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Background noise on CBS PGA Championship broadcast.


bekgolf

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1 minute ago, Greg_B said:


Lance Barrow used to be the producer until he retired at the end of 2020. He had been with them for 35 years or so.  The new producer is a guy named Sellers Shy who came up through the ranks working for them.  The CBS broadcasts were getting tired and Shy has brought in some good changes.  They are probably working out the ambient sound issues. 

The article I read said that Shy would bring the excitement of other sports to the golf broadcast.

 

I'm still at a loss as to why they would unbalance the broadcast with a high level of background noise.  So high a level that the broadcasters can't be understood. 

 

To be clear I'm referring to the PGA broadcast.  The mic feeds were unbalanced and imo it was not due to incompetence.  Rather, it was an effect they wanted.  Perhaps for "excitement".

 

In any case next time it happens I'm going to the fallback plan on watching golf while listening to Black Sabbath.

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34 minutes ago, bekgolf said:

 

I'm still at a loss as to why they would unbalance the broadcast with a high level of background noise.  So high a level that the broadcasters can't be understood. 

 

To be clear I'm referring to the PGA broadcast.  The mic feeds were unbalanced and imo it was not due to incompetence.  Rather, it was an effect they wanted.  Perhaps for "excitement".

 

 

To be equally clear, I am saying this is likely a work in progress. They are trying to make the viewer feel like they are at the event, hence the expanded use of drones to offer different perspectives, more and newer camera angles, and likely additional ambient mics for on-course sound. Mixing and balancing those sounds with the announce feeds is likely still an experiment. Rome wasn't built in a day.

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1 hour ago, Greg_B said:

 

To be equally clear, I am saying this is likely a work in progress. They are trying to make the viewer feel like they are at the event, hence the expanded use of drones to offer different perspectives, more and newer camera angles, and likely additional ambient mics for on-course sound. Mixing and balancing those sounds with the announce feeds is likely still an experiment. Rome wasn't built in a day.

 

I get it but don't like it.

 

The best thing CBS could do is emulate what the Golf Channel does in regards to a broadcast.

 

IMO The Golf Channel has the best coverage of PGA events.  It's a shame they only have the early coverage.

 

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Odyssey:  Putter

 

 

 

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On 5/24/2021 at 4:46 PM, JohnnyCashForever said:

During the Masters, it sounded like the CBS producers placed cages full of chirping birds by every microphone. 

Those are the tweeters!

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  • 2 weeks later...

I thought I was the only one annoyed by this.  I'm getting older and my ears don't work as good as they used to.  I find the background noise irritating and I can't hear the announcers.  I don't mind the noise that follows a good shot or the groans after a bad shot.  But why boost the sound of some random dude yelling...something...while the golfers are walking down the fairway like he's at a Nine Inch Nails concert?  Also the guy who always yells "In the hole!!!" when someone is teeing off on a par 5.  And the cicadas.  My god, the cicadas....

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Why does CBS pay for commentators to cover a golf event and someone in control of the audio thinks it is better to hear background sounds (fans, birds, music, etc) The new producer for CBS golf needs to listen to the TV audience complaining about his new audio style. Just a minute. Maybe He doesn’t listen or sadly doesn’t care

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11 minutes ago, caniac6 said:

I can’t hear the announcers very well. Maybe I should be thankful.

 

Right? We have threads dedicated to how bad the commentary is and this thread about not being able to hear the commentary at all. We'll never be happy, but we'll likely keep watching. 

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  • 10 months later...

I have to agree with the OC on this. I kept muting the broadcast so I could be sure the noise was actually coming from their sound mix and not someone doing yard work near me. The Sound Engineer dropped the ball for sure.

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On 5/24/2021 at 9:47 PM, Skeeter said:

Cicadas

were'nt any , just a lot of people , occasional hawk and the drone, oh and that damn squirell that ran across 9 into the crowd and up the leg of a spectator 😆

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On 5/23/2021 at 6:38 PM, acemandrake said:

"Unbalanced" is the word I was looking for in describing the sound levels.

 

I thought I was losing my hearing.  Glad to see I wasn't the only one with a sound issue during this broadcast.

 

Side note:  Do they have to blast music when a commentator is talking?  It's comical when the person talking is forced to raise their voice in order to be heard over blaring trumpets!

 

 

 

 

It was horrible. The background fuzz, the volume levels of the main commentators over the crowd noise, the volume levels of the players and caddies over the fuzz, the volume levels of the on course reporters over the fuzz and crowd noise, it was horrible all around on the audio side. And we haven't even got to the the camera angles, the featured interviews (like interviewing neiman for 4 hours and not showing on course action), not covering Zalatoris' final drop, not discussing with an official why he was allowed to place the ball where he did. The coverage of Zalatoris' drop is very suspect to me, as was his grouping with Young in the final round after he was dominated by Mito P. in the round prior. Where did Jim Nantz go for half the coverage? Why didn't cbs ever show any other players in the field? Commercials commercials commercials. It's funny how horrible the coverage was given the background on the companies that covered the event and their position on it being moved from its original location. 

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On 6/5/2021 at 8:02 PM, Greg_B said:

 

To be equally clear, I am saying this is likely a work in progress. They are trying to make the viewer feel like they are at the event, hence the expanded use of drones to offer different perspectives, more and newer camera angles, and likely additional ambient mics for on-course sound. Mixing and balancing those sounds with the announce feeds is likely still an experiment. Rome wasn't built in a day.

I agree, more of the same should not be an option.....they'll dial it in....

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6 hours ago, Corgi said:

I have to agree with the OC on this. I kept muting the broadcast so I could be sure the noise was actually coming from their sound mix and not someone doing yard work near me. The Sound Engineer dropped the ball for sure.

OP was talking about last year's event!

 

Honestly, I watched it all and didn't notice these issues - for better or worse, I didn't miss a syllable of commentary when I was in front of the TV.

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On 6/5/2021 at 5:24 PM, bekgolf said:

 

To be clear I'm referring to the PGA broadcast.  The mic feeds were unbalanced and imo it was not due to incompetence.  Rather, it was an effect they wanted.  Perhaps for "excitement".

 

 

^^^^. Unbalanced is very correct. Adequate sound mixing wasn’t there. 
As the technology of sound equipment has progressed the complexity of mixing has also increased. There’s an auto increase on the roving mics which we’re fine.

Theyve run into problems even in the mixing of intros and commercial breaks. With something called compression on mics they’re meant to override crowd noise when mixed properly. Also there’s something called auto level so when anncs are whispering comments can be heard, also handy for roving reporters. 

The mix of Nantz and Faldo mics, presumably head sets, with crowd noise was awful, especially at crucial moments. Also the urge to say something over crowd noise did not work. CBS and FOX have this problem, NBC so far is good. 

 

The comments of caddies and players is also on auto volume, which jacks up the comments so you can hear them, but it also increases the background noise of crowds, birds, insects etc.

 

The tools today are much more sophisticated, but like anything else one has to learn the tools. 

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1 hour ago, woodriff said:

^^^^. Unbalanced is very correct. Adequate sound mixing wasn’t there. 
As the technology of sound equipment has progressed the complexity of mixing has also increased. There’s an auto increase on the roving mics which we’re fine.

Theyve run into problems even in the mixing of intros and commercial breaks. With something called compression on mics they’re meant to override crowd noise when mixed properly. Also there’s something called auto level so when anncs are whispering comments can be heard, also handy for roving reporters. 

The mix of Nantz and Faldo mics, presumably head sets, with crowd noise was awful, especially at crucial moments. Also the urge to say something over crowd noise did not work. CBS and FOX have this problem, NBC so far is good. 

 

The comments of caddies and players is also on auto volume, which jacks up the comments so you can hear them, but it also increases the background noise of crowds, birds, insects etc.

 

The tools today are much more sophisticated, but like anything else one has to learn the tools. 


Like you I have some experience with such things and I assume they’re using some kind of auto mix algos with human overrides. 
 

They switch cameras and holes constantly and with each swap they need for the audio to change too so it all matches up. Those mics near the tees and greens are muted unless they’re televising the action from those areas. Some of that is probably automated, so when the video guy switches to the tower camera behind 14 green the mics around 14 green are automatically unmuted. Otherwise the delay would be noticeable. 
 

I somewhat doubt the headset mics are a big source of leaking. Surely they have a really tight pickup pattern and off-axis rejection. Likely it’s the mics closer to the galleries getting the crowd noise. 

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  • 2 months later...
On 5/23/2022 at 3:07 PM, Hawkeye77 said:

OP was talking about last year's event!

 

Honestly, I watched it all and didn't notice these issues - for better or worse, I didn't miss a syllable of commentary when I was in front of the TV.

Completely missed the point I'm afraid. It is an issue no matter what the OP was specifically referring to.

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  • 6 months later...
On 5/24/2021 at 4:58 PM, bscinstnct said:

I live in NYC. Now that covid gone...

 

I don’t hear anything from the tv over the fire engines, shootings, blasting music from cars with speakers the size of refrigerators, motorcycles (both Harleys and Ninjas), fireworks and airplanes.

 

New York is back baby! ❤️ 


Don’t know how I missed this, but if nothing else convinces me to keep my NYC visits short enough for just a couple of good Italian dinners and to never consider buying a condo or apartment, this is it!

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15 minutes ago, Duct Tape said:


They have leaves in Arizona?

Apologies - I was referring to last weekend's Pebble Beach Pro-AM tournament in northern California. The sound mixing/editing/whatever you call it was terrible in my opinion, and it sounds like it's been a problem in general with CBS for some time.

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31 minutes ago, Duct Tape said:


Don’t know how I missed this, but if nothing else convinces me to keep my NYC visits short enough for just a couple of good Italian dinners and to never consider buying a condo or apartment, this is it!


 

Ha, well, after the eerie desolation of Covid, all that commotion and noise was music to my ears!

 

But, truthfully, living in Park Slope, BK, it’s actually quite peaceful, there’s a quaint street of shops and restaurants that resembles “Main Street” in the small suburban town I grew up in. Even red brick paved wide sidewalks. Gotta a butcher (who will cut you a porterhouse to spec) and all local (no big box) merchants. 
 

And a huge park with a 3 mile bike loop that’s closed to traffic. 
 

Nothing like when lived on Broadway and 12th street in Manhattan. Now that was a scene but…I was young and didn’t mind the noise. 
 

Now, even here, ya still gotta always be ready to throw somebody a beatin, lol, it is NYC after all ; )

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