Meanwhile, half way across the country at the Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, NC, Fred Aldous, audio consultant and senior mixer for Fox Sports, was mentor to Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences student Brad Bacon during Memorial Day weekend.
Aldous, who has been working with Sennheiser on the Mentorship Program for several years, chooses the Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR race because it provides students with the opportunity to experience the entire broadcast infrastructure.
Bacon spent time in the audio room and the submix room before venturing out to the racetrack, where Aldous’ field A2s explained the processes of microphone selection, positioning and the art of capturing the sounds of the track.
Finally, Bacon learned about how the audio comes back to the truck for premixing and/or submixing before being sent to the network center for dispersion to affliate broadcast networks.
“The Coca-Cola 600 is the longest race of the year that Fox Sports does,” explains Aldous. “It therefore gives me more time to take the student around to see the different audio positions: from the announce booth, to the field set up to where the production mix happens.
“There are just so many things that go on here, that it is difficult to grasp unless it is actually experienced — especially on the magnitude of NASCAR.”
Bacon was astounded by the overall complexity of the operation and the overall professionalism of the staff.
“Fred has so many inputs that he is managing and has such a grasp on all the little problems that come up,” Bacon observes. “The whole experience was overwhelming, and it was a real pleasure to see him stay so cool under pressure.”
The Sennheiser Mentorship program is a win-win for students, sports broadcast networks and higher learning institutions looking to place students in lasting, highly rewarding careers.
“I love to be part of this program because it gives us a chance to build a bridge for students into the world of broadcast audio,” says Flick. “We are really giving them a chance to move ahead and see if this is what they like so they can make a great career choice.”
Aldous says he is proud to show off broadcast audio as a possible career avenue.
“We are very proud of what we do here,” he says. “We’ve won several Emmy Awards for Best Live Sound for NASCAR because of the size and scale of our infrastructure, and the quality of our mixes.”
Higher learning institutions such as Emerson College and the Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences value the Sennheiser Mentorship program as a way to expose students to a potential career path they might have not otherwise not considered.
“Most students come into audio program thinking about engineering or producing a certain kind of music they are interested in, but there are great opportunities in television sports broadcast,” says John Krivit, who teaches audio courses at Emerson College.
Robert Brock, digital department director of the Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences, concurs. “Broadcast television is one of the most exciting sides of audio production. How much more intense does it get than doing a live television broadcast? This is why we’re doing what we’re doing.”