PASADENA, CA, FEBRUARY 17, 2010 — Holophone recently worked the stage for the musical performances during the 2010 BCS National Championship football game between the Texas Longhorns and Alabama Crimson Tide, which took place at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA. Holophone’s H2-PRO was used to capture a realistic surround sound experience of the night’s National Anthem and America the Beautiful performances. Broadcast nationally on ABC, Holophone was also used for performances with Flea, bassist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers and singer/songwriter Josh Grobin, as well as for recording back-up tracks in-studio.
“I have been working with the Tournament of Roses, the folks who produce the Rose Bowl game for nearly three decades,” says Andrew Waterman senior engineer/account manager at ATK and senior project manager/on-air mixer of the BCS Championship game. “Before I had a Holophone, I used to spend hours setting up, as I was running cable all over the stadium for several microphones. I would have 10 shotgun mics throughout the stadium, a couple on the 50 yard line, and then on the 20’s, in the end zones and really just all over the place. Now, I just figure out where the best seat in the house is and place one Holophone H2-PRO in that spot and it does the job.”
One week prior to the event, Waterman hosted a recording session at West Lake Studios in Hollywood in order to capture realistic back-up instrumental tracks. The session included Flea, Grobin, a five-piece horn section and a drummer. Waterman placed the Holophone around the horn section, which included two trumpets, two saxophones and a tuba.
When game day arrived, Holophone’s H2-PRO was set up on-field to capture the night’s performances in surround sound. Waterman used the horn and drum tracks from Westlake studio while Flea and Grobin were live. Holophone was also used to capture the crowd and for the actual on-air mix for Audra McDowell’s rendition of “America the Beautiful.”
In addition to the live sound capture, Waterman, along with A-2 Doug Wingert, set up an on-site 5.1 studio at the stadium. It was extremely helpful to have an on-site location during the rehearsals, sound check and the event itself, for last minute sonic adjustments. The space included a Yamaha PM1D mixing console, Mackie HR-824 studio monitors in 5.1 and an Aphex 1178 mic pre into a Universal Audio LA3A audio leveler for the vocals. For Flea’s base, Waterman used a Neve 1073 into a Universal Audio 1176. He also used a TC Electronic PowerCore 6000 for multi-ban processing across the whole board.
“Why listen in stereo when you can feel like you’re there with a 5.1 mix?” continues Waterman. “From an on-air mixer standpoint, the Holophone is the best because it doesn’t just give you a recording, it re-creates an experience.”
About Holophone
Holophone is committed to developing and commercializing products that use patented 3-D audio technology to bring the physical experience of “really being there” to a new level for all audio and visual productions by professionals and hobbyists. Holophone provides customers and business partners with industry-leading product and service quality. Holophone is firmly dedicated to providing outstanding value, excellence in service, and product performance.
Holophone® surround-sound microphones are patented audio recording devices designed specifically to address the challenges audio professionals face in capturing, recording and broadcasting multichannel surround sound. Developed by Rising Sun Productions in Toronto, Canada, Holophone systems effortlessly capture discrete signals that are ultra-realistic and provide the most accurate spatiality, audio imaging, and directionality of any recording device. Entirely compatible with all audio mixing, encoding, and playback systems, Holophone also enhances mono and stereo mixes. Holophone systems provide the perfect front end for all professional and consumer audio applications including HDTV broadcasting, standard broadcasting of live sporting and music events, feature film location recording, and studio recording for music, films, and worship applications. Holophone surround sound technology has been used for numerous national and international broadcasts, including the Grammy Awards and NFL Super Bowl. As a scalable system, Holophone technology is also available for license to the consumer electronics industry.
