
DTV Audio Group A1-Focused Event Returns After Three COVID-Delayed Years Broadcast's front-line mixers talk immersive sound, training, new mic technologies By Dan Daley, Audio Editor
Monday, July 25, 2022 - 12:06 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
The DTV Audio Group held its fourth meeting focused primarily on front-line A1 audio mixers. The event, held July 21 in Detroit, was the first since 2019, when COVID changed pretty much everything, including broadcast sports and its sound.
In opening remarks, DTVAG Executive Director Roger Charlesworth pointed out that the COVID shutdown left the industry in a kind of cliffhanger, with the imminent promise of broader implementation of Dolby Atmos and of both cloud-based workflows and digital microphones.
In opening remarks at DTV Audio Group A1-focused event, DTVAG's Roger Charlesworth proclaimed this an incredible moment in audio and predicted radical change going forward.
It's an incredible moment in audio, he told a highly focused audience of 70-plus attendees, mostly veteran A1s or audio supervisors, managers, or executives from broadcast sports. [The cloud] is further virtualizing remote production, and streaming has made distribution more fungible and adaptable. Expect, he added, radical change going forward.
In fact, Charlesworth noted in a subsequent interview, Atmos was part of what prompted the DTV conclaves in the first place, when he and key audio/technology executives at television networks sought more-direct communication with the A1 community, which in the U.S. comprises freelancers almost exclusively, just as Dolby was preparing to introduce Atmos to the broadcast sector.
It would be a great way to get everyone together and be able to talk through things, as much about production management as mixing, he said.
In 2017, the first of A1-focus meeting was produced under the aegis of SVG.
At the first one, we had three of the four Super Bowl mixers attending. This year, we also have more distribution-focused attendees, Charlesworth said, noting the presence of representatives from Comcast/Peacock, Netflix, and HBO Max/Warner Media.
SVG's DTVAG meetings are fantastic opportunities for the sharing of ideas between A1s as well as with manufacturers and vendors, said NBC Sports and Olympics Senior Director, Audio Engineering, Karl Malone. It is rare that A1s get to discuss the practice of mixing sports with other A1s, and the DTVAG seminar is a wonderful opportunity for learning and sharing.
Importance of Atmos Accordingly, Dolby Labs commenced the conference with a look at how deeply Atmos has become integrated into broadcast sports, citing its applications for the Olympics (including 180 hours of immersive sound from Beijing in 2021), the World Cup, its testing for NBC Sports' coverage of Notre Dame football home games, and its use on an estimated 120 events a year on Fox Sports. Broadcast sports is now at home with Atmos, said Cherylene McKinney, director, commercial partnerships, Dolby.
In a presentation on Atmos, Dolby's Cherylene McKinney noted that broadcast sports is at home with the format and that now it's all about educating the consumer about how and where to get it.
Now it's all about educating the consumer about how and where to get [Atmos], she added, noting that major consumer-electronics brands have incorporated Atmos into such products as soundbars.
One of those is Sky TV's Sky Glass, the UK-based (and Comcast-owned) network's first foray into consumer television sets. A demo of the television - which integrates 4K, UHD, HDR, Atmos, and other platforms, as well as upward-firing speakers for Atmos's overhead channels - was available in an adjacent room throughout the conference.
Speaking of how Atmos is changing broadcast-sports production, Malone explained how Atmos mixes had created a dome overhead of golf production, in the form of the format's four channels of overhead speakers. He further noted how music production using immersive sound enhances the format's market penetration on television with sports increasingly incorporating music.
(Malone also emphasized a semantic distinction in terminology. We are mixing in immersive' when we are in the truck and control rooms, he said. The Atmos encode/decode is heard only in the homes, and the result is not as immersive' as what is being produced upstream, due to encode/decode limitations in Dolby DD+JOC. There is a push by A1s to ensure that Dolby continues with ensuring that the pass-through quality from truck to home is equal. We are not there yet and thus try to temper our use of the term Atmos until it reached the home. )
Microphones for Immersive, Networked Audio Malone also highlighted the use of Audio-Technica's new 8.0 immersive microphone to add efficiency to productions, calling it instant immersive audio and adding that the height-channel speakers have added a new dimension to mixing the crowd sounds for sports on television.
Microphones were on the agenda in other ways. Two presentations looked at how transducers have moved to Dante and other networks, with such benefits as deployment scalability and remote controllability. Future benefits could include beam-forming applications for precision targeting of sources, integrated DSP, and even GPS capability.
(In a presentation on the potential for AI-assisted immersive mixing, using pattern recognition to predict how a mix unfolds during sports, Salsa Sound CEO Rob Oldfield observed about microphones in the digital era that we need to start viewing microphones as sensors, not just sound collectors. )
Channel vs. Object Interestingly, although much of the focus of immersive sound has been from the object-based rather than the channel-based perspective, some voices on the distributio
Most recent headlines
14/03/2025
BURLINGTON, Mass. Avid has expanded its executive leadership team (ELT) with the appointment of three experienced executives: Tom Sharma as chief technology off...
14/03/2025
CUPERTINO, Calif. TVU Networks, a pioneer in live video production and a leader in cloud-based media solutions, is marking its 20th anniversary at the 2025 NAB ...
13/03/2025
(L-R) Stephanie Suganami, Tatanka Means, John Malkovich, Ayo Edebiri, and Juliette Lewis attend the premiere of Opus at Eccles Theatre in Park City. (Photo by...
13/03/2025
Spotify took center stage at the London Book Fair this week, reaffirming our commitment to the audiobook market and showcasing our impact on the publishing indu...
13/03/2025
At Spotify, we work every day to lift up new voices, giving creators the opportunity to live off their art. Through Spotify Audiobooks, our in-house publishing ...
13/03/2025
Every time airborne law enforcement (ALE) teams fly, they expect their equipment to perform. Whether airborne units are conducting support for ground teams, bor...
13/03/2025
Sunday February 9 saw the annual return of the US' biggest television event, the Super Bowl LIX. Jamie McCombs, Fox Sports Audio Consultant / Sr. Audio capt...
13/03/2025
On Sunday March 2, stars across the film industry gathered at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles for the 97th Academy Awards. Production Sound Mixer Paul Sandweis...
13/03/2025
WUPPERTAL, Germany Riedel Communications will feature its new StageLink family of smart edge devices, Smart Audio and Mixing Engine (SAME) and Virtual Smart Pan...
13/03/2025
TAG Video Systems and Harmonic Partner to Deliver Enhanced Real-Time Monitoring ...
13/03/2025
DigitalGlue Invites NAB Visitors to Experience New Features in Managed Storage P...
13/03/2025
FOR-A America Theme - Connecting the Present, Building the Future - Comes to Lif...
13/03/2025
CTIA, the wireless industry association, has named former FCC Chairman Aji Pai as its President and Chief Executive Officer, effective April 1. He replaces Mere...
13/03/2025
he National Association of Broadcasters is urging the FCC to end its investigation of that controversial CBS interview with Kamala Harris stating there is no ...
13/03/2025
MIAMI CBS News & Stations continues to expand its use of augmented and virtual reality technologies with the planned launch of an augmented reality/virtual real...
13/03/2025
Srividhya Srinivasan, co-founder and chief customer success & innovation Officer at Amagi, tells TVBEurope how staying ahead of the latest trends is essential f...
13/03/2025
WASHINGTON FCC Chairman Brendan Carr announced that the agency has launched a massive, new deregulatory initiative that could potentially subject virtually all ...
13/03/2025
SUNNYVALE, Calif. SDVI has announced that it has integrated its Rally media supply chain management platform with the Spectra Vail multi-cloud data management s...
13/03/2025
ATLANTA Gray Media has announced that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has granted a waiver of its local ownership rules to permit Gray Media to acqu...
13/03/2025
TV Tech: What do you anticipate will be the most significant technology trends at the 2025 NAB Show?...
13/03/2025
Watch Student Naomi Soleils Folk Pop Performance on The Voice The songwriting major sang Stars by Grace Potter and the Nocturnals during the blind auditions.
...
13/03/2025
Roku Debuts NWSL Zone' Within Roku Sports to Spotlight Live Games, Content Feature marks Rokus first women's league-branded zone within service By Bra...
13/03/2025
Pixels, Images, Video, AI - and Us: A Perspective on AI from NDI Inventor Andrew...
13/03/2025
SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Lighting Design Group's Steve Brill, Dennis Size ...
13/03/2025
IOC, Comcast NBCU Ink $3B Media-Rights Extension for Olympic Games Through 2036;...
13/03/2025
NCAA March Madness Live Returns with Expanded Availability of MultiView Vertical...
13/03/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Cosm's Devin Poolman on What It Takes To Deliver the Immersive...
13/03/2025
Sky Business, Sky's B2B division, providing connectivity and content to busi...
13/03/2025
Rohde & Schwarz launches R&S NRP140TWG(N) thermal power sensor: A new benchmark ...
13/03/2025
We asked the questions, analysed the answers and now we're excited to share the results of the fifth edition of the ICG Marketing Survey.
Our 2025 survey p...
13/03/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. - March 13, 2025 Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) today announced a breakthrough in video streaming innovation with the launch of new origin capabilitie...
13/03/2025
Haivision Showcases Mission-Critical Video Solutions at SOF Week 2025
Haivision's video wall systems, ISR technology, and DoDIN APL-certified video distri...
13/03/2025
Company Leads the Way with New Software-Based Production Platform, 12G Switcher,...
13/03/2025
A new Apple Immersive concert experience, Metallica, is coming to Apple Vision Pro this Friday, March 14. Filmed in Mexico City during the sold-out second-year ...
13/03/2025
Here is your host, Patrick Kielty!
Shake your Shamrocks, Patrick Kielty will be...
13/03/2025
This St. Patrick's weekend, RT invites you to celebrate all things Irish, showcasing the very best of Irish sport, entertainment and live coverage from the...
13/03/2025
What's next in AI is at GTC 2025. Not only the technology, but the people and ideas that are pushing AI forward - creating new opportunities, novel solution...
13/03/2025
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
By combining T-Mobile's robust network, Thal...
13/03/2025
Bundle up - GeForce NOW is bringing a flurry of Blizzard titles to its ever-expanding library.
Prepare to weather epic gameplay in the cloud, tackling the genr...
13/03/2025
AI is leveling up the world's most beloved games, as the latest advancements...
13/03/2025
PC game modding is massive, with over 5 billion mods downloaded annually. Mods p...
12/03/2025
O Spotify acaba de lan ar o relat rio Loud & Clear deste ano, uma vis o transpar...
12/03/2025
Spotify acaba de presentar el informe Loud & Clear de este a o, una mirada trans...
12/03/2025
Ramadan, a period of profound spiritual significance for Muslims worldwide, is a time for fasting, prayer, reflection, and community. Enrich your experience thi...
12/03/2025
Spotify has just unveiled this year's Loud & Clear report, a transparent loo...
12/03/2025
More than 70% of FAST programming has been produced since 2010, according to new Gracenote report
NEW YORK March 12, 2025 Gracenote, the content data busin...
12/03/2025
GEONA, Nev. Independent digital and linear advertising rep firm Viamedia will adopt cloud-based ShowSeeker Pilot as its primary ad campaign and order management...
12/03/2025
BRUSSELS Mediagenix has announced that Wael Yasin has joined the company as sales director Central Europe....
12/03/2025
LONDON A new study highlights opportunities for shoppable TV and the massive impact online consumer spending is having on the economy, with Omdia predicting tha...
12/03/2025
CUPERTINO, Calif. Interra Systems has announced that Comcast Technology Solutions has integrated recent updates to BATON Version 9 into its operations....