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.
Most recent headlines
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Scripps Research study links sleep variability with sleep apnea and hypertension How consumers' digital activity trackers could enable personalized health s...
23/12/2025
How guilas Cibae as Dominican Winter League Games Are Locally Produced for Glob...
23/12/2025
BitFire's Jim Akimchuk on Supplying Scalability and Customization in the Clo...
23/12/2025
CAMB.AI Enables European Athletics to Offer Multi-Language SupportPlan is to eventually offer translation into all languages spoken in EuropeBy Ken Kerschbaumer...
23/12/2025
Analysis: As sports media values trend negative, scarcity and quality are king By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Monday, December 22, 2025 - 14:08
Print ...
23/12/2025
ESPN, Disney, and NBA Return to the Animated Altcast Fray With Second Edition of...
23/12/2025
End the Year on a High Note and Donate to the Sports Broadcasting Fund Today! By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director
Tuesday, December 23, 2025 - 12:25 pm
...
23/12/2025
The year is winding down, the weather outside is frightful, and it's the perfect time to escape into a story that warms the heart. For listeners looking for...
23/12/2025
A Zeus motor is hot fire tested at L3Harris' Camden, Arkansas, solid rocket ...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Lightware will exhibit several major product innovations at ISE 2026, including the new USB-C BOOSTER-V1, Google Meet. integration for various Taurus UCX models...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Taking the Stage at Carnegie Hall-On a Global Scale Boston Conservatory Orchestra students reflect on their epic concert marking the 80th session of the UN Gene...
23/12/2025
Experience the power of WO Automation for Radio's newest service, the System Effectiveness Review. Designed to help you achieve more, a System Effectiveness...
23/12/2025
23 Dec 2025
VEON's Beeline Kazakhstan and Rakuten Symphony Collaborate to A...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
How Steamy Can It Get? Single's Inferno' Season 5 Pre...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
33 Million Global Viewers on Netflix Watched Jake Paul vs. Ant...
23/12/2025
New technique lights up where drugs go in the body, cell by cell Scripps Research scientists developed a technique that maps drug binding in individual cells th...
22/12/2025
SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Presidio's Neerav Shah on the Role of Its Captiva...
22/12/2025
Hitting the bullseye: Sky Sports readies itself for the biggest PDC World Darts ...
22/12/2025
Unique skillset: Bringing new directors to the world of darts at The Worlds with...
22/12/2025
Gravity Media prepares for a flight of fancy with the PDC World Darts Championsh...
22/12/2025
One hundred and eighty: Gravity Media on hitting the production bullseye at the ...
22/12/2025
The Famous Group's Jon Slusser on Fascinating Fans Through Immersive Content...
22/12/2025
ESPN's Meg Aronowitz on Continuing High-Quality Broadcasts of Collegiate Spo...
22/12/2025
ESPN Takes Data-Driven Storytelling to New Heights with MNF Playbook with Next ...
22/12/2025
For a decade, popular German podcast Fest & Flauschig has hosted an annual Chris...
22/12/2025
Paramount Scores Largest Share Increase Among Distributors as Paramount and CBS...
22/12/2025
New multi-year deal integrates Roku's data to fuel Nielsen's measurement suite
Roku gains access to Nielsen's streaming ratings, showing The Roku C...
22/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
22/12/2025
Berklee Wrapped 2025: Our Top News and Stories A look back at a year highlighted by faculty milestones, major film and television projects, Bob Dylan's ho...
22/12/2025
The works of Plato state that when humans have an experience, some level of change occurs in their brain, which is powered by memory - specifically long-term me...
22/12/2025
Partnership integrates complementary satellite data and AI analytics to enhance security, infrastructure, and environmental monitoring solutions for global cust...
22/12/2025
Workflows allow you to create a sequence of planned events which may be added to your template(s) or inserted directly into your sequential or background playli...
22/12/2025
Monday 22 December 2025
Sky extends PGA TOUR partnership until 2029, as Sky Spo...
22/12/2025
Back to All News
Global Anime Hits and New Releases Take Center Stage at Jump Festa 2026
Entertainment
22 December 2025
GlobalJapan
Link copied to clipboar...
22/12/2025
Siobh n McSweeney, Rory McIlroy, Elon Musk, Catherine Connolly, Jim Gavin, Ivan Yates and Traitor Paudie Moloney lead new characters for Callan Kicks the Year 2...
22/12/2025
Winner announced in the picturesque surroundings of Wicklow's Avondale Tower and Treetop Walk
Andrew Trimble wins the show in his first series as coach
Th...
22/12/2025
The 2025 winners have been announced today, Sunday 21 December, for Ireland's largest choral competition Choirs for Christmas hosted by RT lyric fm.
Ove...
21/12/2025
Back to All News
Legoshi and Haru's Story Reaches Its Finale: BEASTARS Fin...
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 
