Meeting Topic: Olympic Quality Audio
Speaker Name: Rick Smith, Jon Lukason
Meeting Location: Devlin Hall, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts
A discussion of NBC's audio signal flow at the 2014 Winter Olympic Game.
Rick and Jon presented the many challenges encountered when delivering quality audio for the Sochi, Russia Olympics. They showed us signal flow, backup systems, and venue facilities used to get high quality audio to the United States. Rick was responsible for mixing NBC's primetime program and Jon was responsible for putting together the world feeds.
About Rick and Jon
Rick Smith has been a freelance sports television audio engineer for 25 years. In January and February of 2014, Rick joined the NBC Olympic production team in Sochi, Russia. He was responsible for making their broadcast center's dual studios ready for air, and mixing NBC's Primetime coverage. He has also been an Instructor at The New England Institute of Art where he has taught Live Sound and Audio Technology courses for the past 15 years.
Jon Lukason joined Q Division as an intern in 2007 and is now a Staff Engineer and Q's Intern Whip. At the Olympics in Sochi he worked for NBC as part of a team that worked exclusively with world feeds. Jon built audio support for 4 different venues designed for live coverage, figure skating, curling, cross country, and biathlon. Jon also mixes live performances at Redstar Union and engineers live audio for FOX, NBC, and ESPN during Boston's busy sport seasons as well as the Steve Katsos Show and also mentors students at Zumix.
Written By: Lou Clark
