Live From Daytona: Fox Sports Stresses Audio From the Loudest Sport on Earth 150+ mics, real-time remote commentary will be part of the mix By Dan Daley, Audio Editor
Friday, February 14, 2020 - 10:38 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
The Daytona 500 hits the track on Sunday, four years after the opening of Daytona Rising, NASCAR's $400 million reimagining of what a stock-car racing venue can look like. When the fans aren't in the Daytona International Speedway's 101,500 seats, they can enjoy a level of fan engagement that Fireball Roberts and Junior Johnson never dreamed of, including the UNOH Fanzone, where windows into the garage allow fans to watch race teams at work.
All the more reason that Fox Sports' Daytona 500 coverage continues to refine its game, emphasizing the audio from the loudest sport on earth to engage viewers.
Starting with qualifying runs earlier in the week and the Can-Am Duel at Daytona on Thursday - part of Fox's approximately 100 hours of multiplatform programming - A1 Kevin McCloskey and submixer Chip Weaver are working from Game Creek's Cleatus truck to balance more than 150 microphones on the track, on cameras, in cars and crews, and, new for this year, on cranes positioned at Turns 1 and 2, to create a mix unlike any other on televised sports. Much of that will also be heard on Crank It Up, the SFX drum solo that Fox inserts at some point during the race, made up of a live mix directly from Weaver's Calrec Artemis submix console sent through McCloskey's main mix, which has been done in surround for most of the century.
There is nothing better than Crank It Up,' says McCloskey, who is about to embark on his sixth consecutive turn as A1 on the show. It has become the signature sound of NASCAR on Fox. In the last few years, we've experimented with putting some of the radio chatter into it. It adds another flavor to it.
More Talk, More Action
Another wrinkle, introduced last year, will be real-time commentary by experts Larry McReynolds and Jamie McMurray from the bespoke-constructed multipurpose virtual-studio set housed in the Fox Sports studios in Charlotte, NC.
On Sunday, Kevin McCloskey will serve as A1 on his sixth consecutive Daytona 500.
The audio from Charlotte, where they also do the pre- and post-race shows from, is coming in over fiber, which gets transferred to MADI for us, McCloskey explains. There is, like, zero latency: [when] Larry and Jamie interject, it sounds like everyone is in the same booth.
Crew and driver chatter are also more present this year. In-car audio from all 38 cars and their pit crews is collected by Racing Electronics, which was acquired by NASCAR parent International Speedway Corp. in 2018. That is transported to the radio-broadcast studio in the Cleatus truck, where radio submixer A1 Mark Williams operates the Calrec Brio console over a fiber cable and radio editor Jeff Bratta is using a dual editing system with two Mac Minis and PreSonus Studio One 3 edit software to convert audio to USB for the computers.
McCloskey says the plan is to bring more of that sound into the television mix, some of it live with a 1.5-second delay but much of it through a special audio-editing unit created solely for driver-to-crew-chief communication. The unit takes the digital RF communications through an analog output to play back live interaction and get it to air within 30 seconds.
The Roar of the Crowd
There will be more than 100,000 fans in the stands, and the venue itself is wired for sound with 2,791 loudspeakers covering the huge back of house, plus 295 Community Sound R.5 and R.2 series speakers facing the track from atop the nearly mile-long grandstand. However, McCloskey notes that the crowd sounds that make up much, if not most, of the sports-broadcast mixes are heard only just before the start of a NASCAR race and just after it ends.
Once the race starts, he says, you'll never hear the crowd no matter how big it is. Those cars are just too loud.
Stay tuned for more of SVG's live coverage from Daytona throughout the weekend at sportsvideo.org
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
19/08/2026
As the cost of IP nears price parity with traditional SDI, Reynolds argues that ...
19/08/2026
A private 5G bubble was chosen instead of traditional broadcast RF for the race ...
19/08/2026
(L-R) Rafael Manuel and Isabel Sicat attend the Filipi ana premiere during the 2026 Sundance Film Festival at The Ray Theatre on January 23, 2026, in Park Cit...
19/08/2026
Studio owners invited to have their say on rates cuts
The Music Producers Guild (MPG) are inviting UK-based studios to take part in an in-depth survey that ...
19/08/2026
Vintage-inspired desktop interface revealed
Harrison's latest hardware offering sees them head into the world of audio interfaces, delivering a 10-in/12...
19/08/2026
Granular effect remains locked to scale and tempo
Described as your dream granular effect , Minimal Audio's latest creation is capable of turning any s...
19/08/2026
First polyphonic SWAM instrument incoming
Audio Modeling's latest physical-modelling orchestral instrument is just around the corner, and is now availab...
19/08/2026
World Cup Games Generate 84 Billion Minutes Across FOX, Fox Sports 1 and NBCU...
19/08/2026
July brought typical peak-holiday drops in viewership, driven primarily by viewers stepping away from screens and a visible decline in reach across both traditi...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Henry joins BCE as the company accelerates its commercial strategy and expands its international presence across the media, broadcast and technology markets. He...
19/08/2026
iWedia, a leading provider of software solutions for connected TV devices, today announced a major milestone in Android platform optimization with the successfu...
19/08/2026
NTP Technology announces that ST 2110-30 audio-over-IP connectivity with AES67 and RAVENNA capabilities is now available for the brand's world-class audio i...
19/08/2026
Net Insight has been selected to provide its Nimbra platform by the service provider Big Blue Marble, formerly ORS Group, as the core media transport solution f...
19/08/2026
LiveU has supported Coventry City FC and several other top-flight UK football clubs through one of their most demanding live production challenges of the year, ...
19/08/2026
Nature Seekers Documentary Shot with Blackmagic URSA Cine 12K LF
Brie Clayton August 18, 2026
0 Comments
Filming endangered turtles required camera...
19/08/2026
Neyrinck Brings D-Control Consoles Back to Life on Apple Silicon with D-Control ...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Riedel Communications today announced that Edith Cowan University (ECU) in Perth, Australia, implemented a comprehensive communications infrastructure that brin...
19/08/2026
QuickLink, a leading provider of award-winning video production and remote guest contribution solutions, will spotlight a major leap forward in remote guest con...
19/08/2026
Integrated platform melds media asset management, playout automation and newsroom workflows
EMAM, PlayBox Neo and SNEWS have officially launched Nuvex, a conne...
19/08/2026
Screen Australia releases the Private Investment Toolkit to strengthen screen in...
19/08/2026
Do Aussies truly value local content? Unpacking Screen Currency 2026 with Deirdr...
19/08/2026
There's an early Christmas gift for Bookish fans, as UKTV confirms the re-commission of the hit U&alibi drama, created by and starring Mark Gatiss. Viewers ...
19/08/2026
Wednesday 19 August 2026
Sky gives sports fans the chance to watch multiple liv...
19/08/2026
On Saturday September 5 Katie Taylor will step into the ring for the fight of her life against Flora Pili in front of 80,000 fans in Croke Park. A legendary fig...
18/08/2026
SportStream 2026, a free three-day virtual event, will take place September 15-17. One registration provides access to all three days of live programming and on...
18/08/2026
BeckTV will introduce BeckFlow to the European market at IBC2026, demonstrated on the Providius stand (10.F53).
BeckFlow is a web-based schematic documentation...
18/08/2026
Boland Communications will introduce a SMPTE ST 2110 input option for its 4K monitors at IBC2026, along with a new 55-inch super-narrow bezel display for video ...
18/08/2026
Dolby Laboratories and the Seattle Seahawks have announced a partnership integrating Dolby OptiView into the Seahawks' live streaming coverage, making the S...
18/08/2026
For BMG Executive Producer of Sports Production, Graham Taylor, producing live s...
18/08/2026
TMRW Sports has appointed Rufus Hack as President of Golf, a newly created role in which he will lead the company's golf businesses including TGL presented ...
18/08/2026
SMT will provide race technology for FOX Sports' coverage of the Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington, D.C. on August 23, when the NTT INDYCAR SERIES races ...
18/08/2026
The live, YouTube-native roundtables combine fan voices, credentialed reporters,...
18/08/2026
Behind The Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, includ...
18/08/2026
The industry legend sounds off on replacing the Heat's iconic Medusa score...
18/08/2026
William F. Rasmussen, the sports fan-turned broadcaster and entrepreneur whose out-of-the-box idea of a 24-hour cable sports network, ESPN, changed forever the ...
18/08/2026
DAZN Group has completed its acquisition of ViewLift, a provider of streaming and digital solutions for sports content owners. The acquisition was first announc...
18/08/2026
The American Association of Professional Baseball (AAPB) has added SI TV, Sports Illustrated's 24/7 streaming channel, as a broadcast partner for the remain...
18/08/2026
The Esports Foundation has announced that the inaugural Esports Nations Cup (ENC), originally scheduled for November 2026 in Riyadh, will be postponed to Novemb...
18/08/2026
Diversified has announced a new Global Managed Services Practice, consolidating the company's managed services capabilities into one organization. Rob Mello...
18/08/2026
Appear has completed a proof of concept with Thoroughbred Racing Productions (TRP), demonstrating multi-camera remote live production over bonded 5G cellular an...
Live From Daytona: Fox Sports Stresses Audio From the Loudest Sport on Earth 150+ mics, real-time remote commentary will be part of the mix By Dan Daley, Audio Editor 
