NASHVILLE: Nic Dugger and his mobile production company TNDV will produce the second season of the PBS series “Bluegrass Underground,” bringing the luminaries of bluegrass music heard on the live radio program to televisions around the country. The shoots are taking place in late February, with 2012 airdates to be announced.
Bluegrass Underground concerts are held in the Cumberland Caverns, a series of underground caves more than 300 feet below the earth’s surface in Tennessee. After a successful first season, TNDV and the Bluegrass Underground again joined forces to produce the show’s live performances from the Volcano Room.
The Volcano Room is a natural amphitheater, carved from the flow of two underground rivers to create “one of the most acoustically pure and breathtaking natural spaces in the world,” according to TNDV. To get to the concerts, tour guides lead patrons through the cave and down 333 feet. The subterranean descent includes underground waterfalls, water pools, stalagmites and stalactites along the way to the amphitheater.
TNDV’s Aspiration, the company’s 40-foot expanding-side mobile production truck, is supporting the remote video and sound production services for broadcast radio and TV. Aspiration is parking near the cave and deploy and an advanced SD/HD/3D production workflow featuring seven cameras, a full audio suite, and extreme cable runs. Every camera is using 1,000 feet of fiber-optic cable to record and broadcast each concert. Aspiration’s use of fiber-optic cables from camera to truck ensures no loss of signal, color, or sound to maintain quality throughout the process. Amplifiers located near the stage feed directly to the truck over a digital audio line to generate a mixable audio signal for the TV program.
PBS will broadcast the second season of “Bluegrass Underground” featuring live performances from bluegrass music stars later in 2012. Bluegrass artists for the 2012 Season include Vince Gill, The Civil Wars, Jerry Douglas, Del McCoury Band and The Time Jumpers.
