Monster truck events and Supercross motorcycle races may feature live streaming or delayed broadcasts, French says. “I will provide the mix for those, which will be my bowl mix plus a stereo mix with the net sounds and crowd that I don't put into my P.A. mix. I'll add truck sound effects; we've got mics around the stadium to pick that up. I switch my monitoring back and forth and make sure everybody's got the same basic mix, plus or minus effects.”
With such a busy events schedule, Pro Media did everything they could to make the transition fast and painless, Mason says. “We set the console up next door to the control room for about three weeks, and had it all completely connected, sitting on tables, so Gary could do all of the pre-programming. SSL came in and did the training and we got everything configured. The actual transition from the old console to the System T only took two days. There was no learning curve once we installed the SSL because it had already been set up for weeks before.”
Powerful SSL DSP
French has come to appreciate the processing power of SSL’s System T, especially channel delay, which enables him to set compensation times between the mics on the stadium’s 16 in-house cameras. His previous console had only six delays, French says, “So having a delay on every channel has been a great thing. They're easy to take in and out, but they're always there.”
He continues, “I use the duckers a lot just because there are so many elements. The referee always takes priority over the announcer and the announcer takes priority over music or commercials, so I have multiple duckers, chained one to the other. I also use a lot of noise gates. And the EQs with the analysis are nice to have.”
But there is one effect that French almost never uses, he says. “This is the biggest domed room in the world, and it’s made from concrete, glass and steel. It has a 12 and a half second decay time at 60 Hertz — so I don't use a lot of reverb!”
