Five Calrec audio consoles aboard NEP Broadcasting production trucks on the scene in South Florida were used to deliver full 5.1 surround sound from Super Bowl XLIV in Miami Gardens, FL.
To cover the Super Bowl, NEP Broadcasting deployed five trucks: SS-24 for the actual game with Ed Soltis at the audio controls; NEP/NCP-8 for the extensive pre-game and post-game shows with Jack Stocker doing the mixing; NEP SS-9 for tape-release mix and submix of replay sources with Kevin Little on audio duty; NEP Denali Silver for pre-game and halftime musical shows with Ed Greene mixing; and NEP-SS 25 for the NFL Network and world coverage feeds with Peter Puglisi doing the mix.
For the musical portion of the Super Bowl coverage, NEP Broadcasting relied on a 1999 vintage Calrec Q-2 analog desk. Beyond halftime, the sounds of the Super Bowl were mixed with Calrec Alpha with Bluefin digital consoles.
From an audio standpoint, the game was not the toughest part. More challenging was the lengthy pre-game broadcast with audio coming from a variety of sources, including tailgate parties, announcers on a remote football field and multiple studio sets. Replays also presented a challenge with each having associated sound that had to be coordinated by crossfading among sources then feeding back to the main show mixer.
Relying on the MADI capability of the Calrec Alpha consoles made it possible to route multiple signals from one console to another without each source having to be represented on the control surface. Instead, the system's digital architecture did the heavy lifting.
See Calrec at NAB Show Booth C1746.
