SVG Audio Symposium Explores Issues From AD to NGA

“You have to be the smartest person in the room, because there’s no one else there who can do it.”To that sentiment, some of the several dozen A1s and other audio professionals at last week’s SVG Audio Symposium in Detroit added: “because you’re the only person in the room.” That’s literally the case in the claustrophobic, single-seat chamber that comprises a sports broadcast’s audio world at the rear of remote-production trucks, even as a dense warren of video and graphics colleagues labor just feet away.It’s a small room and getting smaller, as additional immersive loudspeakers are wedged around and above the A1’s seat. The job is complicated and becoming more so, with a slew of new and updated technical formats and protocols or software updates constantly arriving and needing to be quickly mastered. GUI fatigue is the term one A1 used to describe it, noting that A1s’ attentions are increasingly pulled away from the console and toward banks of numerous displays.[caption id="attachment_269087" align="aligncenter" width="715"] SVG Audio Chairman Jim Starzynski welcomed attendees.[/caption]It’s also a seat with a lot of voices aimed at the occupant — particularly, urgent calls from producers and directors shouting instructions and requests through speakers and headsets. And needing to be controlled from Calrec desk faders is increased noise from fields and gridirons and courts and pitches, along with miked athletes’ own voices and the nat sounds that fans demand.The only voices A1s are not hearing, it seems, are those of a generation of A1s coming up behind them, the ones the broadcast-sports industry keeps longing for but seems willing to pay only lip service for rather than intern stipends or student tuitions.All these concerns — along with quiet recognition and acknowledgement of the turmoil that corporate broadcasters, leagues, and the college-sports sector generate around them and A1s can do little about but watch — made for a wide-ranging and robust all-day conclave. It was punctuated by sponsor presentations and peeks over the technical horizon at the new world of Next Gen Audio (NGA) that becomes more imminent, while nonetheless remaining somewhat hazy, every year.Paris Was a WinThe invitation-only event, managed by SVG Audio Executive Director Roger Charlesworth and SVG Audio Chairman Jim Starzynski, director/principal audio engineer, NBCUniversal, celebrated broadcast audio’s successes — most notably the Paris 2024 Olympics, which produced new viewer and revenue records for NBC and new ways of working by its audio team. In particular, the focus was on the unprecedented scale of at-home/REMI-based immersive-audio production and IP audio-signal gathering.It was pointed out the network’s decision to make rapper Snoop Dogg a key personality of the production — his play-by-play of a badminton tournament is destined to become an Olympics-broadcast classic — and invest in having a number of social-media influencers onsite helped stimulate new viewer cohorts, as well as optimism that some of the new revenues will find their way to audio innovations.NBC Sports’ 5.1.4 immersive audio mixes were enhanced by having the network’s Stamford, CT, facility run on an ST 2110 infrastructure, providing flexibility not available even a couple of years earlier. NBC A1s in Stamford mixed all sports live on the subsidiary USA network in 5.1.4, and NBC mixed a 5.1-surround mix in remote trucks onsite.The overhead channels that define Atmos were complex. A pair of iso tracks on Channels 7 and 8 passed through OBS-placed height microphones on Channels 9-12 and NBC-placed height microphones on Channels 9-16, comprising a total of eight tracks purely for overhead effects. Those eight tracks were mixed down to four tracks that make up the .4 of the 5.1.4-channel array. As one attendee pointed out, it was a lot of steps to create the quartet of overhead ambient channels, but the additional emotional engagement it can engender makes it worth the effort.Among the new systems for the Olympics were approximately 32 announce booths in the “Off-Tube Factory” at Stamford, where teams of NBC announcers and analysts provided commentary for newer Olympic events, such as fencing, handball, judo, and badminton. Up to 80 Dante commentary boxes, tied into a huge comms network, connected the announce booths to the respective venue reporters in Paris, as well as to producers and statisticians anywhere in the NBC global network.(A couple of live showings of the Opening Ceremony in U.S. cinemas, including one in IMAX, revealed the challenges of doing the broadcast at that scale. The audio gain-structuring alone, said one attendee, “was like a master class in dynamic range.”)Next Generation AudioNew NGA and ATSC 3.0 frontiers include audio-description (AD) services for the sight-challenged and enhanced dialog intelligibility for everyone. According to the discussion, an AES working group on dialog is scheduled to look into the practical aspects of making both services better adapted to consumer television sets and user needs and into the very essence of hearing itself, with subject-matter experts examining the science of how we hear.“It’s a work in progress,” noted one principal. “We’re getting it across that [AD] is as important as the main soundtrack [of an event]. But it’s not a science project: this can be done now.”Welcome news was presented in the context of another widely reported factoid: that television-set manufacturers may spend more on the shipping packages for their flat-screen products than on the speakers and other audio components in the sets. With NextGen TV now in 76 markets in the U.S. and available to more than 75% of households — AD and automated immersive mixing were tested during the Olympics broadcasts, and AD demonstrated it can be made compatible with surround audio — the consensus was positive but with the caveat that some subsystems and products necessary for these services still need refining.Brave New WordThe symposium’s sponsors were Audio-Technica, Calrec, Dale Pro Audio, Dante, Dolby, Lawo, Shure, Solid State Logic, and Telos Alliance, and the collaborative relationship between manufacturers and broadcasters was on display in the presentations. Especially apparent was how certain systems have become de facto standards, such as Audinate’s Dante transport format and Dolby Atmos (which is part of the final ATSC 3.0 standard). A Dolby rep underscored that relationship: “With more sports content than ever, on more channels than ever — not just television and cable but also over-the-air and streaming — content houses are having to become technology providers” themselves. This year was a turning point for that, the rep said, noting that 5 billion devices now can access such formats as Atmos and DolbyVision. Citing the Olympics in particular, she added, “Everyone is investing in higher-quality experiences moving forward.”Lawo’s outline of its HOME-branded management platform for IP-based media infrastructures even added a term — one simultaneously whimsical and ominous — for the disparate locations that the technical diaspora of IP- and cloud-powered REMI-type production has encouraged: dematerialized facilities.[caption id="attachment_269088" align="aligncenter" width="715"] Solid State Logic Broadcast Product Manager Berny Carpenter presented on cloud-based production.[/caption]The challenges, however, include the need to decrease latency as production moves deeper into IP and cloud-based environments and to do so cost-effectively, as the entire broadcast-sports industry girds for more merger- and regulatory-induced cost-cutting.Latency is also finding itself related to the growth of social media around sports: specifically, how to reduce broadcast latency so that the same content on social platforms doesn’t arrive to viewers significantly faster than through conventional distribution media. A single slide illustrated the significant difference between YouTube, Sling, and DirecTV channels of the same Olympics event, with delays ranging between seven and 42 seconds. It was perhaps the quintessential “modern problem” of the event.Digital MicrophonesDigital microphones and their place in the IP infrastructure were a focus. They are already turning up in shows like golf and motorsports, thanks to their ability to be remotely monitored and operated over large spaces. “The maturity of REMI is accelerating their use,” commented one presenter. Another noted how they reduce the workload — and potentially eliminate the need, in some cases — for A2s. The application of certain IP-enabled array microphones was also highlighted as a broadcast-sports use case.Particular Points Worth Pondering Microphones aren’t just transducers used to collect sound; in an increasingly automated/AI-driven environment, they should now be looked at as sensors used to trigger other sources. AD talent aren’t immune to fatigue. The relatively new tech-talent category of “describers” seem to hit a wall around the three-hour mark. That might not be an issue for individual games but needs to be considered during large-scale and extended event production. The dislocated nature of the REMI model may be negatively affecting sonic quality. At the same time, social media is making lower-quality audio and video more acceptable to consumers.Ultimately, the role of and future for the A1 in broadcast sports animated much of the discussion — particularly in the group panel that traditionally closes these gatherings, a kind of finale/encore informed by experience, speculation, and opinion. The potential for automated mixing was on the table, including one presentation’s comment on algorithmic mixing systems created by non-audio developers, which drew some nervous laughter. But the here and now were foremost for many, including how REMI’s accelerated uptake may make economic sense but limits workflow collaboration and the ability to communicate skills to newer workers.“Having a discussion over PL is not as substantial as face to face,” said one participant. “It’s harder to teach and pass the knowledge along.” Noted another, “You may have the same equipment in one location as another, but you’re not necessarily sure of the level of someone else’s competency using it.”Most ironically, as one observer put it, “Most other industries are trying to get their employees to come back into the office. In broadcast sports, they’re trying to keep us working from home.”

SVG Audio Symposium Explores Issues From AD to NGA “You have to be the smartest person in the room, because there’s no one else there who can do it.” To that sentiment, some of the several dozen A1s and other audio professionals at last week’s SVG Audio Symposium in Detroit added: “because you’re the person in the room.” That’s literally the case in the claustrophobic, single-seat chamber that comprises a sports broadcast’s audio world at the rear of remote-production trucks, even as a dense warren of video and graphics colleagues labor just feet away.

It’s a small room and getting smaller, as additional immersive loudspeakers are wedged around and above the A1’s seat. The job is complicated and becoming more so, with a slew of new and updated technical formats and protocols or software updates constantly arriving and needing to be quickly mastered. is the term one A1 used to describe it, noting that A1s’ attentions are increasingly pulled away from the console and toward banks of numerous displays.

It’s also a seat with a lot of voices aimed at the occupant — particularly, urgent calls from producers and directors shouting instructions and requests through speakers and headsets. And needing to be controlled from Calrec desk faders is increased noise from fields and gridirons and courts and pitches, along with miked athletes’ own voices and the nat sounds that fans demand. The only voices A1s are not hearing, it seems, are those of a generation of A1s coming up behind them, the ones the broadcast-sports industry keeps longing for but seems willing to pay only lip service for rather than intern stipends or student tuitions.

All these concerns — along with quiet recognition and acknowledgement of the turmoil that broadcasters, leagues, and the sector generate around them and A1s can do little about but watch — made for a wide-ranging and robust all-day conclave. It was punctuated by sponsor presentations and peeks over the technical horizon at the new world of Next Gen Audio (NGA) that becomes more imminent, while nonetheless remaining somewhat hazy, every year. The invitation-only event, managed by and , celebrated broadcast audio’s successes — most notably the Paris 2024 Olympics, which produced new and records for NBC and new ways of working by its audio team.

In particular, the focus was on the unprecedented scale of at-home/REMI-based immersive-audio production and IP audio-signal gathering. It was pointed out the network’s decision to make rapper Snoop Dogg a key personality of the production — his of a badminton tournament is destined to become an Olympics-broadcast classic — and invest in having a number of social-media influencers onsite helped stimulate new viewer cohorts, as well as optimism that some of the new revenues will find their way to audio innovations. NBC Sports’ 5.

1.4 immersive audio mixes were enhanced by having the network’s Stamford, CT, facility run on an ST 2110 infrastructure, providing flexibility not available even a couple of years earlier. NBC A1s in Stamford mixed all sports live on the subsidiary USA network in 5.

1.4, and NBC mixed a 5.1-surround mix in remote trucks onsite.

The overhead channels that define Atmos were complex. A pair of iso tracks on Channels 7 and 8 passed through OBS-placed height microphones on Channels 9-12 and NBC-placed height microphones on Channels 9-16, comprising a total of eight tracks purely for overhead effects. Those eight tracks were mixed down to four tracks that make up the .

4 of the 5.1.4-channel array.

As one attendee pointed out, it was a lot of steps to create the quartet of overhead ambient channels, but the additional emotional engagement it can engender makes it worth the effort. Among the new systems for the Olympics were approximately 32 announce booths in the “Off-Tube Factory” at Stamford, where teams of NBC announcers and analysts provided commentary for newer Olympic events, such as fencing, handball, judo, and badminton. Up to 80 Dante commentary boxes, tied into a huge comms network, connected the announce booths to the respective venue reporters in Paris, as well as to producers and statisticians anywhere in the NBC global network.

(A couple of live showings of the Opening Ceremony in U.S. cinemas, including one in IMAX, revealed the challenges of doing the broadcast at that scale.

The audio gain-structuring alone, said one attendee, “was like a master class in dynamic range.”) New NGA and ATSC 3.0 frontiers include audio-description (AD) services for the sight-challenged and enhanced dialog intelligibility for everyone.

According to the discussion, an AES working group on dialog is scheduled to look into the practical aspects of making both services better adapted to consumer television sets and user needs and into the very essence of hearing itself, with subject-matter experts examining the science of how we hear. “It’s a work in progress,” noted one principal. “We’re getting it across that [AD] is as important as the main soundtrack [of an event].

But it’s not a science project: this can be done now.” Welcome news was presented in the context of another widely reported factoid: that television-set manufacturers may spend more on the shipping packages for their flat-screen products than on the speakers and other audio components in the sets. With NextGen TV now in 76 markets in the U.

S. and available to more than 75% of households — AD and automated immersive mixing were tested during the Olympics broadcasts, and AD demonstrated it can be made compatible with surround audio — the consensus was positive but with the caveat that some subsystems and products necessary for these services still need refining. The symposium’s sponsors were Audio-Technica, Calrec, Dale Pro Audio, Dante, Dolby, Lawo, Shure, Solid State Logic, and Telos Alliance, and the collaborative relationship between manufacturers and broadcasters was on display in the presentations.

Especially apparent was how certain systems have become de facto standards, such as Audinate’s Dante transport format and Dolby Atmos (which is part of the final ATSC 3.0 standard). A Dolby rep underscored that relationship: “With more sports content than ever, on more channels than ever — not just television and cable but also over-the-air and streaming — content houses are having to become technology providers” themselves.

This year was a turning point for that, the rep said, noting that 5 billion devices now can access such formats as Atmos and DolbyVision. Citing the Olympics in particular, she added, “Everyone is investing in higher-quality experiences moving forward.” Lawo’s outline of its HOME-branded management platform for IP-based media infrastructures even added a term — one simultaneously whimsical and ominous — for the disparate locations that the technical diaspora of IP- and cloud-powered REMI-type production has encouraged: .

The challenges, however, include the need to decrease latency as production moves deeper into IP and cloud-based environments and to do so cost-effectively, as the entire broadcast-sports industry girds for more merger- and regulatory-induced cost-cutting. Latency is also finding itself related to the growth of social media around sports: specifically, how to reduce broadcast latency so that the same content on social platforms doesn’t arrive to viewers significantly faster than through conventional distribution media. A single slide illustrated the significant difference between YouTube, Sling, and DirecTV channels of the same Olympics event, with delays ranging between seven and 42 seconds.

It was perhaps the quintessential “modern problem” of the event. Digital microphones and their place in the IP infrastructure were a focus. They are already turning up in shows like golf and motorsports, thanks to their ability to be remotely monitored and operated over large spaces.

“The maturity of REMI is accelerating their use,” commented one presenter. Another noted how they reduce the workload — and potentially eliminate the need, in some cases — for A2s. The application of certain IP-enabled array microphones was also highlighted as a broadcast-sports use case.

Ultimately, the role of and future for the A1 in broadcast sports animated much of the discussion — particularly in the group panel that traditionally closes these gatherings, a kind of finale/encore informed by experience, speculation, and opinion. The potential for automated mixing was on the table, including one presentation’s comment on algorithmic mixing systems created by non-audio developers, which drew some nervous laughter. But the here and now were foremost for many, including how REMI’s accelerated uptake may make economic sense but limits workflow collaboration and the ability to communicate skills to newer workers.

“Having a discussion over PL is not as substantial as face to face,” said one participant. “It’s harder to teach and pass the knowledge along.” Noted another, “You may have the same equipment in one location as another, but you’re not necessarily sure of the level of someone else’s competency using it.

” Most ironically, as one observer put it, “Most other industries are trying to get their employees to come back into the office. In broadcast sports, they’re trying to keep us working from home.”.