Blue sky thinking: Sky Sports' Alex Judd on the challenges of using cloud in sports broadcasting audio By Heather McLean, Editor
Monday, July 18, 2022 - 11:55
Print This Story
Alex Judd, technical specialist and A1 at Sky Sports
After gaining a BA in Music Technology from Thames Valley University in 2005, Alex Judd joined Sky a year later as a sound operator. His career at Sky saw him move into a sound supervisor role, a position which included planning all the audio aspects of production for Sky's 3D broadcasts, and then as a team leader.
This means that Judd has been part of broadcast audio's evolution through a series of tumultuous changes, from 5.1 to 3D to immersive audio, and the switch to IP workflows and remote production. All of this means he is ideally qualified to talk about the next paradigm shift in audio production methods - mixing in the cloud. Here we talk to Judd about what cloud means to him.
_______________________________________________________________________
From a broadcast perspective, what does cloud mean to you?
Personally it means re-imagining signal flows within public-based cloud providers' architecture.
We're talking the internet, not dark fibre here. The ability to potentially move production tech costing to an OPEX model allows for a much more appealing start up value investment. By proving the possibility of this we are allowing more flexible entry points and allowing more live content and productions to get to air.
From a tech perspective it is the evolution of Remi production whereby we separate the processing to a virtualised platform sitting in a public cloud provider.
From a broadcast industry perspective, what are the perceptions of working in the cloud? Is it remote control of a physical processor cloud or does it have to be processed on the public internet? Does remote access of on-prem and edge processing from a PC count?
Cloud is a data centre, whether your company owns it and it's on your premises (on prem), or it's in one of the public cloud providers' data centres. I think what we're really interested in is the virtualisation of production elements such as vision mixers, sound mixers, intercom and MCR functionality for X86 architecture which allows the flexibility to process signal flows in all of the realms above.
Cloud is really something that has been coined to mean x86 based in public cloud.
From an audio perspective, what are the challenges of large scale mixing in the cloud?
The challenges are clear; syncing large quantities of feeds accurately and processing delay.
A lot of this is very manual at the moment. We are yet to see tech solutions working on every element of the chain, from commentator's vison monitors to program TX feeds, and obviously in vision lip sync. There's a huge dearth here to be figured out.
The issue is also that we are currently implementing multiple workarounds to accommodate broadcast specific requirements in typical DAW's.
There are also constraints on bandwidth and audio compression at play in certain parts of the chain. That means that you have to be careful in the planning of the audio chain; using multiple compression codecs managed by different manufacturers, or different settings, may result in chunks of lossy compression at work on your audio.
How much of an issue is latency for cloud, and why?
Latency is a concern for any cloud-based virtualised developer as there are multiple places where it can go wrong.
Let's look at a relatively simple example. Say we take two commentators voicing a feed in separate locations; first, you have the latency of the cloud images from the venue to get to the director who is cutting the images. Then you have the latency of the two commentators talking to one another. The images they are watching also need to be in time with one another so the commentators don't trip over each other. On top of this, they also need to be able to communicate in real time, and we also have the latency of the camera return and communications back the venue crew which need to be factored in so as not to impact on whip pans.
This can all be worked around. But as you scale up, so do the workarounds, and that can make it tough.
Are operators comfortable with mixing on a screen UI or will there always be a need for physical hardware?
It's really down to the individual operators. Currently, we've found touchscreens impossible for mixing. It's very difficult to use them in the same way as a tactile surface such as a fader bank.
I think when you're mixing and you start to do the hundreds of micro adjustments you need to do when mixing, currently a physical fader is just better. Where I see potential for innovation is for the individual screens on a console not being needed as they are virtualised; that could work with a touchscreen.
As the tech improves, I stand to be wowed and corrected, although I'm still waiting for my hoverboard like they had in Back To The Future. Let's see!
Broadcast manufacturers are already going down this path, with audio mixers available in the cloud. How practical is this for live broadcast use?
It really depends on the scale of production you are trying to do. A simple balancing of international sound and announcers could be fine. In some instances, we're actually producing a full Remi via public cloud. This requires additional features you would expect of a more traditional broadcast style console.
Where do you see the adoption of cloud going in the next five years for live broadcast mixing?
I see it only growing and creating additional value services and content for an ever-growing marketplace.
We want to produce and consume in a much faster way than we have previously. Virtualisation in conjunction with cloud allows companies to realise their creative idea
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
13/05/2026
New Adobe Premiere Color Grading Mode Accelerated on NVIDIA GPUs
Joel Pennington May 13, 2026
0 Comments
New NVIDIA RTX-accelerated features streamlin...
13/05/2026
Grass Valley announced that dB Broadcast has delivered new IP-based outside broadcast (OB) trucks for Cloudbass, featuring Grass Valley LDX 100 Series cameras a...
13/05/2026
Ikegami will exhibit the latest additions to its wide range of broadcast production cameras, control units, viewfinders and monitors on stand 5D3-1 at Broadcast...
13/05/2026
FISE, working with the founding members of the XR Sports Alliance (XRSA), Accedo, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and HBS, have collaborated to develop an immersive...
13/05/2026
Canon Unveils New EOS R6 V Full-Frame EOS Camera and RF20-50mm F4 L IS USM PZ Bu...
13/05/2026
Boston Conservatory at Berklee Honors Beth Morrison and Moses Pendleton at Comme...
13/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/05/2026
Creative software developer Foundry today announced the latest developments on Nuke Stage. A purpose-built application for end-to-end virtual production and in-...
13/05/2026
A definitive portrait of one of Ireland's most influential musicians
New TV documentary airs Monday 18 May on RT One and RT Player at 9.35pm
Watch the...
13/05/2026
Agentic AI is changing the way users get work done. Following the success of OpenClaw, the community is embracing new open source agentic frameworks. The latest...
13/05/2026
Reinforcement-learning agents - AI systems that learn by trial and error - can c...
12/05/2026
Beyond the Hype: A Strategic Post-Hoc Analysis of NAB 2026 If NAB Show 2026 had an underlying theme, it was a quiet, industry-wide pivot from the high-energy sp...
12/05/2026
Guntermann and Drunck (G&D), a Panoptec Technologies Group company, and CT Square, led by Chandresh Shah, have announced a joint venture to distribute G&D and V...
12/05/2026
With 30 days until the start of the FIFA World Cup 2026, Telemundo, the exclusive Spanish-language home of the tournament in the United States, has announced th...
12/05/2026
The NHL has announced the return of Stanley Pup for its third consecutive year, a 90-minute special featuring adoptable rescue dogs competing on a miniature rin...
12/05/2026
NBCUniversal presented its 2026 Upfront to advertisers at Radio City Music Hall, detailing upcoming programming across NBC, Peacock, Bravo, and Versant properti...
12/05/2026
FOX Sports has announced funding for the Fandom and Social Connection Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School's Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Publ...
12/05/2026
TNDV and Live Media, both divisions of Live Media Group, supported live broadcast coverage around NCAA Final Four weekend in Indianapolis, including the March M...
12/05/2026
The European Football Alliance (EFA) has announced a content distribution agreement with Fubo Sports Network, the free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channel ...
12/05/2026
For the first time, Spanish-speaking fans in the U.S. will have two separate tel...
12/05/2026
CP Communications led a comprehensive spectrum management initiative on behalf of Churchill Downs during Kentucky Derby week, coordinating RF assets across the ...
12/05/2026
LiveU has announced a strategic partnership with DRONERESPONDERS, a 501(c)3 non-...
12/05/2026
Open Broadcast Systems has announced that BMC TV, a specialist in IP transport of broadcast content, has selected the Open Broadcast Systems 5G Flyaway solution...
12/05/2026
NEP Europe, part of NEP Group, has announced it will deliver broadcast solutions...
12/05/2026
Grass Valley has announced continued collaboration with Ravensbourne University ...
12/05/2026
Stats Perform has announced the launch of Opta Pulse, an AI-assisted video creation and distribution platform for leagues, rights holders, and broadcasters. The...
12/05/2026
FOX Sports has announced a collaboration with Sesame Workshop to integrate Sesame Street characters into FOX Sports' FIFA World Cup 2026 programming. Conten...
12/05/2026
To date, NHL Productions has produced 19 broadcasts with commentary in American Sign Language
NHL in ASL (American Sign Language) may be just one show, but the...
12/05/2026
Google's Brian Albert: creators, athletes, highlights, nostalgia, second-scr...
12/05/2026
A still from Past Lives by Celine Song, an official selection of the Premieres program at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. (Courtesy of Sundance Institute | p...
12/05/2026
Spotify is where fans and artists come together, turning discovery into somethin...
12/05/2026
Features patented Marco-MMC clocking technology
Black Lion Audio's latest release combines the company's expertise in clocking with their renowned p...
12/05/2026
New Track Panel, sequencer upgrades & more
Following their recent public beta release, Reason Studios have announced the full release of Reason 14. With the...
12/05/2026
One month to go! SBS reveals expansive FIFA World Cup 2026 lineup beyond the pi...
12/05/2026
Rohde & Schwarz presents its advanced solutions for power electronics testing at...
12/05/2026
aconnic AG (ISIN: DE000A0LBKW6), Munich, has developed a modified fund raising p...
12/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/05/2026
Tyrell Corporation, specialists in high-end live sports and entertainment broadcasts, was tasked with delivering compelling broadcast coverage of premier equest...
12/05/2026
Registration is now open for IBC2026 as the global media, entertainment and technology community prepares to converge on the RAI Amsterdam from 11 14 September ...
12/05/2026
Ross Video, a global leader in live video production technology, will present its latest innovations and integrated production workflows at BroadcastAsia 2026, ...
12/05/2026
500 selected leaders from around the world across start-ups, corporates, and venture capital. Over 50bn in assets under management among attending investors, a...
Blue sky thinking: Sky Sports' Alex Judd on the challenges of using cloud in sports broadcasting audio By Heather McLean, Editor 
