The audio engineers and sound technicians who recently managed the broadcasts of Super Bowl LVII from the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, and NFL Honors made extensive use of Focusrite RedNet Dante-networked audio converters and interfaces, and Shure Axient Digital Wireless Systems and PSM 1000 Advanced In-Ear Personal Monitoring Systems, serving the event’s record 113m viewers.
ATK Audiotek and Professional Wireless Systems (PWS) handled all Dante networking, wireless microphones and IEM systems for the pre-game entertainment, half-time entertainment and referees, as well as the NFL Honors broadcast. The team included Engineer-in-Charge for ATK/Clair Kirk Powell, broadcast mixer Tom Holmes, monitor mixer Tom Pesa, RF engineers Cameron Stuckey, Kasey Gchachu, and Gary Trenda, RF team lead for CP Communications, Loren Sherman, as well as a large team of A2s.
‘This is our eighth year using Focusrite RedNet with our Dante Audio-over IP network at the Super Bowl,’ Powell says. ‘We started with a pretty small-scale Focusrite set-up, but it’s grown over the years into the huge deployment that you see today.
‘This year we are responsible for all audio in the stadium, including the halftime show, so that is a pretty hefty undertaking. We know State Farm Stadium well, as we have done past Super Bowls there, so we know what we’re getting into. But still, it’s a huge logistical challenge, with a ton of different audio sources and places the audio needs to be routed, and Focusrite RedNet components are absolutely essential for us to do our job. They give us the interconnectivity and flexibility that we need to do the job right.’
ATK Audiotek’s Focusrite gear setup for Super Bowl LVII included 20 RedNet D16R 16-channel AES3 I/O’s; 24 RedNet A16R 16-channel analogue I/O interfaces; and 24 RedNet D64R 64-channel Madi bridges. Additionally, the stadium’s house PA system was augmented with a number of additional speakers from L-Acoustics. ‘Being an indoor venue, State Farm Stadium has a lot of reflective surfaces,’ notes Powell. ‘The challenge is to keep intelligibility up and keep reflections down.’
A16R units were used to connect with various interfaces operated by the venue and other entities, and D16R units were used to interface with amplifiers. RedNet D64R Madi bridges were used to interface with consoles and broadcast trucks. Clock management during the Super Bowl is important not only for the teams on the field, but also for audio production. The RedNet D64R blends a high channel count with the ability to convert sample rates between disparate audio systems on a multitrack scale, providing glitch-free inter-system audio transfer and sharing without a common master reference clock.
While FOH and stage monitors could share a clock, Powell explains, ‘the production tracks are on a different clock, because they’re not used all day long. The D64R allows me to break the clock between my system and the production tracks because they’re done after halftime. They start to pack up, and I don’t want to be on their clock and have them shut down.’
Prep time at the stadium isn’t plentiful, so ATK/Clair covers its bases by doing a dry-run set-up at home base in Valencia, California, in the weeks leading up to the big game.
‘We set up the whole network in the office, getting all the Dante routing done and double- and triple-checking everything to minimise on-site setup and look for any issues that need troubleshooting. It sometimes feels like overkill, but we don’t want to leave anything up to chance when game day comes. Looking at our staging area for the system, you see a sea of red rack-mounted units! [laughs] We’re able to get to State Farm Stadium, set up and go. Because we do our extensive prep work, there are very few surprises.’
Focusrite gear has helped ATK/Clair get into a groove with this annual event; Powell notes, ‘The routing changes from venue to venue, but basically we’ve developed something of a standard setup now, and RedNet is a huge part of that. At an event this big, you just don’t want to leave anything to chance, and RedNet is the tool that keeps the robust network working.’
Mics and monitors
‘Once again, the reigning Super Bowl champ for in-ear performance was PSM 1000,’ says Pesa. ‘I used Shure Wireless Workbench to monitor levels. For the pregame, all three performers wore in-ears, including Chris Stapleton, who normally does not. With the two live guitar mics and live vocal, along with Chris’ slowly building and poignant rendition of our National Anthem, PSM 1000 was the right choice for the reverberant stadium.’
The RF team used eight AD4Q four-channel wireless receivers and the recently introduced AD600 Axient Digital Spectrum Manager. For another year, ATK used Axient Digital with Quadversity, a patented Shure technology, leveraging four simultaneous RF inputs to feed a single RF channel. Quadversity can extend the coverage area of a microphone channel or enable multiple coverage areas with additional antenna inputs, making it ideal for challenging RF environments like State Farm Stadium.
‘It’s hard to picture doing the Super Bowl without using Axient Digital,’ says PWS RF Engineer, Cameron Stuckey. ‘The ability to operate in Part 74 exclusive spectrum with the range of capsules, WWB monitoring, and familiarity of Axient Digital is unequaled. We are using every feature that sets it apart to the fullest extent possible. Each year we continue to push our wireless systems and have come to rely on Axient Digital’s ability to deliver.’
During the pre-game entertsinment, Sheryl Lee Ralph performed ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing’ using a KSM9 condenser capsule on an Axient Digital ADX2 Frequency Diversity (FD) enabled wireless transmitter. Regarded as the Black National Anthem, this marks the first time that the song has been performed in an official capacity on the Super Bowl field. Shure’s Frequency Diversity technology guaranteed this important performance remained uninterrupted in the extreme RF environment of the stadium by simultaneously transmitting on two independent frequencies. The RF engineers also depended on the command and control of Axient Digital with ShowLink, which enabled real-time, instantaneous remote control of transmitters throughout the stadium.
Additionally, a Shure Axient Digital bodypack transmitter was used on Babyface’s guitar performance of ‘America the Beautiful’, while a separate ADX2FD delivered the R&B star’s vocals to stadium and fans around the world. The DJ performances and choreography at the stadium also relied on SM58 microphones with ADX2 transmitters.
At half-time, the team used PSM 1000 IEM systems for performers throughout Rihanna’s montage of hits. ‘Eight transmit mixes were used and 35 receiver packs, which included 21 for core dancers on stage and aerial platforms,’ says Pesa. ‘The coverage zone was the entire field, as well as the almost 80ft that Rhianna flew at her highest peak. But when testing and walking ears for coverage, we could go almost anywhere in the bowl of the stadium. They just work that well. I truly believe that Shure PSM is one of the only brands that could function in the toughest frequency coordinated event that is Super Bowl.’
Referees used two Axient Digital ADX1 bodypack transmitters working together in Frequency Diversity mode and paired with Shure’s subminiature TL47 model TwinPlex omnidirectional lavalier microphones. While omnidirectional lavaliers are typically used in controlled audio environments like theaters, TwinPlex was uniquely suited for this stadium application given the lavalier microphone’s ultra-pristine, natural response and off-axis consistency.
Portions of the audio for the FOX broadcast, including sideline reporters Erin Andrews and Charissa Thompson’s use of ADX2 mics with talk switches and PSM 1000 as IFBs, as well as parabolic microphone AD1 transmitters, were executed by experts at CP Communications, with pre, half, and post-game show support from Digital Black. Mike Stock, freelance A1, mixed the audio for the pre, half, and post-game broadcast. After the game, FOX Sports reporters captured conversations with players and coaches on ADX2FD transmitters across the field, with RF managed by CP Communications.
Marc Martignetti, RF lead and owner of Digital Black, and Ryan Stotts, freelance RF A2, used Shure Wireless Workbench to monitor RF inside and outside the stadium throughout the pre, half, and post-game. Stotts and Martignetti managed the RF for all desk mics throughout the FOX broadcast, with hosts Curt Menefee, Jimmy Johnson, Howie Long, Michael Strahan, and Terry Bradshaw using Shure ADX2 transmitters. Notably, talent also wore ADX1 bodypacks for backup and all stand-up segments.
‘For the Super Bowl, a huge challenge is the available spectrum versus the tremendous wireless counts needed for onsite users,’ Martignetti says. ‘Shure has wireless microphone and in-ear products that cover all our legal spectrum options. That helps meet our client’s ever-expanding needs for more wireless to support their on-air talent.’
Outfitted by experts from CP Communications, the NFL Network Desk (NFLN) heavily relied on Shure wireless. In total, the NFLN hosts were equipped with 14 ADX2FD transmitters with talk switches, as well as 12 channels of PSM 1000. ‘NFLN has requested and used Axient Digital for the last few years on all events due to their flexibility and reliability,’ says CP Communications Systems Engineer, Brian Ready.
The NFL Honors Awards relied on Shure gear for the live audio and broadcast again this year. The handheld microphones used for NFL Honors were all KSM8 Dualdyne Cardioid Dynamic Vocal Microphone. The host and award show participants were equipped with a mix of AD1 and AD2 transmitters.
‘It was a pleasure to use Axient Wireless mics on this year’s NFL Honors, televised live,’ says Larry Reed, production sound mixer for the broadcast. ‘The reliability of Shure Axient is very important on a live broadcast, and I especially like the KMS8 capsule for all the vocals. I used 15 of them on the NFL Men’s Choir, as well as the host handheld for Kelly Clarkson, the vocals for the three parodies, and the player tosses to commercial from the audience. I like how smooth the KSM8 sounds, and its off-axis rejection makes it easier to use out in the audience, in front of the house PA.’
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