From the dirt-covered floors of sold-out arenas to the roar of packed stadia, Professional Bull Riders (PBR) events deliver a visceral, high-octane experience that demands as much from the technical crew as it does from its participants. Part of this support comes from the audio team at Gateway Studios & Production Services (GSPS), who ensuring uninterrupted sound for both live and broadcast mixes. Since 2022, Outline’s Newton processor has been central to their success.
‘Newton’s been a great tool for our set-up – super intuitive and easy to program right out of the box,’ says Shane Thomas, the system engineer responsible for deploying and managing GSPS’s touring rig for the sport’s flagship PBR Unleash The Beast tour and PBR Teams league. ‘The user interface is straightforward, which makes day-to-day use fast and hassle-free.’
Headquartered in St Louis, Missouri, GSPS is a leading provider of integrated turnkey solutions for live events, TV, film and touring productions. With a new 300,000sq-ft rehearsal campus set to open in 2025 – the largest of its kind in the US – GSPS combines technical expertise and cutting-edge infrastructure to support every stage of live event creation. Its collaboration with PBR showcases the company’s ability to deliver top-tier production support in demanding environments.
PBR was founded in 1992, when 20 riders broke away from traditional rodeo, determined to elevate bull riding to a standalone global sport. The league now hosts more than 200 events annually across North America and abroad, features athletes from five continents, and reaches nearly 300m households via broadcast and digital platforms.
‘Most of the upstream gear, including our DiGiCo Q338 mixing console, runs at 48kHz for broadcast, while our PA is at 96kHz,’ says Thomas. ‘Newton’s SRC is rock solid – we’ve never had a single clocking issue and gives us a lot of confidence.’
The processor also offers flexibility: ‘I use one layer of EQ to shape the room, and FOH engineers – whether they’re travelling with the show or hired locally – can make their own tweaks on top of that. We’ve built a workflow that allows consistency without locking anyone out.’
Durability is another key concern as events involve dust, dirt, heavy gear movement, and tight turnarounds. ‘We’ve had it out for years now, in all kinds of conditions, and it’s never dropped signal or glitched,’ Thomas reports.
As PBR continues to expand – launching its Teams league in 2022, growing from eight to ten teams, broadening its footprint and fan base, partners like GSPS and technologies like Outline Newton help bring the sport’s intensity and energy to life, night after night, in arena after arena.