Sound Reinforcement Amidst Climate Chaos At The 2010 Winter Olympics

Time & Quality
Michael stressed the importance of fiber optic connectivity for the Olympics as a whole.

“It’s just massive, a huge boon to all the technologies being used,” he explains.

“All single-mode and interconnected between long distance points, with everything going into a fiber trunk at the control room, then to a fiber-to-copper converter at the top of the course.

The hours spent confirming signals – whether audio or video – and getting rid of buzzes or hums from ground loops were almost 100 percent eliminated.

Plus, it’s a very high-quality signal quality no matter how far you are from the source.”

With all sites being able to access the same fiber network, it allows for some interesting real-time changes. For example, Canadian music group Bedouin Soundclash was performing when word came through that a possible gold medal would be won by a Canadian athlete.

The band took a short break in their set, while a live broadcast was shown to the audience, after which the band resumed their performance. “They can immediately communicate with the guys on the stage to deliver that content if the band is willing to take a little break,” notes Michael. “Media can also access the feeds for their use at any time.

“The most impressive thing to me,” he adds, “is the consistency from venue to venue in terms of technical execution. It’s very organized. When you see a fiber box at one location, it’s the same at another location.

VANOC had a cable management department that oversaw anybody that was laying down wire – whether it was AC, video, audio, data, CAT 5, any conduits that were required were provided. We’re all on the same pipe at the same time.”

Jeff MacKay is Managing Editor of Live Sound International.