Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Tech Focus: Immersive Sound, Part 3 - Multichannel Mics Find a Place in Sports Broadcasts

05/12/2019

Tech Focus: Immersive Sound, Part 3 - Multichannel Mics Find a Place in Sports Broadcasts Multi-transducer mics grow in importance with evolution of 5.1 surround By Dan Daley, Audio Editor

Thursday, December 5, 2019 - 2:10 pm

Print This Story

Story Highlights

Once near novelties, dedicated surround microphones have become more common in the sports-broadcasting toolkit, as 5.1 becomes the native audio format for television networks. This category of multi-transducer mic has been used particularly for soccer, with its expansive pitch to cover. As the immersive-audio era edges closer, surround microphones will be increasingly important to sports broadcasts.

Here are some of the leading ones.

DPA 5100 mobile surround microphone

DPA Microphones

The 5100 mobile surround microphone is a completely self-contained plug-and-play solution for 5.1 audio capture, bringing surround ambience to sports events, documentaries, and other HDTV productions. This versatile microphone can be deployed in many ways: mounted on a microphone stand, suspended from the ceiling, or via a handgrip. Though lightweight and portable, its robust nature enables it to withstand inclement weather conditions. The 5100 uses five miniature pressure transducers, each of which offers low sensitivity to wind and mechanical noise, low distortion, and low frequency response; they also have a large dynamic range. The three front microphones in this system are time-aligned to eliminate comb filtering, ensuring frequency consistency in downmixing to stereo or mono. In contrast, the rear microphones, with standard omnidirectional patterns, are optimally spaced from both each other and the front array to simulate the most natural time-arrival differences. The end result of DPA's innovative design approach is a surround atmosphere that is rich, smooth, fully enveloping, and great in its coherence, channel separation, and localization accuracy. The 5100 mic requires no external signal processing.

Holophone H2-PRO microphone

Holophone

The H2-PRO microphone is designed specifically for capturing discrete 5.1, 6.1, and 7.1 channels of surround sound for all professional-audio applications. It is well-suited for television (standard TV, DTV, and HDTV) and radio broadcasters. All surround-sound recordings from the H2-PRO are discrete and in real time, thereby very easy to bring into any broadcast or studio environment, manipulate, mix, and/or encode into any/all of the standard consumer playback formats: Dolby, DTS, and Circle Surround. The H-2 PRO provides engineers and producers total control over all incoming discrete surround-sound audio signals and delivers those signals in an intuitive way. It is compatible with all standard analog and digital I/O devices that accept up to eight channels and provide phantom power: hard-disc-based recorders, multichannel preamplifiers, standard multichannel I/O, and all mixing consoles. The H2-PRO is capable of recording up to 7.1 channels of discrete surround sound and terminates in eight XLR microphone cable-ends (Left, Right, Center, Low Frequency, Left Surround, Right Surround, Top, and Center Rear). These co-relate to the standard 5.1 channels and add a top channel for such formats as IMAX and a center-rear channel for extended surround formats, such as Dolby EX and DTS ES.

Sennheiser AMBEO VR mic

Sennheiser

Designed for 360 spatial audio recording, AMBEO VR mic is an ambisonic microphone fitted with four matched KE 14 capsules in a tetrahedral arrangement. This special design allows capture of surrounding sound from one single point. As a result, fully spherical ambisonics sound matches VR video/spherical 360 content. The capsules of the AMBEO VR mic deliver A-format, a raw 4-channel output that has to be converted into a new set of four channels, the Ambisonics B-format. This is done by the specifically designed AMBEO A-B converter plugin, which is available as free download for VST, AU, and AAX format for the preferred digital audio workstation, both PC and Mac. B-format is a W, X, Y, Z representation of the sound field around the microphone (W being the sum of all four capsules; X, Y, and Z virtual bidirectional microphone patterns representing front/back, left/right, and up/down). Thus, any direction from the microphone can be auditioned by the listener during playback of Ambisonics B.

Soundfield DSF-B ambisonic system

Soundfield

The DSF-B is a fully digital ambisonic system for broadcast. It consists of a DSF-2 MKII microphone for exceptional sound capture, the DSF-2 MKII microphone controller, and the DSF-3 MKII digital surround processor. The system provides simultaneous mono, stereo, and digital surround soundscapes at large-scale live broadcasts from sports stadiums and concert-hall venues, creating a completely digital surround-sound-production chain. Surround formats supported include conventional 5.1, as well as object-based formats that have additional height channels.

Click here for Tech Focus: Immersive Sound, Part 1 - The Technology Is Increasingly Integrated Into Broadcast Sports

Click here for Tech Focus: Immersive Sound, Part 2 - Consoles Are Transitioning to Next-Gen Tech.
LINK: https://www.sportsvideo.org/2019/12/05/tech-focus-immersive-sound-part...
See more stories from svg

North America Stories

22/09/2026

New TVU Pocket Offers Broadcast Features In Phone-Sized Unit

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/09/2026

Operative Launches Unified Platform for Advertising and Broadcast Management

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/09/2026

Element Launches New TiVo-Powered Smart TVs in the U.S.

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/09/2026

NOAA Taps Tomorrow.io for Improved U.S. Weather Forecasts

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/09/2026

Gray Media Promotes Tim Maloney to GM and Director of Sales at WBKO

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/09/2026

Reports: Paramount Reaches Settlement with State AGs in Antitrust Suit

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/09/2026

New Research Lays Out Streaming Services Best Defense Against Churn

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/09/2026

Sinclair Expands The National News Desk

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/09/2026

Paramount Settles Antitrust Lawsuit over WBD Merger

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/09/2026

U.S. Broadband Industry Investment Hits $92.6 Billion

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/09/2026

NVIDIA Isaac ROS 5.0 Advances Agentic, Open Source Robotics Development

To build and deploy sophisticated robotics applications that can perceive, reason and act in dynamic environments, developers need new physical AI models and to...

21/09/2026

Manifold Taps Ryhaan Williams for North America COO Post

Manifold Technologies, developer of software-defined, FPGA-accelerated infrastructure for live production, has named Ryhaan Williams as Chief Commercial Officer...

21/09/2026

SNS Wins IAMT Best Journal Article Award

Studio Network Solutions (SNS) has won Best Journal Article at the 2026 IAMT Impact Awards for What Video Editors Need When Everything Is Changing Around Them,...

21/09/2026

MLW Announces Streaming Deal with Tubi for Weekly FUSION Series

Major League Wrestling (MLW) has announced a streaming distribution agreement with Tubi for its weekly series MLW FUSION. Beginning September 17, new episodes w...

21/09/2026

Adam Smith Named Chairman of Direct-to-Consumer at Disney Entertainment

Disney Entertainment has announced that Adam Smith has been named Chairman, Direct-to-Consumer, with responsibility for Disney and Hulu including product, engi...

21/09/2026

United Airlines and DISH to Offer Live Football on Starlink-Enabled Seatback Screens

United Airlines and DISH have announced an agreement to bring live professional ...

21/09/2026

SES to Provide Satellite Distribution for JioStar Channels Across India

SES and JioStar have announced a multi-year agreement under which SES will provide satellite distribution services for JioStar's television channel portfoli...

21/09/2026

Detroit Red Wings Announce Detroit SportsNet Broadcast Details for 2026-27 Season

The Detroit Red Wings have announced details for their inaugural season on Detro...

21/09/2026

Manifold Technologies Appoints Ryhaan Williams as CCO for North America

Manifold Technologies has appointed Ryhaan Williams as Chief Commercial Officer for North America, effective October 1, 2026. Based in Jacksonville, Florida, Wi...

21/09/2026

DAZN Pick Up L.A. Kings DTC Streaming Rights; ABTV Will Continue as Local TV Home

Angels Broadcast Television (ABTV), the local television home of the Los Angeles...

21/09/2026

Inside ESPNs US Open Effort: Embracing the Cloud and a New 20,000 Sq. Ft. Broadcast Center

The 2026 US Open Tennis Championships marked a year of change with respect to TV...

21/09/2026

Behind The Mic: Andrs Cantor Joins Netflixs FIFA Womens World Cup Commentary Team; Doc Rivers Joins NBC Sports NBA Coverage

Behind The Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, includ...

21/09/2026

From Graphic Novel to 30-Minute Animated Film: What I Learned Building an AI-Assisted Production Pipeline

From Graphic Novel to 30-Minute Animated Film: What I Learned Building an AI-Ass...

21/09/2026

Liam Hopkins Builds Recording Studio with Blackmagic Design

Liam Hopkins Builds Recording Studio with Blackmagic Design Brie Clayton September 20, 2026 0 Comments Video complements audio production with music v...

21/09/2026

Why Deploying Physical AI at Scale Demands Safety at Every Layer

Physical AI is moving rapidly from research to large-scale deployment. By 2035, ABI Research projects an installed base of 49 million level 3-5 autonomous vehic...

21/09/2026

From Enablement to Execution, Egypt's AI Ecosystem Reaches Production Scale

Today, Egypt's AI builders gathered in the Grand Egyptian Museum for a reception that highlighted the nation's rapidly growing AI ecosystem - spanning A...

21/09/2026

NVIDIA Launches DSX Ready to Qualify Power and Cooling Products for AI Factories

Every AI factory needs power and cooling that fit its computing architecture. As AI infrastructure expands, power, cooling, water, site and grid constraints are...

21/09/2026

AI Security Is an Engineering Problem - How to Solve It at Every Layer of the Agent Stack

AI security is an engineering problem. That means defined security requirements,...

21/09/2026

5 Companies Using NVIDIA AI for Clean Energy

Clean energy isn't hard to come by, but the pace of large-scale adoption has historically been slow due to bottlenecks - including out-of-date infrastructur...

20/09/2026

COW Jobs: Video Editor, Motion Designer - Remote, PT, 6 Months

COW Jobs: Video Editor, Motion Designer - Remote, PT, 6 Months Brie Clayton September 20, 2026 0 Comments Video Editor + Motion Designer (Remote | PT ...

19/09/2026

Two High Profile Professional Sports Franchises Renew cre...

Two High-Profile Professional Sports Franchises Renew creative.space Contracts with DigitalGlue NFL team and Major League Soccer Club cite ease of use, secure ...

19/09/2026

Limited Edition Audio releases VoxSplit Pro for overlapping dialogue separation and cleanup on macOS

Limited Edition Audio releases VoxSplit Pro for overlapping dialogue separation ...

18/09/2026

IBC 2026 Tech Moves Beyond the Gloss and Into the Rack

IBC 2026 Tech Moves Beyond the Gloss and Into the Rack If you spent any time in the halls of the RAI this year, you noticed a clear shift in conversation. The c...

18/09/2026

SVG GameDay, Ep. 31: Seattle Mariners Tim Walsh - Creative Content in the Emerald City

In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...

18/09/2026

Qvest Appoints Jens Miedek as SVP Sales, Media and Entertainment

Qvest has appointed Jens Miedek as Senior Vice President Sales, Media and Entertainment. Before joining Qvest, Miedek spent 16 years at Riedel Communications an...

18/09/2026

Fonn Group Acquires everviz, Relaunches as Teikna Graphics Platform

Fonn Group has acquired full ownership of everviz, a cloud-native platform for interactive charts, maps, and data-driven graphics, and will rebrand it as Teikna...

18/09/2026

OWC Acquires OpenDrives to Expand Enterprise Storage Portfolio

Other World Computing (OWC) has announced the acquisition of OpenDrives, a provider of software-defined video and rich media storage management solutions. The a...

18/09/2026

Kaltura and Verimatrix Partner on Content Security for OTT and Cloud TV

Kaltura and Verimatrix have announced a partnership integrating Verimatrix's Digital Rights Management and security capabilities into Kaltura's Cloud TV...

18/09/2026

Movicom's Robycam Aerial Cable System Deployed at World Nomad Games

The sixth edition of the World Nomad Games combined traditional sports, large-scale cultural performances, and some decidedly modern broadcast technology. Held ...

18/09/2026

DAZN and Super League Basketball Extend Partnership for 2026-27 Season

DAZN and Super League Basketball (SLB) have extended their partnership for the 2026-27 season. Every Championship, Cup, and Play-Off fixture will be available l...

18/09/2026

Nielsen Shifts Streaming Content Ratings to Daily Delivery Cadence

Nielsen has announced that its Streaming Content Ratings (SCR) product will move from weekly to daily data delivery, with clients now receiving viewership data ...

18/09/2026

ABC to Air LALIGAs ElClsico for First Time on October 25

ESPN will present LALIGA's ElCl sico on ABC for the first time, with FC Barcelona vs. Real Madrid airing Sunday, October 25 at 4 p.m. ET. A one-hour pre-mat...

18/09/2026

University of Pennsylvania and JMI Sports Extend Multimedia Rights Partnership Through 2035-36

The University of Pennsylvania's Division of Recreation and Intercollegiate ...

18/09/2026

Charlotte Hornets Name DAZN Exclusive Direct-to-Consumer Streaming Partner

The Charlotte Hornets have announced DAZN as their exclusive direct-to-consumer streaming partner for the 2026-27 NBA season. The service launches immediately, ...

18/09/2026

With New AM Radio Act, Live Sports Remain on the Air - and on the Road

Broadcast sports' original medium will let drivers keep on hearing the plays thanks to a new bill set to pass the Senate....

18/09/2026

Apple TV Expands iPhone Camera Deployment for Friday Night Baseball' Finale at Dodger Stadium

Fourteen iPhone 18 Pro devices - eight connected over a T-Mobile Private 5G Netw...

18/09/2026

Minnesota Lynx to Air Final Regular Season Local Broadcast on FOX 9+

The Minnesota Lynx have announced that their final local broadcast of the 2026 regular season will air free on FOX 9 following the shutdown of Victory . The Ly...

18/09/2026

Monumental+ Now Available on Prime Video

Monumental Sports Network (MNMT) has announced that its Monumental+ streaming service is now available as a subscription through Prime Video, giving Capitals an...

18/09/2026

WTGL Announces Inaugural Season Schedule on ESPN, ABC, and ION

WTGL, the women's team golf league created by TMRW Sports in partnership with the LPGA, has announced its inaugural season schedule. The season premieres Su...

18/09/2026

Ratings Roundup: NFL Week 1 Down 13% From Record 2025; ESPN Earns Its Best US Open Mens Final on Record

Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent ratings news and is derived from press re...