue of more than 200 fun games for players to enjoy, all free from ads and in-app ...

08/07/2025

Asking an Encyclopedia-Sized Question: How To Make the World Smarter with Multi-Million Token Real-Time Inference

Modern AI applications increasingly rely on models that combine huge parameter c...

07/07/2025

SBS Farewells Chair George Savvides AM

SBS Farewells Chair George Savvides AM 7 July, 2025 Media releases Born of Greek Cypriot parents, Mr Savvides joined the SBS Board as Deputy Chair in Febru...

07/07/2025

Staying Ahead of the Threat - Everywhere, Any Time

Advanced vision solutions deliver more than reliable night vision for tactical-edge warfighters. Today's technological advances can provide the capability f...

07/07/2025

Sinclair Names Narinder Sahai EVP and Chief Financial Officer

BALTIMORE Sinclair has named Narinder Sahai its executive vice president and chief financial officer, effective immediately....

07/07/2025

Riedel Communications Launches RefSuite Ecosystem for Spo...

Riedel Communications today announced the launch of RefSuite, a powerful new Managed Technology solution tailored to professional sports workflows. RefSuite com...

07/07/2025

Skandha Media Services expands MENA presence with new off...

Regional base will foster client engagement, partner collaboration, and executive touchpoints Skandha Media Services, a leading provider of cloud-native media ...

07/07/2025

ASG-Produced Video Wins Gold Telly Award

Advanced Systems Group, LLC (ASG), a technology and services provider for media creatives and content owners, announced its Against All Odds - ASG Builds Cutti...

07/07/2025

Skandha Media Services announces collaboration with Warne...

Agreement secured on the strength of Skandha's proven track record in delivering reliable managed services across the full content life cycle for existing h...

07/07/2025

** MEDIA ALERT ** VIZ Media Ignites AX 2025 with Star-Studded Panels, Exclusive Reveals, and Immersive Experiences

** MEDIA ALERT ** VIZ Media Ignites AX 2025 with Star-Studded Panels, Exclus...

07/07/2025

The Long-Awaited Trailer is Here: Alice in Borderland' Season 3 Premieres September 25

Back to All News The Long-Awaited Trailer is Here: Alice in Borderland' Se...

07/07/2025

Anime for Every Fan: Fueling a New Era of Global Storytelling

Back to All News Anime for Every Fan: Fueling a New Era of Global Storytelling Entertainment 07 July 2025 GlobalUnited StatesJapan Link copied to clipboard...

07/07/2025

1-2 Punch: The Cloud, Generative AI, and the Future of Sports-Content Distribution

1-2 Punch: The Cloud, Generative AI, and the Future of Sports-Content Distributi...

07/07/2025

Formula E: Host Broadcaster Aurora on Launching New AR Graphics at the Jakarta E-Prix

Tests and decisions: Formula E host broadcaster Aurora on launching new AR graph...

07/07/2025

Formula E: Using New AR Graphics for Storytelling at the Formula E Penultimate, Final E-Prix of the Season

Building tension: Using new AR graphics for storytelling at the Formula E penult...

07/07/2025

SVG Rewind: Four NFL Clubs Bring Us on Set of Respective Media Day Shoots

SVG Rewind: Four NFL Clubs Bring Us on Set of Respective Media Day Shoots An in-depth conversation with 49ers Laura Johnson, Ravens Jay O'Brien, Las Vegas R...

07/07/2025

Cosm To Build Fifth Shared Reality Venue in Cleveland as Part of Bedrock's Rock Block' Development

Cosm To Build Fifth Shared Reality Venue in Cleveland as Part of Bedrock's ...