
Paris 2024: Immersive Sound Makes for Intimate Storytelling NBC Sports is providing 10-channel audio mixes in 5.1.4 Atmos By Dan Daley, Audio Editor
Thursday, August 8, 2024 - 10:26 am
Print This Story
Film director John Krasinski may have been able to build the Quiet Place movie franchise on a premise of silence, but that's the exact opposite of what broadcast sports wants to hear. After the relative quiet of the pandemic-plagued previous Summer Olympics, having the noise of the crowds back is the kind of sonic challenge that audio professionals love.
The biggest challenge for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris is a good one to have: the return of crowds to events, observes Karl Malone, senior director, audio engineering, NBC Sports and Olympics. The crowd did not disappoint. Thousands are turning out for all sports, and, if French athletes are competing, the decibel level goes up. It's great to have the crowd bring passion and emotion back to the Olympics. The opening-day football game, with a crowd of 76,000, was a sign of crowds to come. Of course, it's also harder now to hear the runners run and the arrows fly.
One of 16 audio-control rooms in NBC Sports' main control center in Stamford
The return of crowds is facilitating greater use of immersive mixing techniques and allows audio teams to take full advantage of Dolby Atmos' overhead channels. Mixing all those events with 10-channel mixes [in the 5.1.4 Atmos format] has allowed us to spread that crowd out in the immersive soundscape, he explains. As immersive sound systems become more common in homes, more people get to appreciate the sounds we are capturing and mixing.
Immersive 5.1.4 NBC Sports' 5.1.4 immersive audio mixes were enhanced when the broadcaster's parent company, Comcast, requested several months ahead of the Games that cable channel USA Network also be in Dolby Atmos for the Olympics, says Malone.
We had already built out all incoming audio from OBS and NBC feeds to be 5.1.4, so we were prepared to get it through the facility and out to distribution, he says. Having the Stamford [CT] facility run on an ST 2110 infrastructure helped with routing 2110-30 audio around the building and offered us the flexibility that we did not have a couple of years earlier. NBC A1s in Stamford mixed all sports live on USA in 5.1.4, and our edit teams, who were planning to cut across 16 channels for the primetime show, decided to do so for all venues.
NBC mixes a 5.1-surround mix in remote trucks onsite in Paris, with a pair of iso tracks on channels 7 and 8, and passes through OBS-placed height microphones on channels 9-12 and NBC-placed height microphones on channels 9-16 for a total of eight tracks purely for overhead effects. Those eight tracks are mixed down to four that make up the .4 of the 5.1.4-channel array. Says Malone, That allows those with Dolby Atmos setups to appreciate these mixes, which immerse the listener in what it's really like to be at the event in Paris.
The facility last year upgraded its immersive-mixing capability with three new studios. Audio Control Room (ACR) Submix 1 houses a 128-fader Calrec Apollo console; both ACR 12 and ACR Submix 2 have 64-fader Calrec Artemis desks. In addition, two Calrec ImPulse core routing and processing engines are part of the new suite of studios, with one assigned to the Apollo console and the other shared by the two Artemis desks.
Big Sound, Close In As big as the sound has been for the Olympics this year, though, there is equal emphasis on sonic intimacy, in pursuit of storytelling.
The audio-control room for the Gold Zone show
We have continued to bring the families and friends of athletes into the broadcast and have miked many of them for live integration into the show, Malone says. Athletes cannot be wired on the Olympic field of play, but working with the host broadcaster, Olympic Broadcast Services, during both of the COVID-era [Summer and Winter] Games has brought broadcast organizations closer to athletes with mic positioning. We are always trying to get as close to an athlete and alongside their apparatus [as possible], whether they are a gymnast or a high jumper. The camera can zoom in close for an athlete clapping their hands, but, with audio, we have to get the mic to the right place, no matter where the athlete ends up.
With sports like swimming, we know where that is, he continues. The start and the finish are where we pick up the emotions of the athlete, the slap of the water, the yell of the swimmer at the finish, and the actual swim race itself. Particularly in Paris, the crowd has been all about telling the story of what is happening in the pool. We try to follow this action by capturing the stroke of the swimmer and the sound of the turns with underwater cameras and microphones.
NBC Sports A1s - led by NBC Senior A1 and Audio Design Engineer Mike DiCrescenzo, working with team members Brian DiCrescenzo, Eric Paige, Joe Vercesi, and Rick Bernier - were crucial in building the audio infrastructure for all 16 audio-control rooms in NBC's main control center in Stamford, CT. Mike DiCrescenzo and the audio team designed, tested, and trained audio operator pilots for the 28 off-tube booths, which are run off Calrec headless consoles on dual ImPulse IP cores. The booths give NBC the ability to deliver every venue live with NBC announcers. Every booth outputs a 5.1.4 mix, ready for integration into a production-control room or direct-to-air transmission. Each booth has a producer section attached for communication with the reporter/talent in Paris, as well as the ability to insert basic graphics.
Twenty-eight announce booths are managed by two audio pilots controlling the Calrec headless console, providing 5.1.4 mixes out of each booth.
Additionally, the producers have the ability (and
North America Stories
18/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
18/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
18/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
18/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
18/06/2026
Linda May Han Oh Receives Guggenheim Fellowship The Berklee professor, bassist, and composer will use the fellowship to debut Dreams of Knowing, an interdisci...
17/06/2026
EVS has announced it has received the EcoVadis Gold Medal for sustainability performance, ranking among the top 5% of companies globally in the Technology/Mid-S...
17/06/2026
Chyron has released Weather 2.4, an update to its weather suite for broadcasters and meteorologists. The release focuses on enhancements to the DataFlow module,...
17/06/2026
VSiN, The Sports Betting Network, has announced the launch of Best Bets TV, a free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channel. The 24/7 channel is currently avail...
17/06/2026
DAZN's Team Whistle and Snap Inc. have announced a creator program centered ...
17/06/2026
LiveU is providing video transmission technology for broadcasters, production companies, and public safety agencies across North America's busy Summer of So...
17/06/2026
The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) has announced that Laurens Grant and Jacob Ullman have joined its Board of Directors. Chief of Staf...
17/06/2026
Akta, the AI-First SaaS video platform for modern broadcast and streaming operations, today announced that its video platform is now generally available on Orac...
17/06/2026
This recent graduate from Houston found inspiration in technical directing and now eyes a future career in sports production...
17/06/2026
Audio-Technica (booth C7959) arrives at InfoComm 2026 in Las Vegas with a slate ...
17/06/2026
SNS has published a guide addressing growing demand for AI-powered video indexing, transcription, facial recognition, and searchable metadata across media libra...
17/06/2026
Providius has announced Providius Direct, a workflow for investigating network i...
17/06/2026
NEP Group has announced the commercial availability of NEP Platform, a software ...
17/06/2026
A new white paper examining Secure Reliable Transport (SRT) and Reliable Interne...
17/06/2026
New research from subscription bundling platform Bango finds that younger sports fans are increasingly consuming sport through highlights, clips, and social med...
17/06/2026
SMPTE has announced that its complete Standards catalog is now freely available to the global media technology community, including all published SMPTE Standard...
17/06/2026
Harmonic has completed the sale of its Video Business to MediaKind for $145 mill...
17/06/2026
Omaha Productions will produce the 2026 World Series of Poker (WSOP) in Las Vega...
17/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
17/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
17/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
17/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
17/06/2026
The Immersive Supervisor Emerges as Hollywood's Next Production Role
Brie Clayton June 17, 2026
0 Comments
Above image: On set live immersive revi...
17/06/2026
Vertical Musical Playback Shot with Blackmagic PYXIS 6K
Brie Clayton June 17, 2026
0 Comments
Large format sensor and DaVinci Resolve workflow used fo...
17/06/2026
DAZ 3D Launches New Game-Ready Character Assets Built for Modern Engines and Pro...
17/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
17/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
17/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
17/06/2026
Montr al, Quebec, June 11, 2026 Kiloview, a leading provider of AV-over-IP and NDI -based video transmission solutions, today announced a distribution partner...
17/06/2026
Changsha, China, June 15, 2026 Kiloview officially announced the launch of U4 IP Video Dock, a compact IP video decoder and output dock designed to bring prof...
17/06/2026
Save 50% on All Ivory II Pianos and Collections
Were halfway through the year, and we're cutting prices in half for the Ivory II Summer Sale!
For a limite...
17/06/2026
Visibility builds credibility - the tools you use every day, now visible on your LinkedIn profile Published on Jun 17, 2026 Categories: Company News, Product ...
17/06/2026
Calibr-Skaggs awarded $5.1M by NIH to develop long-acting hepatitis B virus therapy A new program aims to replace a daily HBV drug with once-monthly or even qua...
16/06/2026
Neumann.Berlin has released firmware version 2.0 for the MT 48 audio interface, adding plugin compatibility, expanded Dante networking options, broadcast encode...
16/06/2026
TVNewsCheck has announced that nominations are now open for its 2027 Women in Technology Awards, to be presented at NAB Show 2027 on Tuesday, April 6 in the Med...
16/06/2026
Clear-Com has announced Avalon, a 1RU IP intercom platform for broadcast, live events, and production environments. Designed for IP-only workflows, Avalon suppo...
16/06/2026
SNS has published a guide to remote video editing workflows using its EVO shared storage platform and companion tools, covering use cases ranging from home edit...
16/06/2026
Grass Valley has announced that the Richmond Flying Squirrels, a Minor League Baseball affiliate of the San Francisco Giants, have deployed five Grass Valley LD...
16/06/2026
The Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS) has announced the launch of the Official IPMX Training Series, a free online program covering the design, configurati...
16/06/2026
Swerve TV has announced distribution agreements with Fubo, Plex, Amazon Fire TV,...
16/06/2026
ATP and TikTok have announced an expansion of their global content partnership, extending the ATP's TikTok hub powered by TikTok GamePlan to cover all nine ...
16/06/2026
Network's LA facility serves as the heart of a sprawling operation built to ...
16/06/2026
At Pico, the network's media-management team is supporting a flood of HBS fe...
16/06/2026
The NHL will no longer air on CBC after the pulic broadcasters and national rights-holder Rogers Sportsnet were unable to come to agreement.
After a successfu...
16/06/2026
As live sports broadcasters continue to seek new ways to make complex action mor...
16/06/2026
Built with the 2026 FIFA World Cup in mind, these small but mighty IP-based tran...