In an Order on Reconsideration issued on 11 May, the Federal Communications Commission denied a request from microphone-systems manufacturers Sennheiser and Shure to sustain a vacant channel in the TV bands reserved for wireless-microphone use. That channel was part of the FCC’s landmark 2015 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking intended to outline the post-auction landscape for […] More
Baseball players are just plain chatty. Perhaps it’s the relatively slow pace of the game, or maybe the pitcher is in a groove, and three outfielders find themselves a bit bored by the third inning. In any event, that’s working in ESPN’s favour this season: the broadcaster is wiring athletes for sound at a new […] More
Increasingly essential to audio capture for broadcast sports, wireless bodypack transmitters are small, light, flexible and powerful. Here’s a look at some current leading models. Click here for Tech Focus: Bodypacks, Part 1 — Wireless Transmitters Reflect RF-Industry Challenges. More
Radio was broadcast sports’ first electronic medium, and, a little more than 100 years since the first announcers crackled over the airwaves, radio remains a leading media format for sports. It’s also where broadcast audio gets to stretch out, offering more detail and nuance. And a lot more yelling. SVG sat down with Johan Boqvist, […] More
They’re small and getting smaller. They’re designed to be virtually invisible. They’re light enough to be measured in ounces and grams instead of pounds and kilos. But wireless bodypack transmitters have become both central to audio capture for broadcast sports and emblematic of the broader changes in the wireless environment. More
Listen closely to the sound of the Summer Olympics, because there will be a lot of firsts. For instance, it will be the first Olympics broadcast in 5.4.1 immersive audio, with four overhead channels adding an upper dimension to the indoor events. And, due to last-minute COVID restrictions imposed by the Japanese government that bar […] More
On the podcast Transformed by Tech: How The Olympics Stay Cutting Edge, produced by The Podium for NBC Olympics, Karl Malone, director of sound design at NBC Universal, discussed how the Games’ sound is collected, produced and processed, transported and ultimately consumed by the broadcast audience for the XXXII Summer Olympics (23 July-8 August 2021 […] More
It’s Downton Abbey meets the Kentucky Derby. Royal Ascot is UK horseracing’s most auspicious event: five days (15-19 June 2021) of pomp, circumstance and actual royals, and it’s been going on near Windsor Castle in one form or another since Queen Anne gave it the green flag over 300 years ago. Each day of Royal […] More
Remote audio-mixing consoles for broadcast are still a relatively rarefied category at the high end of the market, but diversity within the group is increasing, thanks to growing demand for consoles of various sizes and functionality. Here’s an overview of the leading contenders. More
There have been two distinct trends in audio console development over the past couple of years: a migration to IP-based connectivity and the remote access of a console core via discrete device, either wirelessly or over the internet. Both were well on their way to widespread and routine adoption when COVID-19 shut sports down in […] More
