Practical Implementation of Automated Next Generation Audio Production for Live Sports

Producing a high-quality audio mix for a live sports production is a demanding task for mixing engineers. The management of many microphone signals and monitoring of various broadcast feeds mean engineers are often stretched, overseeing many tasks simultaneously. With the advancements in Next Generation Audio codecs providing many appealing features, such as interactivity and personalization to end users, consideration is needed as not to create further work for production staff. Therefore, the authors propose a novel approach to live sports production by combining an object-based audio workflow with the efficiency benefits of automated mixing. This paper describes how a fully object-based workflow can be built from point of capture to audience playback with minimal changes for the production staff. This was achieved by integrating Next Generation Audio authoring from the point of production, streamlining the workflow, and thus removing the need for additional authoring process later in the chain. As an exemplar, the authors applied this approach to a Premier League football match in a proof-of-concept trial.