Olympic Swim Team Trials Put on a Show at Lucas Oil Stadium The event posed new challenges for in-venue sound, broadcast audio By Dan Daley, Audio Editor
Monday, July 8, 2024 - 11:22 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
In yet another example of the event-ization of once-routine sports activities, last month's highly watched U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Swimming followed the NFL and NHL Drafts from business-as-usual to business-as-spectacle. The qualifying tryouts, which had been held at Omaha's 14,000-seat CHI Health Center Arena for the four previous trials, were moved this year to Indianapolis's Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the NFL Colts. The move more than doubled the seating capacity, even after the gridiron was converted into a pair of Olympic-size swimming pools: a 10-lane, 50-meter competition pool and an L-shaped warmup pool with intersecting 50-meter and 25-meter lengths.
It was the first time the trials, which took place June 15-23, were held in an NFL stadium, which itself follows a recent trend in which regular-season NHL and NBA games have also moved from arenas to stadiums.
In addition to the indoor sports events, the trials featured USA Swimming LIVE, an outdoor music event with DJs, bands, and presentations all week between trials sessions.
Along with record crowds on hand, the trials logged a 20% increase from the 2021 trials, averaging 3.2 million primetime viewers across NBC and Peacock, according to early numbers. The first two days of the diving trials averaged 2.9 million viewers in primetime, an increase of 39% from the overall 2021 trials average.
The live side of the extravaganza was expected to create event-level numbers, too. The nine-day series was predicted to generate more than $100 million of economic impact locally, according to the Indiana Sports Corp.
It is on a scale with an NFL Draft, says Caleb Cassler, senior audio specialist, Dodd Technologies, which provided the live sound for this year's and previous years' swimming trials and also supplied all the LED, lighting, scenic, and rigging for the event.
Testing the Waters These large events bring with them new challenges for audio, not least of which is how to manage a fluid surface that's more reflective than a football field but certainly less so than a hardwood basketball court.
Dodd Technologies' Caleb Cassler: The [goal] was to keep audio intelligible for the swimmers while not ruining NBC's nat sound.
[Water] actually reflects pretty well, Cassler explains. I wouldn't say the water itself is a huge acoustical issue, just an obstacle [to negotiate]. The design of the PA system is to try to keep everything away from the pool unless I want it there. The purpose of keeping the sound controlled around it was to keep audio intelligible for the swimmers while not ruining NBC's nat sound.
Lucas Oil Stadium's JBL VLA installed PA system was augmented with additional Meyer Sound loudspeaker components for the swimming trials. This was done to convert the typical line-array design of the installed sound system into a distributed-system design, creating highly specific individual audio zones for certain areas: warm-up pool, first-call, athlete entrance, athlete lounge, and massage room as well as underdeck elevator positions, VIP sections, starting blocks, and athlete-seating areas.
All the areas would be part of the broadcast and/or the in-venue production, which was shown on a 75-ft. LED screen that served as backdrop to the main pool. Each zone required a set of loudspeakers and separate groups/auxes on the front-of house mix console that controlled all the various mixes for the house and sent selected feeds, such as poolside interviews with swimmers, to the production truck parked outside.
Additional speakers created the distributed-sound effect that kept sonic energy focused on crowds and events and away from reflective surfaces.
We had to do a lot more speaker locations to try to segment the space, so it's not just a big acoustic mess everywhere, Cassler says. I basically could control audio in most of the rooms that had any sort of swimmer in it from my console.
Fluid Acoustics The stadium's interior is naturally reflective, and its acoustics were somewhat compounded by the pools and their water, although that was partially mitigated by a 320-ft.-wide by 120-ft.-tall drape bisecting the field. Nonetheless, indoor announcements had to contend with reflections that created an approximately 250-ms delay from the PA and caused a disorienting echo for the announcers.
The in-venue production was shown on a 75-ft. LED screen overlooking the main pool at Indianapolis's Lucas Oil Stadium.
Swimming events are very dynamic shows, Cassler explains. The place goes from perfectly silent when the athletes are on the blocks to a deafening roar when, say, a record gets broken. And everyone - the audience, the swimmers, the announcers - had their own demands for the live sound. The warmup pool, first-call room - all those rooms have PA in them, but they also needed to have a particular feel in terms of content and volume. Then there's the last-call room, which didn't have speakers but was open to the main area so [the swimmers] could hear the crowd and announcements and music through the doorway as they got ready to enter. I spent a lot of time walking around and adjusting delays between all the systems to try to have the audio focus guide you to the next place. Every area was very particular, and the console routing was very, very flexible, which it needed to be for this.
Cassler managed the entire in-venue audio from a DiGiCo SD12-96 console, which was also used to provide isolated feeds to broadcast as well as specific mixes for various areas of the venue. It was also deployed to manage the venue production
Most recent headlines
17/02/2025
TVBEurope talks to the team who brought a piece of broadcasting history back to life on BBC Wales last night
By Jenny Priestley
Published: February 14, 2025 ...
17/02/2025
Eligible studios will receive the relief directly from their local authorities, with no need to submit a claim
By Matthew Corrigan
Published: February 17, 20...
17/02/2025
As DEI initiatives come under pressure in the USA, supporters of Rise, which promotes diversity in the media and entertainment sector, discuss the continuing im...
17/02/2025
EIB Global loan will partially fund SES's continued O3b mPOWER medium earth orbit (MEO) fleet expansion enabling additional capacity worldwide. O3b mPOWER s...
15/02/2025
At Nielsen, Business Resource Groups (BRGs) play a critical role in nurturing a ...
15/02/2025
Innovation to empower creativity: Explore the latest in Lightroom
Rob Christensen February 15, 2025
0 Comments
Whether you want to remove distracting ...
15/02/2025
Wisycom, a worldwide leader in RF technology and provider of wireless solutions, announces a new distribution agreement with EQUAPHON. An Argentinian profession...
15/02/2025
DPA Microphones, the leading manufacturer of high-quality microphone solutions, is pleased to welcome Nicholas Nick Mariano and Vincent Vince Divine to the ...
15/02/2025
Tuxera, a leading provider of quality-assured file systems and networking solutions, will showcase how Tuxera Fusion SMB enables unprecedented performance for m...
15/02/2025
Bitmovin's latest Video Developer Report indicates an increasing role of AI, the slow adoption of next-generation codecs, and continuing challenges when it ...
15/02/2025
When Michelin Enterprises set out to promote its prestigious Hotel Guide in the new Sleepless in the Kitchen , campaign, veteran German/Slovenian gaffer Robert...
15/02/2025
Formula E, the world's first all-electric racing series, revolutionizing motorsport with cutting-edge technology and a commitment to sustainability has sele...
15/02/2025
Agile Content, a global leader in TV and video technology solutions, announces its rebranding to AgileTV.
The transition to AgileTV stems from a commitment to ...
15/02/2025
Hiltron Communications will promote the latest additions to its range of satellite communication products, systems and supporting services at GovSatCom 2025. Th...
15/02/2025
Following the success of the original Airglow Booklight, DoPchoice debuts a new addition to their inflatable line the Float. This lightweight, inflatable, round...
15/02/2025
LAS VEGAS Marshall Electronics has announced that it will debut its newest camera controller, the RCP Plus, at the 2025 NAB Show at Booth N2649 between April 5 ...
15/02/2025
ATLANTA Gray Media has named Blake Sebo as the next general manager of KTUU and KYES, Gray's NBC and CBS affiliates in Anchorage, Alaska....
15/02/2025
KOKKEDAL, Denmark DPA Microphones will feature its new CORE+ technology for distortion-free microphone sound at the 2025 NAB Show, April 5-9, in Las Vegas....
15/02/2025
SWANSEA, U.K. QuickLink will launch StudioPro-NDI and StudioPro-3, two new models of its QuickLine StudioPro video production platform, at the 2025 NAB Show, Ap...
15/02/2025
Live From 2025 NBA All-Star Game Weekend: After 25 Years, Turner Sports All-In F...
15/02/2025
NASCAR Driver Cam on Max Embraces Cloud-Based Workflow for 2025 Season Chris Brown of WBD Sports says Mobii will play key part in delivering signals from the tr...
14/02/2025
Last month, we officially launched the Spotify Partner Program, a powerful new m...
14/02/2025
From an island off the coast of Lutruwita to the global stage in France SBS & ...
14/02/2025
The future of electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) land systems is evolving so that ...
14/02/2025
Here are 5 reasons why you should attend ISE 2025
Discover more about Calrec: Learn more about Calrec's legacy of innovation in broadcast audio solutions ...
14/02/2025
World Radio Day: On the same wavelength
By Graham Murray, International Sales Manager at Calrec
To mark World Radio Day, Calrec's International Sales Ma...
14/02/2025
DALLAS and TYSONS, Va. Tegna has concluded a broadcast rights agreement that makes Tegna's KFAA in Dallas the exclusive local television partner of the Dall...
14/02/2025
Amazon's Prime Video has released a new app for Apple TV that the streamer said delivers an improved streaming experiences with faster scrolling, improved s...
14/02/2025
CLEVELAND Telos Alliance announced a software update for its Axia Quasar XR and SR line of audio-over-IP (AoIP) mixing consoles and will show the offering at th...
14/02/2025
Puget Systems Returns to HPA Tech Retreat 2025 with New Analysis Tools for Puge...
14/02/2025
Glass Animals: Tour of Earth Uses Blackmagic Live Production Workflow
Brie Clayton February 14, 2025
0 Comments
80six deploys Blackmagic URSA Broadcas...
14/02/2025
A dispute between Paramount and Youtube TV that would have pulled CBS stations and Paramount's cable channels from the streaming service has been temporaril...
14/02/2025
Colourist Deidre (Dee) McClelland details how she helped shape the distinct look and feel of whimsical Oscar-nominated stop-motion film, Memoir of a Snail
By C...
14/02/2025
BitFire said it intends to introduce forward-looking services that simplify the launch of live production workflows, and enhance real-time collaboration
By Jen...
14/02/2025
The claim by the liquidators is the latest twist in the ongoing saga of the companys collapse at the end of 2021
By Matthew Corrigan
Published: February 14, ...
14/02/2025
A carriage dispute between YouTube TV and Paramount could come to a head today (Feb. 13), with the virtual pay TV provider threatening to pull all of the progra...
14/02/2025
ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J. LG Electronics USA has opened a new in-house, state-of-the-art virtual production studio at its 360,000-square-foot North American headqu...
14/02/2025
NEW YORK In a bid to help local broadcasters find new ways of monetizing their content, the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM) and TVB have relea...
14/02/2025
WASHINGTON Three Democratic U.S. Senators have sent a stern letter blasting FCC Chair Brendan Carr for the weaponization of the agency for attacking broadcast...
14/02/2025
Years after launching the streaming service Apple TV+ in November of 2019, Apple has finally released a version of its steaming app for Android devices....
14/02/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. Red Digital Cinema will make its V-RAPTOR [X] and KOMODO-X camera systems available with Nikon's premier Z Mount, providing filmmaker...
14/02/2025
DAYTONA, Fla. The Fox Sports production of this year's Daytona 500 will see the addition of a few new tech elements and the continued unfolding of the broad...
14/02/2025
Watch Bryson Battles Blind Audition on The Voice Get a Four-Chair Turn Michael Bubl said the Boston Conservatory at Berklee musical theater senior might have...
14/02/2025
2025 Daytona 500: FOX Sports Looks To Ride Super Bowl LIX Momentum Into NASCAR S...
14/02/2025
14 Feb 2025
VEON's Kyivstar and the Come Back Alive Foundation Raise USD 2....
14/02/2025
Max Renews THE PITT, Starring Noah Wyle, For A Second Season
Max
Warner Bros. Television Group
The Pitt
New Episodes Of The Medical Drama From John...
14/02/2025
This year, Technicolor proudly celebrates 110 years of shaping the magic of cinema pioneering color, visual effects, and innovation that bring unforgettable l...
14/02/2025
NBA All-Star: More Games, More Teams, More Music, More Sound From the Court Turner Sports' team will deploy familiar tech to capture all the audio By Dan D...
14/02/2025
LIV Golf Continues To Innovate With Drones, Data-Driven Graphics, and All-Access...
Olympic Swim Team Trials Put on a Show at Lucas Oil Stadium The event posed new challenges for in-venue sound, broadcast audio By Dan Daley, Audio Editor 
