NBC Olympics (a division of the NBC Sports Group) is using Calrec Audio’s Summa, Artemis Ray and Brio digital audio consoles, accomapnied by Lawo’s VSM (Virtual Studio Manager) Broadcast Control and Monitoring and IP Commentary systems, for its coverage of the XXIII Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea.

Calrec will supply a Summa console for the prime-time audio control room in NBC’s production compound at the International Broadcast Centre in PyeongChang. In addition, NBC will use a 56-fader Artemis Ray as its primary console at the sliding venues in the mountain resort of Alpensia for coverage of bobsled and luge events.

A 72-fader Artemis Ray will serve as the primary console at the speed-skating venue and indoor venues at the coastal city of Gangneung. In addition, a Calrec RP1 remote production system and a compact Brio console will support operations at the coastal studio, giving NBC Olympics the ability to control the production remotely from multiple control rooms in its HQ in Stamford, Connecticut.

Having previously worked with Lawo on its production of the 2016 Rio Games, the VSM system provide the NBC production facility at with more flexibility and operation enhancements during its production of the Winter Games.

VSM will be the overall control system for NBC Olympics’ core routing and tally management, connecting to multiple third-party devices on an IP backbone. NBC significantly increased the number of GUI-based VSM Panels, which are accessed from various monitors and tablets provided throughout NBC Olympics’ various production facilities. VSM also provides remote Tally information between the IBC in South Korea and NBC Sports Group’s HQ.

NBC Olympics will also use an enhanced Lawo Audio-over-IP Commentary System along with several Lawo V__pro8 video processors to manage coverage from Stamford. Lawo worked with NBC to develop an enhanced version of the LCU (Lawo Commentary Unit) to meet its production goals. The V__pro8s will receive video feeds from PyeongChang, de-embed the audio and then insert into Ravenna and Madi Streams that feed the Lawo LCU commentary system.

New for this year’s production is NBC’s use of the Commentary System at the IBC and remotely at the Ski Jump and Curling venues, forming a fully cohesive commentary workflow. Additionally, several of the Games’ venues will be connected to the NBC Olympics compound within the International Broadcast Center, through Lawo’s V__remote4 units, which provide connectivity and processing for network audio and video signals delivered via IP-connections from the remote sites.

‘With each Olympic Winter Games, NBC Olympics continues to push the boundaries of sports audio, and the PyeongChang Games are no exception,’ says Dave Letson, VP of Sales, Calrec Audio. ‘As we did with the Rio Games in 2016, we’ll offer an innovative and fully networked audio operation connected with Dante on a Hydra2 network and supported by our team.’

‘We are very happy to once again have Calrec support our production of the Winter Games, this time in PyeongChang,’ says Karl Malone, Director, Sound Design for NBC Olympics. ‘We continue to take full advantage of the new Calrec technologies, having used Calrec AoIP modular cards in Brazil, and now Calrec Waves modular cards in South Korea. We are  fortunate to also have Calrec’s latest Brio and RP1 systems to facilitate production.’

‘Lawo has worked closely with NBC Olympics to add new features and additional operational flexibly to the system, for our HD and 4K HDR programming,’ adds NBC Sports Group Vice President of Engineering, Timothy Canary. ‘The seamless integration of Lawo’s audio and video hardware was easily integrated into our existing systems, and provides NBC Sports with a complete end-to-end solution.’

NBC Olympics has also selected RTS broadcast intercom systems for its production operation, invluding Omneo, RVON, IP Trunking, Adam intercom matrices and intercom panels: ‘There are very few TV shows or live sports event productions with more overall communications complexity than an Olympic Winter Games,’ says John Pastore, Director of Broadcast Communications for NBC Sports and Olympics. ‘RTS continues to provide NBC Olympics with the comprehensive needs of our project. We are very happy to be working with their products and support, to make our coverage of the PyeongChang Games a total success.’