ESPN Captures Death-Defying Audio at X Games 16 with Stagetec Consoles

Last weekend the LA Coliseum provided the setting for the ‘Big Air’ and ‘Moto’ events for ESPN’s 16^th Summer X Games.  To capture the sound of some death defying stunts, a large NEXUS network, a CRESCENDO, and an AURUS console were used to provide the audio submix.

A1 Daniel “Budda” Bernstein and Crescendo Operator Andre Carabajal at X Games 16

Three NEXUS base devices were stationed around the coliseum, each providing 32 mic pres and being connected to the truck compound via fiber. The base devices were subjected to some extreme conditions being in the sun and dust all day.

“Being able to monitor the status including the temperature of the base devices from within the truck is an awesome feature of the NEXUS system”, says Andre Carabajal, who was handling the submix on the CRESCENDO for the Big Air event.

Daniel “Budda” Bernstein, the A1 on the AURUS handling the submix for the motocross bikes and rally cars, got off to a great start.  “I was able to easily access all sources (over 60) coming into the truck on the 32 fader AURUS through its effective use of layering and the ‘spill’ function,” he says. “I also liked the fact that both Andre and I could access all inputs and outputs of the NEXUS without having to do any special routing through each other’s console”.

The CP Communications trailer which housed both consoles connected via MADI to both the HD and 3D NEP trucks.

Being able to pass so many channels back and forth to each truck with minimal cabling definitely lighten our load and enabled us to respond to any last minute requests for enhanced audio design coming from the show directors,” says Budda.

Russell Waite, President of STAGETEC USA, adds: “With ESPN being a long standing NEXUS customer at their facilities in Bristol and LA, it’s great to see that our technology can help them in a remote situation to capture some great sounding audio submixes provided by a couple of top notch A1s.”