stems from the various mix stages that were already producing 5.1 content for the conventional HD + 5.1 broadcast and add the four height sources ; however , after the event , they typically create a Blu-ray archive . This year , they ’ ll be able to do that with a more robust 7.1.4 variant .
The initial 5.1 mixes for the musical performances were split between Bellmedia engineer Anthony Montano , operating out of the Broadcast Audio Services ( BAS ) truck , and the LiveWire Remote Recorders truck , led by owner Doug McClement .
Midgley offers a bit of insight into mixing the performances in Atmos : “ Having things object-based on the live performances gave us the ability to find positions that worked for both aesthetics with picture and for keeping as much detail in the Atmos arena as possible , and then doing it in post just gave us that much bigger of an envelope .”
The biggest concern in this case , he says , is the picture . No matter what , if there ’ s something on the screen that the viewer should be hearing , then that audio needs to be married with a focal point on the screen . “ And we can ’ t predict if someone ’ s watching on a phone or on an 80-in . screen ,” Midgley notes , “ so object placement and how we use the tools is delicate and it has to be married in a picture . When we don ’ t have anything referenced by picture – say the announcer mic – then we can do what we want .”
As mentioned , a major component of both the live and post Atmos mixes is the way the crowd and ambiance mics are incorporated . Two technicians , Dave Tedesco and Chris Sampson , were mixing the crowd and camera mics in the basement at 299 Queen West .
“ Since that ’ s really the heart of what it ’ s like to stand in that parking lot and watch the show ,” Nunan begins , “ we guessed it ’ d be about how we presented that ambient signature in the plus-height environment that would be the real difference-maker .”
Again , delivering a clean main broadcast was the top priority , and so the team had to consider what they could comfortably ask of the various parties involved in the process that wouldn ’ t compromise their abilities to do their jobs .
Nunan says it came down to having Tedesco and Sampson simply consider height when placing their complement of nearly 30 microphones across the site . In the end , some were placed at ground level , some in the truss above the stages , and some on the roof of the building . Then it was just a matter of having them think of things in groups – high , mid-level , and crowd-level . Summing those groups together , they ’ d have their usual 5.1 sum to contribute to the main telecast , but by simultaneously sending those source groups to the Atmos stage , they could have their cake and eat it , too .
“ Something that we dealt with in post and might bake into the live setting next time was to delay certain arrays or microphones with others so they all had the same impulse time ,” Midgley says of the unique challenge of having to time-align all of the crowd and ambiance microphones throughout the site . “ Then , on the day of the show , we could delay the stage microphones to the edge of the stage so they would be closely aligned with the audience mics , which tightens up the whole mix in a complete Atmos arena .”
Post-Show
FRONT ROW ( L-R ): DOLBY ’ S GARY EPSTEIN ; BELLMEDIA ’ S ROY JANKE , DAVID MIDLGEY , MICHAEL NUNAN & SEAN CORCORAN . STAIRS ( L-R ): BAS / LAWO ’ S DOUG SMITH & BELLMEDIA ’ S ANTHONY MONTANO . REAR ( L-R ): BELLMEDIA ’ S HOWARD BAGGLEY ; FREELANCE ENGINEER KENT FORD ; DOLBY ’ S DOUGLAS RIBORDY & BELLMEDIA ’ S CHRIS BERRY
Generally speaking , Nunan says these types of initiatives would be far more difficult without a crack team of collaborators and support from his colleagues and leaders .
“ Anthony [ Montano ] and I have always attempted to push the envelope with this show , and luckily , everyone else on the team is very much onside with that ,” he enthuses . “ We have fantastic support from our engineering departments here , and especially from our technical producer , David Azoulay . He ’ s our biggest champion in terms of letting us conduct these sorts of experiments where it might be harder to convince other people that aren ’ t as friendly towards audio , or a bit more cynical about it .”
Of course , that level of confidence from higher ups is born of the stellar reputation shared by the team . “ None of us are new to television , so the notion of a clean show at all costs is in our collective DNA ,” Nunan asserts . “ Not only did we do this in a next-gen format , but did it with a new toolset riding on an audio-over-IP environment , so we made it very hard on ourselves , but that meant everyone involved got some very specific learnings out of it .”
Corcoran , for example , gained experience
deploying a large amount Ravenna gear in a unique configuration , and getting equipment from various manufacturers to play along . Baggley logged mixing time in an entirely new format , and even Midgley , who has plenty of experience with Atmos in a post environment , benefited from a different type of exposure .
“ This was a lot of fun ,” says Baggley , recapping the experience . “ We proved that Atmos works really well for live music , but I ’ m excited to see how this new format will allow us to better support some of the other genres we work in . Maybe the most interesting aspect of the technology is that it allows us to mix in this new high-end format , while still guaranteeing the experience that every user has , all the way down to someone listening on an iPhone .”
With archives of the final product – both the live 5.1.4 mix and the enhanced 7.1.4 post variant – they ’ ll now be able to share the results with colleagues and current and potential clients .
“ Ultimately , we delivered a very successful show that was clean to air in all respects – no muss , no fuss – but at the same time , had executed our Atmos mix in real-time and recorded all of the results ,” Nunan says in summary . “ We look forward to the entire ecosystem being able to support this . When that day comes , we know we ’ ll be ready .”
Andrew King is the Editor-in-Chief of Professional Sound .
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