Stanley Cup Final: Big Sound for the Big Games ESPN is combining technique and technology to put fans on the ice By Dan Daley, Audio Editor
Friday, June 24, 2022 - 7:00 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
The NHL Stanley Cup series is under way, and viewers are hearing the action in a way they haven't heard it before.
We're trying to be aggressive with capturing sound in each area as it happens now, vs. a wide-area collection approach, explains Dan Buddha Bernstein, A1 for ESPN/ABC's Stanley Cup broadcasts. [The latter] has been the approach in the past: to get a big static sound picture around the ice and just let the action happen on it in front of the microphones. It felt like you're up in the stands somewhere. Now we're looking to put you down on the ice.
That takes a combination of technique and technology, he says: the former is a dynamic mix, bringing up mic channels as the action moves closer to each one.
A1 Dan Buddha Bernstein: My goal has not been to put someone in a seat in the stands; it has been to put people in the game.
That's just about being very active on the faders and closely following the action, he says, on the Calrec Apollo consoles aboard Game Creek Spirit mobile unit in Tampa Bay and NEP EN2 in Denver. Helping manage all that additional action is effects submixer Ben Majchrzak, who was added for the Finals and Cup series.
We've continued our season-long efforts at expanding the sound around the crease, Bernstein says. We're still doing the three microphones in each net, a little LCR array, but getting more aggressive with them. For instance, the microphones that we put in and around the goals - particularly the NHL overhead and the mics and the cameras in the net - are recorded independently of the effects mix with the camera. When we play them back, you feel the energy happening in that spot in a way that I don't think has been effectively captured before.
We're also getting a lot more aggressive with miking all of our robotic cameras around the ice to pick up even more direct local sound, he continues. That has been particularly great at the mid-ice positions and the positions right behind each net, where they're really close and right on top of the action. It just brings out all the nuance. There's so much detail in this mix. It certainly puts people in the game. My goal as a mixer on this sport from the very beginning has not been to put someone in a seat in the stands; it has been to put people in the game.
When it comes to microphones - ESPN is deploying more than 50 per game - the traditional Crown PCC160 boundary-layer mics are on the glass around the rink to pick up the hits. That tends to leave the interior of the rink less covered, but, this year, Bernstein is relying on Sennheiser 416 shotguns mounted on the robocams, which helps build a center image for the sound.
The other thing that we're trying to do this year is that we've gotten more aggressive with our crowd miking, he says. Anywhere from eight to 10 crowd mics per event, depending on the building and where there's an opportunity - in Carolina, there were overhead positions we had access to that gave us some great sound positions - are configured as a front and rear array, low and high. We'll also listen for opportunities where we'll ask our announcers to lay out and just let people feel like they're in the building, part of the experience.
The wireless microphones offer perhaps the best opportunities for close-up audio. Each night, the intent is to mike up four players and both coaches for deeper, all-access-level audio. CP Communications handled the RF during the regular season, but the NHL has taken on that task for the postseason, managing distribution of that audio to the various rightsholders, as it did for the Winter Classic game in January.
Effects submixer Ben Majchrzak was added to the ESPN audio team for the NHL Finals and Stanley Cup series.
The player and coach audio remains available only for replay use. However, ESPN has constructed its own infrastructure for managing and searching it.
We're building multiple router points that have all of those mics available on various channels that the EVS folks can hunt and grab the best sound from any particular moment, Bernstein explains. And the camera operators who are doing isos on particular players have a secondary program input from the truck, which is being subrouted by the EVS operators and the producer's tape. Whenever [the camera operators are] told to iso somebody, we change the iso feed going to their program source so that they can follow the action or maybe even report back if they hear something that's awesome. It's very much a collaborative effort between me and the submix and the replay department.
Several Waves plugins, which are running on a separate server connected to the console via a MADI link, have been added to the processing. The noise-reduction plugin, Bernstein says, has been especially helpful.
It let us dig out a little bit more from some of the spots that are getting blown out by the crowd sound, he explains. It helps us enhance the dynamics of certain microphones. There's so much sound in Stanley Cup games. Getting it all and getting it across are the challenges.
Most recent headlines
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
23/04/2025
In 2024, Thomson's Total Turnout project played a pivotal role in elevating ethical election reporting and strengthening journalist safety in Pakistan.
Wit...
23/04/2025
We heard that you could use a little pick-me-up, so get ready to sh-sh-shake it ...
23/04/2025
WBD's Max viewership climbs 6%, boosted by The White Lotus' and The Pi...
23/04/2025
March shows a further downward trend of time spent watching television; following the February period when winter holidays contributed to a shorter time spent. ...
23/04/2025
During March, audiences in Mexico increased their streaming usage by 2.1 points compared to the previous month, accounting for 24.4% of TV viewing.
Disclaimer:...
23/04/2025
AANHPI audiences over index the total U.S. for share of time spent with Netflix ...
23/04/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Roku has announced new TVs, new streaming devices and significant upgrades to its user interface and software platforms that are designed to st...
23/04/2025
COW Job Listing: Opportunity for a Passionate Feature Film Editor - London-Based...
23/04/2025
RM Equity Partners Acquires MAGIX Software, Appoints Robert Rutkowski as CEO to ...
23/04/2025
All Men Are Wicked Western Shot with Blackmagic Design
Brie Clayton April 23, 2025
0 Comments
Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4Ks were put to the test...
23/04/2025
NEW YORK Warner Bros. Discovery captured the largest monthly viewership increase among media distributors in March, according to Nielsen's latest Media Dist...
23/04/2025
MIAMI, Fla. Hemisphere Media Group has inked a deal with Samsung to launch WAPA+ as a FAST channel on Samsung TV Plus, a free TV streaming service that comes pr...
23/04/2025
HEBDEN BRIDGE, U.K. Calrec Audio has promoted Sid Stanley to managing director. Stanley, who joined the company in July 2018 as general manager, has been instru...
23/04/2025
WASHINGTON Federal Communications Commission Commissioner Nathan A. Simington has announced a series of staff appointments made in March and April 2025, includi...
23/04/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has set its agenda for the Monday, April 28, 2025 Open Meeting, which is scheduled to start at 10:30 a.m. in th...
23/04/2025
COW Job Listing: Full-Time Video Editor, Remote
Brie Clayton April 22, 2025
0 Comments
Full-Time Video Editor
April 23, 2025COW Job Listing: Opportu...
23/04/2025
Berklee Abu Dhabi's Jazz Night Kicks off Global Celebration of Music and Cul...
23/04/2025
The E.W. Scripps Co. said it was shutting down its Scripps News over-the-air channel effective November 15 and eliminating at least 200 jobs....
23/04/2025
Audio Helps Chess.com Checkmate Cheating Matches are produced using REMI workflows By Dan Daley, Audio Editor
Wednesday, April 23, 2025 - 7:00 am
Print Th...
23/04/2025
Tech Focus: Intercoms, Part 1 - Key to Onsite, REMI, Hybrid Operations Intercoms keep increasingly disparate production locations together By Dan Daley, Audio ...
23/04/2025
Speaking my language: Bringing AI to the fore with real time audio translation f...
23/04/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Drops Trailer for Crime Drama Secrets We Keep, Set in ...
23/04/2025
Back to All News
World Book Day: Netflix Announces New TV Adaptations and Impac...
23/04/2025
Comscore to Announce First Quarter 2025 Financial ResultsRESTON, VA, April 23, 2025 Comscore, Inc. (Nasdaq: SCOR), a trusted partner for planning, transacting...
23/04/2025
In an email to RT staff today, RT Director-General, Kevin Backhurst confirmed that RT 's Voluntary Exit Programme (VEP) 2025 is open from today, Wednesday...
23/04/2025
RT will air live coverage on television, radio and online of the funeral of Pope Francis which takes place this Saturday, 26 April 2025.
Beginning at 8.30am o...
23/04/2025
As AI models evolve and adoption grows, enterprises must perform a delicate balancing act to achieve maximum value.
That's because inference - the process ...
23/04/2025
Financial services has long been at the forefront of adopting technological innovations. Today, generative AI and agentic systems are redefining the industry, f...
23/04/2025
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Enables Michelin to focus on development of its ...
23/04/2025
AI is rapidly reshaping what's possible on a PC - whether for real-time image generation or voice-controlled workflows. As AI capabilities grow, so does the...
23/04/2025
An AI agent is only as accurate, relevant and timely as the data that powers it....
23/04/2025
April 23 2025, 02:00 (PDT) Dolby Ushers in the Future of In-car Entertainment at Auto Shanghai 2025
Dolby and industry partners demonstrate robust momentum ...
22/04/2025
Chloe Sevigny at the Magic Farm premiere (photo by Michael Hurcomb/Shutterstock for Sundance Film Festival)...
22/04/2025
Music has the power to connect us to one another and to the world around us. Spotify is once again teaming up with the Museum for the United Nations - UN Live&#...
22/04/2025
Spotify has an unwavering commitment to supporting emerging artists across all g...
22/04/2025
This year marks the 55th anniversary of Earth Day, celebrated annually on April 22. On Spotify, listeners can explore a world of stories about our planet in our...
22/04/2025
McAvaney takes the lead for SBS' Coverage of the World Athletics Championshi...
22/04/2025
Virtual idols are poised to revolutionize entertainment, with the market projected to top $4 billion by 2029. Crafted with motion capture and game engine techno...
22/04/2025
As the audiovisual (AV) industry rapidly evolves, educational institutions are preparing the next generation of AV professionals for the future. Singapore Polyt...
22/04/2025
DENVER A new survey highlights just how important streaming has become in the entertainment landscape. Data compiled by Adtaxi shows streaming isnt just an alte...
22/04/2025
Samsung TV Plus has announced that it is now offering nearly 700 streaming channels in the U.S. more than any of the other major FAST platforms, the streaming s...
22/04/2025
PORTSMOUTH, N.H. New findings from Hub Research's latest survey on sports and television coverage reveal Amazon may have cracked the code of how to use tech...
22/04/2025
DETROIT Rockbridge Growth Equity has sold a controlling stake in GSTV to MidOcean Partners. Rockbridge will retain a minority stake in the video network which i...
22/04/2025
ATLANTA Gray Media has promoted Dana Neves to senior managing vice president, overseeing a number of Gray's television markets in the Northeast and Mid-Atla...
22/04/2025
The Infrastructure of Creative Flow: DigitalGlue's creative.space Wins NAB 2...
22/04/2025
iZotope unveils Equinox: the ultimate reverb plugin for Post and Music productio...
22/04/2025
Every way to export transparent videos from After Effects
Graham Quince April 21, 2025
0 Comments
In this video, I break down each way you can export ...
22/04/2025
April 22nd, 2025 Press Materials Available Here
Tribeca Festival 2025 Announces Short Film Lineup
Featuring How I Learned to Die Executive Produced by Osca...
Stanley Cup Final: Big Sound for the Big Games ESPN is combining technique and technology to put fans on the ice By Dan Daley, Audio Editor 
