Audio quality control (QC) is becoming ever more crucial for Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) with each passing Games in order to control the increasingly technically complex output. With this being the first ever Winter Olympics with immersive audio, it is more important than ever before, says Nuno Duarte, host production audio manager at OBS.
The audio control room is where highly experienced A1s listen to the mixes coming from the multiple events on the world feed in order to keep it all at a consistently high level according to the OBS plan. Those in audio QC support the A1s out in the field by providing feedback on their performance, as well as supporting them in more challenging audio environments.
“A1s are not used to having someone to listen to and watch what they are doing in a positive way,” says Duarte, speaking from the perfectly sculpted listening environment in the quality control room deep in the heart of the OBS floor of the IBC in Milan. “We are in the perfect environment here.”
“The A1 [on location in Italy] is listening to the director, listening to the show, the producer. Here [at the IBC] we are just listening, and we are measuring,” he continues. “We know the frequencies; we know what’s happening. We have different tools so that we can see what’s going on, not only listening, but also [observing using sophisticated tools to see that the] 5.1 is fine, that the immersion is fine, that the phases are fine. In the OB van they cannot know all these things in the moment, you know.”
Tweaking the mix
OBS’ audio team makes notes where A1s require a tweak in their mixes here and there in order to maintain a consistent audio standard across every live production for the world feed.
Says Duarte: “It’s important because we are able to see details and tell [the A1s] the details that we are expecting to have and to bring to our production. That’s what makes the difference, I think, from our productions to others; because we don’t only have people at the venues feeding and mixing there. We are bringing them to the point we want on our mixes.”
The audio QCs report back to the A1s, requesting, “more of this, less of that, please”, says Duarte: “It’s a permanent job, we have a lot of notes, and we bring that to them [to help them adjust] what they have to do. We don’t process anything here, we are transparent, but we have to make sure that they follow all the parameters that we defined in advance and we talk with them.”
On the A1s, Nuno says: “All of them have experience, all the A1s are very highly qualified on their sports, but [in this room we] help us get today what OBS wants.”
Supporting A1s
This is the first ever Winter Games broadcast in immersive audio. However, while OBS has bought the best audiophiles in live sports broadcasting together for Milano Cortina, the majority have not mixed their sports in immersive before.
“This is the first Winter Games with immersive. Actually we have new production guys mixing immersive; many are new to it,” he states.
“More and more, OBS is providing this legacy to the industry that is giving people the opportunity to mix in immersive on a large scale, for a long duration, with the proper equipment, and with the supervisors who have experience already for three Games in immersive since Tokyo.”
The A1s are given access to audio seminars and documentation that they study prior to the Games, then there is a technical rehearsal, a dress rehearsal, before it’s show time.
“They are all professionals; they know what they’re doing and they have the tools now,” he says, referring to the technology those A1s are mixing on.
Moguls to ice dance
Duarte adds that the level of difficulty in learning to mix in immersive also comes down to various other factors, from the type of sport being mixed, to the culture of the person doing the mixing.
He explains on the latter: “Depending on their background, and if they are coming from different countries also, each country has a different approach to new experiences. Some are more defensive, and some are more, ‘let’s go and do it’, you know?”
Duarte gives an example of where in moguls freestyle skiing, the PA is a strong part of the event’s audio profile, so the QC team are able to help the A1 to balance the mix appropriately, and the same for sports such as ice dance.
“This is the first Winter Games with immersive. Actually we have new production guys mixing immersive; many are new to it”
Duarte says: “In extreme sports, the PA is more part of the show, so we have to be careful. In figure skating, the music is part of the mix so we have the performance and then we have the part between performances where they have the PA [so we support] the guy who is mixing from here. Because he is listening to the music, he is listening to the director, he is listening to what’s happening, and from here we can tell him, ‘it’s fine, more music, less music’. We help him from here because we are in the best audio environment.”
Meanwhile, on the mountains for a sport such as the downhill race, the audio team essentially run two productions over two consoles to cover the top and bottom of a run, with the A1 tasked with pulling the sound of both together.
At the top of the mountain in a quieter environment, a 20-microphone setup captures the preparations of the teams and even the breathing of the athlete about to race downhill.
Duarte expands: “We have a mix; we have a console, a premix to do the start until a certain point, and then from a certain point [down the mountain] to the bottom we have another production, on another console. The challenge [in that environment is that] on the mountains we don’t have anything [loud] at the start – there is nothing there – but at the bottom we have the finish corral with a PA and people and cheering, so then we have a transition,” he says, from the quieter production at the top of the mountain to the party atmosphere at the bottom of the mountain.
“It is not easy to balance going from a quiet environment where you can listen to all details, to a noisy environment, so it is a big challenge for the A1s mixing,” notes Duarte. And that is where the audio QC steps into assist.
