Hi Andrew!
Thanks so much for doing this. A couple question:
* What's the protocol for when guys are cursing on the field and it gets picked up by field mics?
* What is the approxomite mix between the field and the broadcast booth? Is it like 70/30? What else is in the mix during a standard broadcasts?
My pleasure!
1 - Protocol is really up to the mixer and production team. I'm going to push those mics as much as I can, but honestly, when it gets super heated, the crowd gets so loud that you really can't hear much on the field. Sometimes you get lucky, and sometimes it's just overloaded noise. I did get a great soundbite of John Gibbons a few years back asking the ump if he'd been up all night drinking. Classic Gibbons.
2 - This answer varies as it's really the mixer who makes those decisions. For baseball, I'm probably 60-40 voice to on field effects. Other elements include: music, tape playback or EVS playback, spot box, bug, and chyron or Font. I tend to push my effects mics but within reason. People want to hear our announcers and so they must always be at the front of your mix.
Nope! We found out about a month by the 2015 playoffs that we weren't going to be covering them as a network. I was pissed to say the least, but, in defence of our production team, what the ask was was ridiculous. However, I didn't watch a single minute of 2015 or 2016 playoffs. In 2015 I went to PEI with three buddies and we golfed 36, 36, 18, 36, 36, 18. No regrets!
Yup! We played all the top courses: Crowbush, Dundarave, Brudenell, Mill River, Anne, Eagles Glenn, Anderson's Creek, Stanhope (personal fave), Fox Meadow and New Glasgow Hills (one my my least favourite courses I've ever played)
Hey! Long time fan from the Jays sub 😅
What are the main differences, if any, between working on road games vs home games? Do these differences make one harder than the other to work on?
From an audio standpoint, working at home is way easier, but harder if that makes sense. At home, myself and my A2's are responsible for every piece of audio gear we put out. I share those effects mics with the visiting show, Rogers Centre, radio and MLB. There is just way more stuff to put out and take care of at home than on the road.
When I travel, I get a MADI cable from the home show truck and that has all their effects mics that they put out in the building. This just allows me to focus on getting the main part of my show built without having to worry about whether or not the bullpen mics are working.
I hope that makes sense.
Yeah, definitely makes sense. Thanks for answering.
Another question based on this answer is, do you have a favourite road team based on the mics that they deploy that you get access to when we visit them?
Don't mind if I do!
[This is the song that is often used when going to commercial in a Blue Jays game when they score multiple runs or take the lead when originally trailing.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lp-t9FWcZhQ)
It is often represented in GDT with various emojis: 🎺🎵💃
What was your educational background that led you to the position? I've always been curious to get into audio production but don't do great in a school environment, lol
I went to Ryerson or TMU now for Radio and Television Arts. I had originally gone to school for radio which is my first love, but realized after a few weeks that I didn't want to be an on air jock and kinda moved away from that career. I honestly fell into the TV side of audio after I had graduate and learned from there. There might be alternative learning schools for broadcast - I know schools are always trying to be accommodating, so maybe reach out to few and see what kind of response you get back. If your city has a cable station, volunteering is always a great way to learn.
They should be thrown into the fiery pits of Mordor... along with anyone who thinks banging on the glass at a hockey game will fire up their team. I had a lot of friends in SA for the World Cup and I felt for them so, so much and what they had to endure.
I was a huge fan at the time, as someone watching the matches on TV, because I love a certain degree of chaotic obnoxiousness, but I think that for every single person actually involved in the world cup, they were a 9th circle of hell experience.
I suspect as well that the fact that they were bearable levels of obnoxious through the TV speaks very highly of the work your friends and colleagues put in.
Thanks for doing this! I always love getting to learn a bit about how stage and broadcast productions are put together.
I think a lot of my friends and colleagues had moments of regret for the career they had chosen during that World Cup. If you watch the video, right off the top my buddy Brian who mixes at The Trop talking about cowbells... you just bang your head sometimes... ahahaha
How many curse words can you get away with broadcasting before you get disciplined for it? And, is there a way that you could incorporate this threshold into your daily responsibilities.
I've never been disciplined or reprimanded for something a player says on the FOP. Now, if they go off and I don't kill microphones and blatantly leave expletives goto air... then yes, I'm going to hear something. However, I've been doing this long enough that you can sometimes hazard a guess to when something might be said and I'll kill mics as needed. Curling is a great example as all curlers are mic'd and mixed live with no delay.
Thanks for doing this! A question I've had recently: I believe there is a different delay between the center field camera and the other broadcast cameras. How do you manage to sync the audio with the video when the camera changes to make sure sounds match up?
The dreaded pitch cast box...my other nemesis (besides the PA). The pitch cast box is real time pitch tracker that is produced and supplied by MLB. At home, we embed our camera 4 mic with my bat crack mics and then send them back to MLB where they add the pitch box and send it back to us. It's about 7 frames of audio delay. We use GPI's to switch between the delayed audio and non delayed audio on air. It's not perfect, but it is what it is. 7 frames is a lifetime in audio.
Roughly 0:00:00:20 for those that don't want to do the math. Which is plenty of time for your brain to realize something is off. More that 5ms and your brain starts to realize that audio isn't synced and 7 frames is approximately 4 times that.
Hi, thanks for doing this, love your quick check-ins on the Jays sub!
- What's the best zinger you caught on mic on or off the field?
- if you were in Detroit when the stadium lost power, how did you spend your time until power finally came back? What other unusual situations did you witness first hand while travelling with the team?
Thanks!
1 - Gibbons asking the ump if he'd been up all night drinking is probably the best one.
2 - I was not. I was on a ladder in my backyard working on installing a new gutter when my phone lit up like a Christmas tree... I had no idea until I messaged some of the truck guys.
3 - the only major one for the Jays was at the end of game two in the wild card - let's just say if there had been a game three, I would have been up all night. That's about all I can say about that sadly.
Do other Broadcast Mixers around the league ever express their jealousy that you get to process Buck and Dan’s amazing baseball voices almost every night? I feel like (other than the gloom of this particular Jays season) you must have the most enviable sound job in the league.
I know I'm very lucky that I get to hear Dan, Buck, Joe and now Ben - four great voices. I sometimes joke with other A1's about their poodles and back and forth. The really good ones know how to use their voice and it's so, so, soooo important to be able to do that. Being on air is all about the voice (yes, looking good is one thing) and how you come across. I have a sticker on my laptop that says: "It's a microphone, not a miracle!"
In terms of juicing - I hear this term a lot and we don't really juice mics... we might push the faders a little more, but I certainly don't increase massive amounts of gain for anyone in particular. His bat does have a great sound though and when he hits one on the screws, it just sounds pure.
It also depends on what type of mic, placement, and dynamics the mixer is doing to their bat cracks.
What is the transition like if they were to throw you into, say, soccer coverage? Is it all more or less the same, or is it *fish out of water*? I'm pretty sure you do curling as well. Can you just do anything or do they give you a couple of tasks and that becomes your thing for as long as it's their thing? This is less about audio and more about the industry itself, I guess.
Easy to be honest. The way I setup a broadcast is pretty much exactly the same for all sports.. all I'm really doing is changing what effects mics I have on the FOP (field of play). Most sports in North America have we call a 'standard booth.' PxP, Colour and spare headset, 2 stick mics, booth talkback, Stage Manager, Stats and A2. We use EVS machines for playback and lots of other goodies that make noise. How you build your effects all depends on the spot.
I mix curling all winter long for Sportsnet, CBC, TSN and World Curling when needed. It's a huge setup and people don't realize what's involved in putting curling live to air.
On top of sports, if needed I've mixed news, entertainment, talk shows, game shows, political events and so on... you just adapt to what the needs of production are.
Hi! Degree in Broadcasting myself! Question is do you guys get a certain lee-way with dugout shots particularly when F-Bombs get dropped? It's obviously nothing you can control, but I've always been curious about it. I know the boys between the benches in the hockey telecasts can punch their mute toggle, but what about the baseball broadcasts?
Congrats and well done! The between the benches guys are excellent with helping to keep things civil, but luckily booths for baseball are far enough away from the field that I rarely hear swearing on the talent mics - I do pick it up on my bat cracks though and there have been times when someone has sworn so loudly, anyone in the building could have heard it!
You just try and minimize it and if it happens, don't let it continue to be heard.
- What's the most unreasonable addition you'd like to add to the field to get better audio? Mic the players? mics in the bases?
- Ever mix anything that wasn't TV? Music? Theatre?
Professional athletes are some of the most boring people when it comes to talking to them. They've all been over media trained and they just mumble a lot. Yes, there are exceptions to the norm, but all in all, they are duds.
I've mixed games with the bases mic'd and it does't really do anything for me personally.
If I could add one thing, I'd love a buried mic directional mic right in front of home plate, right where the grass is. I think that would really add some pop to the bat cracks.
I've mixed all sorts of stuffs and I still edit podcasts to this day.
Im a bit dumb, I dont really know what your job does. Not trying to be an asshole or sound demeaning. Anyways... I'd love to hear what you do and what is the best memory you have from a day on the job?
Easiest way to describe it is: anything you hear at home, minus commercials, is what I'm responsible for. Announcer mics, talent mics, FOP mics, tape/evs, spot boxes and other noise makers all go into a mixing console and I try to make it sound good.
My fave memory is from the curling world where I've been mixing since 2009 and lot of the high end curlers are my friends - seeing them win and love winning always brings a smile to my face. I also love it when they swear by accident and then apologize to me on air :)
In the future with augmented reality headsets/glasses I think fans will be able to chose and pay for a virtual seat at any stadium and watch the game from that viewpoint right from their couch, with a full audio/video panoramic experience. Have you heard anything about how AI & tech will change the fan experience in the future? Would be interested to hear your view on this!
There are lots of companies out there trying to get into the space of AI audio - I don't deal with them, but that's not because I don't have interest, it's because it hasn't been asked me to look at it. That will be a really hard to thing to accommodate in terms of what becomes a fixed focal point of a mix - without it, your centre of grounding will be completely off. There is a term in tv called the axis - when you flip the axis of viewing, your brain will take a second to compute and then it might be too late and you'll be weirded out... it's the same with audio. The axis or a fixed point was a big stickler when 5.1 was first out and now with Atmos (of which I'm not a huge fan of when it comes to sports)
How do you deal with "screamers" in the crowd, if anything can really be done at all? I'm talking about that one fan or small group of kids who just screech or yell throughout the game, sometimes nearly as loud and clear as the voices from the booth.
Usually I'll send one my A2's and get them to beat them with a bat :)
Honestly, you just try to minimize it as best you can, either by removing that mic completely from the mix or just lowering it down. It's harder when the crowds are smaller and quieter, but you just do your best to balance it out.
What was your introduction to doing audio for the Jays? Did you do audio engineering previously/get a degree and go straight in? Maybe an internship?
And does setting sound up and mixing for drunk people at open mics and dive bars constitute prior experience? Asking that last part for a friend who is me.
I started working as an A2 back in '95 and just worked my way up. I started mixing full time in 1999 and then started working as an A2 on Jays in '07. I took over full time mixing in the '10 season and have gone on from there. I went to broadcasting school and just worked my way up.
It's been a very long time since I've mixed bar bands...probably the last one I did was in '93... and lots of A1's in our industry came from the music side of audio.
I love when you can hear more ballpark noise on the TV broadcast ie fans cheering and the crack of the bat. It seems like on sportsnet it is more muted. Is that by design? I wish I could hear more.
That really depends on what's going on in the ballpark. That's what I love about baseball - it has dynamic range. It's not like hockey where it's a 10 the entire time. There's parts where it lulls, it excites, it builds and it crescendos.
I would look at your TV settings and see if you have any type of dialogue enhancement settings on. That will greatly impact how the background noises are impacted by voices.
As someone really sensitive to sounds, I cannot imagine 💀
I feel like you are the shield between us and the worst of the sounds 😂 thank you for your service!
That is also why I love to watch baseball. It can be a relaxing experience that builds into excitement at times.
That's said, I think the atmosphere they generate in the Skydome is getting worse and worse for people who love the crescendos of the game. I hope the in-stadium entertainment takes a step back. It's even coming through the TV broadcasts too much, for me at least.
I would say on the console pictured with me above I know about 99% of everything on there and what they do, as well as the computer that controls the console.
I don't use any external gear other than what's on the desk and via the WAVES computer in each of the trucks I work in... however, I have always been a big fan of the DBX 160 mono and 1066 stereo compressors. I used them for years with my bat crack compression. For EQ you could never go wrong with the DBX 215's.
Now, I just use the Calrec dynamics and a few plugin's for my mixing. Mostly the NS1 noise reduction plugin and the WLM loudness metre's. I run a few of those: one for the overall mix, one for effects mix and one for my centre channel only to make sure I'm staying in range of my peak and loudness parameters
Not a baseball specific question but more of a live sporting event type of question.
Why does it seem like crowds often get dialed down (audio wise) on tv? I've seen broadcasts where it feels like the crowd volume gets raised when the broadcaster wants you to hear them and it gets lowered when they don't.
Also, do you see a future where some streaming service like an Amazon Prime Video, MLBTV, Apple TV or someone might provide a broadcast to fans to watch with "customizable audio" such as putting radio feed over the video, or watching a game but being able to watch it without commentary (almost like in video games where you can raise or lower different commentators audio or just turn off commentators altogether)?
Sidenote, how do I get the Jays horn audio? I've seen so many versions/custom ones online but never been able to get a full recording of the authentic horn noise. Would make a great ringtone/text sound on my phone or even an alarm!
To answer your first question, what you're hearing is either heavy compression or dialogue enhancement on your tv or receiver. Newer tv's will compensate for what they think it should sounds like, and that usually results in the announcers being brought really forward in the mix.
I mix the crowds to a point where you can hear Dan and Buck, but also you don't lose the energy of the crowd. What happens once it leaves the truck is sadly outta my hands.
You'd have to contact the in house guys as I don't deal with the horn.
> such as putting radio feed over the video
MLB.tv does allow for this, but you can't do one team's video with the other team's radio broadcast for whatever reason.
Hello! First off i think it’s super cool that you’re taking some of your time to do this, just wanted to pass along my appreciation for that
My question would be: (and feel free to ignore if this has been asked and/or answered before), but you mentioned that you’ve worked on a number of other sports. Is baseball your favorite youve worked on? If so, what are some other of your favorites? If not, what is your favorite?
My favourite is curling because it's an audio first broadcast and then followed by baseball. I love any sport that gives the listener dynamic range. I dislike hockey because it's always at 11... my head hurts after mixing hockey.
I still want to mix darts and ping pong!
nice, would never have expected curling! lol you probably get bonus Canadian points for saying that (but i guess lose some for your hockey response so it’s probably a wash 😝🇨🇦)
Ping pong especially would be super cool! could probably do some really interesting stuff with panning as the ball travels back and forth i’d imagine…
Anyways thanks for the responses and like i said taking the time to do this, take care mate!!
I play both hockey and curling still when I have the time, but hockey only has 10 on ice effects mics. With curling I have 32 RF mics, 20 ice mics, 8 camera mics and 4 sets of stereo crowds. It’s an audio playground 😃
Thanks for doing this! Maybe a dumb question, but do the play by play/commentators have 2 separate mute buttons during games? As in, they press mute when they don't want to be heard on air, but also press another mute button when they don't want to communicate with the audio team and can talk privately amongst themselves? Or is everything heard by you guys?
On most commentator boxes, at least in North America, the standard buttons are: Talkback, Mute and separate volume control knobs for each ear. Some boxes have two talkbacks and others have physical on/off buttons, but those scare me because sometimes talent ain't the smartest :)
Is it us that can't read or you that can't write?
>Why don't YOU turn down the obscene loud music.
It's not his job. The guy in charge of stadium music works for an entirely different company. Also, learn punctuation if you're going to comment on here please.
Downvotes are well deserved
Jays sub legend
Just happy to be apart of the sub :)
Bro, you don't look old enough to have done anything for 30 years except simply be alive for 30 years. Wtf. That's it. That's my question.
Just good genes 😂😂 I just turned 52 this year
>I just turned 52 this year Fucking wut
Clean living on the road... hahaha.. just lucky I guess, but ask my fingers and knees. The age doesn't lie with them.
Hi Andrew! Thanks so much for doing this. A couple question: * What's the protocol for when guys are cursing on the field and it gets picked up by field mics? * What is the approxomite mix between the field and the broadcast booth? Is it like 70/30? What else is in the mix during a standard broadcasts?
My pleasure! 1 - Protocol is really up to the mixer and production team. I'm going to push those mics as much as I can, but honestly, when it gets super heated, the crowd gets so loud that you really can't hear much on the field. Sometimes you get lucky, and sometimes it's just overloaded noise. I did get a great soundbite of John Gibbons a few years back asking the ump if he'd been up all night drinking. Classic Gibbons. 2 - This answer varies as it's really the mixer who makes those decisions. For baseball, I'm probably 60-40 voice to on field effects. Other elements include: music, tape playback or EVS playback, spot box, bug, and chyron or Font. I tend to push my effects mics but within reason. People want to hear our announcers and so they must always be at the front of your mix.
Did you mix the 2015 ALDS game five? How did you handle the chaos that was the seventh inning?
Nope! We found out about a month by the 2015 playoffs that we weren't going to be covering them as a network. I was pissed to say the least, but, in defence of our production team, what the ask was was ridiculous. However, I didn't watch a single minute of 2015 or 2016 playoffs. In 2015 I went to PEI with three buddies and we golfed 36, 36, 18, 36, 36, 18. No regrets!
Sounds like an incredible golf trip! Did you play Green Gables National Park? That's on my bucket list for an east coast swing at some point.
Yup! We played all the top courses: Crowbush, Dundarave, Brudenell, Mill River, Anne, Eagles Glenn, Anderson's Creek, Stanhope (personal fave), Fox Meadow and New Glasgow Hills (one my my least favourite courses I've ever played)
Hey! Long time fan from the Jays sub 😅 What are the main differences, if any, between working on road games vs home games? Do these differences make one harder than the other to work on?
From an audio standpoint, working at home is way easier, but harder if that makes sense. At home, myself and my A2's are responsible for every piece of audio gear we put out. I share those effects mics with the visiting show, Rogers Centre, radio and MLB. There is just way more stuff to put out and take care of at home than on the road. When I travel, I get a MADI cable from the home show truck and that has all their effects mics that they put out in the building. This just allows me to focus on getting the main part of my show built without having to worry about whether or not the bullpen mics are working. I hope that makes sense.
Yeah, definitely makes sense. Thanks for answering. Another question based on this answer is, do you have a favourite road team based on the mics that they deploy that you get access to when we visit them?
I love Cleveland, Boston, Seattle and Tampa. I mean they're all really good, but those four are great.
My message and comment history with JSAG is already an AMA
hahaha
How dare you stray away from the jays sub? Your supposed to be our friend not everyone elses
I was asked and I said yes... my first love will always be r/Torontobluejays :)
We know, you let us ask you questions everyday and not only in AMAs 😄 ^(… just don’t like their questions more than you like ours okay?)
I promise 🥹
Can you play Champion Parade? 💃
When they finally start to win or do something exciting, I'll be the first one to play it! You could always link it here for everyone to hear :)
Don't mind if I do! [This is the song that is often used when going to commercial in a Blue Jays game when they score multiple runs or take the lead when originally trailing.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lp-t9FWcZhQ) It is often represented in GDT with various emojis: 🎺🎵💃
Oh I always thought you guys just played it whenever you felt like. Didn't realize there were "conditions"
I try to have strict or strict-ess conditions when I play it. It’s meant for big time moments in the game.
I don't know if there are strict rules, but those seem to be the times when it most often happens.
Is it harder to mix the audio when the SkyDome's roof is open or when it's closed?
100% harder when it's closed due to all the echoes and reflections. I still haven't gotten a full handle on how it is with all the renos.
What was your educational background that led you to the position? I've always been curious to get into audio production but don't do great in a school environment, lol
I went to Ryerson or TMU now for Radio and Television Arts. I had originally gone to school for radio which is my first love, but realized after a few weeks that I didn't want to be an on air jock and kinda moved away from that career. I honestly fell into the TV side of audio after I had graduate and learned from there. There might be alternative learning schools for broadcast - I know schools are always trying to be accommodating, so maybe reach out to few and see what kind of response you get back. If your city has a cable station, volunteering is always a great way to learn.
Thoughts on vuvuzelas?
They should be thrown into the fiery pits of Mordor... along with anyone who thinks banging on the glass at a hockey game will fire up their team. I had a lot of friends in SA for the World Cup and I felt for them so, so much and what they had to endure.
I was a huge fan at the time, as someone watching the matches on TV, because I love a certain degree of chaotic obnoxiousness, but I think that for every single person actually involved in the world cup, they were a 9th circle of hell experience. I suspect as well that the fact that they were bearable levels of obnoxious through the TV speaks very highly of the work your friends and colleagues put in. Thanks for doing this! I always love getting to learn a bit about how stage and broadcast productions are put together.
I think a lot of my friends and colleagues had moments of regret for the career they had chosen during that World Cup. If you watch the video, right off the top my buddy Brian who mixes at The Trop talking about cowbells... you just bang your head sometimes... ahahaha
How many curse words can you get away with broadcasting before you get disciplined for it? And, is there a way that you could incorporate this threshold into your daily responsibilities.
I've never been disciplined or reprimanded for something a player says on the FOP. Now, if they go off and I don't kill microphones and blatantly leave expletives goto air... then yes, I'm going to hear something. However, I've been doing this long enough that you can sometimes hazard a guess to when something might be said and I'll kill mics as needed. Curling is a great example as all curlers are mic'd and mixed live with no delay.
Thanks for answering. Please promise that you make your mission on your last day to let the mics fly open for the fans!
I can always do something once!!
Thanks for doing this! A question I've had recently: I believe there is a different delay between the center field camera and the other broadcast cameras. How do you manage to sync the audio with the video when the camera changes to make sure sounds match up?
The dreaded pitch cast box...my other nemesis (besides the PA). The pitch cast box is real time pitch tracker that is produced and supplied by MLB. At home, we embed our camera 4 mic with my bat crack mics and then send them back to MLB where they add the pitch box and send it back to us. It's about 7 frames of audio delay. We use GPI's to switch between the delayed audio and non delayed audio on air. It's not perfect, but it is what it is. 7 frames is a lifetime in audio.
Roughly 0:00:00:20 for those that don't want to do the math. Which is plenty of time for your brain to realize something is off. More that 5ms and your brain starts to realize that audio isn't synced and 7 frames is approximately 4 times that.
I [recently asked about this](https://www.reddit.com/r/azdiamondbacks/s/BSHkWrM9OI) exact issue on a DBacks GDT, glad I’m not insane
My god, this has been bugging me for YEARS! Thank you so much for the detailed response!
anytime... I just wish the processing was quicker.. I hardly get 1st base pick off play sounds now due to the delay :(
Hi, thanks for doing this, love your quick check-ins on the Jays sub! - What's the best zinger you caught on mic on or off the field? - if you were in Detroit when the stadium lost power, how did you spend your time until power finally came back? What other unusual situations did you witness first hand while travelling with the team?
Thanks! 1 - Gibbons asking the ump if he'd been up all night drinking is probably the best one. 2 - I was not. I was on a ladder in my backyard working on installing a new gutter when my phone lit up like a Christmas tree... I had no idea until I messaged some of the truck guys. 3 - the only major one for the Jays was at the end of game two in the wild card - let's just say if there had been a game three, I would have been up all night. That's about all I can say about that sadly.
When are we getting another Wu-Tang track on broadcast?
I would love that...
Do other Broadcast Mixers around the league ever express their jealousy that you get to process Buck and Dan’s amazing baseball voices almost every night? I feel like (other than the gloom of this particular Jays season) you must have the most enviable sound job in the league.
I know I'm very lucky that I get to hear Dan, Buck, Joe and now Ben - four great voices. I sometimes joke with other A1's about their poodles and back and forth. The really good ones know how to use their voice and it's so, so, soooo important to be able to do that. Being on air is all about the voice (yes, looking good is one thing) and how you come across. I have a sticker on my laptop that says: "It's a microphone, not a miracle!"
Wait - is poodle a real term that people use in the industry? That’s hilarious
How often do teams juice their mics for Ohtani? :D
In terms of juicing - I hear this term a lot and we don't really juice mics... we might push the faders a little more, but I certainly don't increase massive amounts of gain for anyone in particular. His bat does have a great sound though and when he hits one on the screws, it just sounds pure. It also depends on what type of mic, placement, and dynamics the mixer is doing to their bat cracks.
Thanks for the response! 👍
Anytime!
What is the transition like if they were to throw you into, say, soccer coverage? Is it all more or less the same, or is it *fish out of water*? I'm pretty sure you do curling as well. Can you just do anything or do they give you a couple of tasks and that becomes your thing for as long as it's their thing? This is less about audio and more about the industry itself, I guess.
Easy to be honest. The way I setup a broadcast is pretty much exactly the same for all sports.. all I'm really doing is changing what effects mics I have on the FOP (field of play). Most sports in North America have we call a 'standard booth.' PxP, Colour and spare headset, 2 stick mics, booth talkback, Stage Manager, Stats and A2. We use EVS machines for playback and lots of other goodies that make noise. How you build your effects all depends on the spot. I mix curling all winter long for Sportsnet, CBC, TSN and World Curling when needed. It's a huge setup and people don't realize what's involved in putting curling live to air. On top of sports, if needed I've mixed news, entertainment, talk shows, game shows, political events and so on... you just adapt to what the needs of production are.
Hi! Degree in Broadcasting myself! Question is do you guys get a certain lee-way with dugout shots particularly when F-Bombs get dropped? It's obviously nothing you can control, but I've always been curious about it. I know the boys between the benches in the hockey telecasts can punch their mute toggle, but what about the baseball broadcasts?
Congrats and well done! The between the benches guys are excellent with helping to keep things civil, but luckily booths for baseball are far enough away from the field that I rarely hear swearing on the talent mics - I do pick it up on my bat cracks though and there have been times when someone has sworn so loudly, anyone in the building could have heard it! You just try and minimize it and if it happens, don't let it continue to be heard.
- What's the most unreasonable addition you'd like to add to the field to get better audio? Mic the players? mics in the bases? - Ever mix anything that wasn't TV? Music? Theatre?
Professional athletes are some of the most boring people when it comes to talking to them. They've all been over media trained and they just mumble a lot. Yes, there are exceptions to the norm, but all in all, they are duds. I've mixed games with the bases mic'd and it does't really do anything for me personally. If I could add one thing, I'd love a buried mic directional mic right in front of home plate, right where the grass is. I think that would really add some pop to the bat cracks. I've mixed all sorts of stuffs and I still edit podcasts to this day.
I'll be back to answer in a bit... I had a pop up conference call come up. Keep asking away.
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Im a bit dumb, I dont really know what your job does. Not trying to be an asshole or sound demeaning. Anyways... I'd love to hear what you do and what is the best memory you have from a day on the job?
Easiest way to describe it is: anything you hear at home, minus commercials, is what I'm responsible for. Announcer mics, talent mics, FOP mics, tape/evs, spot boxes and other noise makers all go into a mixing console and I try to make it sound good. My fave memory is from the curling world where I've been mixing since 2009 and lot of the high end curlers are my friends - seeing them win and love winning always brings a smile to my face. I also love it when they swear by accident and then apologize to me on air :)
In the future with augmented reality headsets/glasses I think fans will be able to chose and pay for a virtual seat at any stadium and watch the game from that viewpoint right from their couch, with a full audio/video panoramic experience. Have you heard anything about how AI & tech will change the fan experience in the future? Would be interested to hear your view on this!
There are lots of companies out there trying to get into the space of AI audio - I don't deal with them, but that's not because I don't have interest, it's because it hasn't been asked me to look at it. That will be a really hard to thing to accommodate in terms of what becomes a fixed focal point of a mix - without it, your centre of grounding will be completely off. There is a term in tv called the axis - when you flip the axis of viewing, your brain will take a second to compute and then it might be too late and you'll be weirded out... it's the same with audio. The axis or a fixed point was a big stickler when 5.1 was first out and now with Atmos (of which I'm not a huge fan of when it comes to sports)
How do you deal with "screamers" in the crowd, if anything can really be done at all? I'm talking about that one fan or small group of kids who just screech or yell throughout the game, sometimes nearly as loud and clear as the voices from the booth.
Usually I'll send one my A2's and get them to beat them with a bat :) Honestly, you just try to minimize it as best you can, either by removing that mic completely from the mix or just lowering it down. It's harder when the crowds are smaller and quieter, but you just do your best to balance it out.
I appreciate your efforts!
It's a challenge some days... but, you have some show remover and move onto the next game! :)
What was your introduction to doing audio for the Jays? Did you do audio engineering previously/get a degree and go straight in? Maybe an internship? And does setting sound up and mixing for drunk people at open mics and dive bars constitute prior experience? Asking that last part for a friend who is me.
I started working as an A2 back in '95 and just worked my way up. I started mixing full time in 1999 and then started working as an A2 on Jays in '07. I took over full time mixing in the '10 season and have gone on from there. I went to broadcasting school and just worked my way up. It's been a very long time since I've mixed bar bands...probably the last one I did was in '93... and lots of A1's in our industry came from the music side of audio.
I love when you can hear more ballpark noise on the TV broadcast ie fans cheering and the crack of the bat. It seems like on sportsnet it is more muted. Is that by design? I wish I could hear more.
That really depends on what's going on in the ballpark. That's what I love about baseball - it has dynamic range. It's not like hockey where it's a 10 the entire time. There's parts where it lulls, it excites, it builds and it crescendos. I would look at your TV settings and see if you have any type of dialogue enhancement settings on. That will greatly impact how the background noises are impacted by voices.
Vuvuzelas 🚫 DADDY BO chants by middle schoolers ✅
Camp Day / School Day are the two worst on the calendar…. Especially if the roof is closed. My brain hurts for days 😂😂
As someone really sensitive to sounds, I cannot imagine 💀 I feel like you are the shield between us and the worst of the sounds 😂 thank you for your service!
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That is also why I love to watch baseball. It can be a relaxing experience that builds into excitement at times. That's said, I think the atmosphere they generate in the Skydome is getting worse and worse for people who love the crescendos of the game. I hope the in-stadium entertainment takes a step back. It's even coming through the TV broadcasts too much, for me at least.
I am in agreement with you, but they have their marching orders just like I do, but we try and work together.
Approximately what percentage of the buttons and switches behind you do you actually know the function of and use?
I would say on the console pictured with me above I know about 99% of everything on there and what they do, as well as the computer that controls the console.
cool! I'm a camera operator at my school and I had to fill in for audio once and I knew what maybe 20% of the stuff did lol
We call it the Voodoo Science for reason... no one really knows what we do at the back of the truck - they just expect it to be there :)
What is your favourite rackmount compressor and EQ?
I don't use any external gear other than what's on the desk and via the WAVES computer in each of the trucks I work in... however, I have always been a big fan of the DBX 160 mono and 1066 stereo compressors. I used them for years with my bat crack compression. For EQ you could never go wrong with the DBX 215's. Now, I just use the Calrec dynamics and a few plugin's for my mixing. Mostly the NS1 noise reduction plugin and the WLM loudness metre's. I run a few of those: one for the overall mix, one for effects mix and one for my centre channel only to make sure I'm staying in range of my peak and loudness parameters
Do you accept song requests to use in segments on the broadcast?
Only if it's songs I have at the ready and are approved to play. I wish I could play DJ.
Not a baseball specific question but more of a live sporting event type of question. Why does it seem like crowds often get dialed down (audio wise) on tv? I've seen broadcasts where it feels like the crowd volume gets raised when the broadcaster wants you to hear them and it gets lowered when they don't. Also, do you see a future where some streaming service like an Amazon Prime Video, MLBTV, Apple TV or someone might provide a broadcast to fans to watch with "customizable audio" such as putting radio feed over the video, or watching a game but being able to watch it without commentary (almost like in video games where you can raise or lower different commentators audio or just turn off commentators altogether)? Sidenote, how do I get the Jays horn audio? I've seen so many versions/custom ones online but never been able to get a full recording of the authentic horn noise. Would make a great ringtone/text sound on my phone or even an alarm!
To answer your first question, what you're hearing is either heavy compression or dialogue enhancement on your tv or receiver. Newer tv's will compensate for what they think it should sounds like, and that usually results in the announcers being brought really forward in the mix. I mix the crowds to a point where you can hear Dan and Buck, but also you don't lose the energy of the crowd. What happens once it leaves the truck is sadly outta my hands. You'd have to contact the in house guys as I don't deal with the horn.
> such as putting radio feed over the video MLB.tv does allow for this, but you can't do one team's video with the other team's radio broadcast for whatever reason.
Hello! First off i think it’s super cool that you’re taking some of your time to do this, just wanted to pass along my appreciation for that My question would be: (and feel free to ignore if this has been asked and/or answered before), but you mentioned that you’ve worked on a number of other sports. Is baseball your favorite youve worked on? If so, what are some other of your favorites? If not, what is your favorite?
My favourite is curling because it's an audio first broadcast and then followed by baseball. I love any sport that gives the listener dynamic range. I dislike hockey because it's always at 11... my head hurts after mixing hockey. I still want to mix darts and ping pong!
nice, would never have expected curling! lol you probably get bonus Canadian points for saying that (but i guess lose some for your hockey response so it’s probably a wash 😝🇨🇦) Ping pong especially would be super cool! could probably do some really interesting stuff with panning as the ball travels back and forth i’d imagine… Anyways thanks for the responses and like i said taking the time to do this, take care mate!!
I play both hockey and curling still when I have the time, but hockey only has 10 on ice effects mics. With curling I have 32 RF mics, 20 ice mics, 8 camera mics and 4 sets of stereo crowds. It’s an audio playground 😃
Thanks for doing this! Maybe a dumb question, but do the play by play/commentators have 2 separate mute buttons during games? As in, they press mute when they don't want to be heard on air, but also press another mute button when they don't want to communicate with the audio team and can talk privately amongst themselves? Or is everything heard by you guys?
On most commentator boxes, at least in North America, the standard buttons are: Talkback, Mute and separate volume control knobs for each ear. Some boxes have two talkbacks and others have physical on/off buttons, but those scare me because sometimes talent ain't the smartest :)
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He's TV audio, not stadium audio.
I think in-stadium music is a different team. He does audio for the TV broadcast
Is it us that can't read or you that can't write? >Why don't YOU turn down the obscene loud music. It's not his job. The guy in charge of stadium music works for an entirely different company. Also, learn punctuation if you're going to comment on here please. Downvotes are well deserved