Concert recordings for television – Travelling the world with a broadcast audio engineer

The music you hear on television sounds so good because it’s been carefully recorded and mixed. While you enjoy the beautiful sound, a lot of work is happening behind the scenes to translate that audio as well as possible to different sound systems. Who makes sure a concert sounds its best on your system at home? One of the people responsible is the broadcast audio engineer. In this blog, we take a look behind the scenes with an experienced audio engineer, as he guides us through his fascinating work.

Huub Lelieveld, an experienced audio engineer, works worldwide recording and mixing live concerts for television. “If it’s live, I create the broadcast mix. If it isn’t live, I record it so it can be mixed later—either by me or by the artist,” he explains. During music events, the focus is often mainly on the artist, so as a viewer you don’t see much of what’s going on behind the scenes to deliver the best possible listening experience. Read on and be amazed by the challenges and techniques involved in Huub’s special job as a broadcast mix engineer.

Working alongside the ‘regular’ sound engineer

Huub often works alongside the event’s sound engineer. At every live show, the FOH (Front of House) engineer is responsible for the sound you hear in the venue. Huub’s work begins where the FOH engineer’s work ends. “There’s the sound of the tour or the event—that exists on its own. I split off all the signals separately,” says Huub. So he captures all the audio signals individually and creates a separate mix for broadcast, independent of what’s happening in the venue. For a TV broadcast, you want to mix the balance between the music and the ambience so you can hear the crowd, for example when people cheer: “Regardless of what’s happening in the hall or stadium, I create a separate broadcast mix in an OB truck, audio truck, or a temporarily built studio. I also place extra microphones so the audience comes through clearly on TV. This varies between 16 and 32 microphones and depends on the size of the venue.”

With an average stereo sound system, you can already get lost connecting all the cables—let alone mixing a live concert. Before long, the term ‘MADI’ comes up. MADI is a system that makes it possible to send multiple digital audio signals via a single cable. “That way, I get all the microphones split into my own stageboxes. Then, via the MADI system, the different audio sources come together in my audio interface.” So the microphones and instruments are connected to stageboxes that capture these analogue audio signals and then convert them into digital signals destined for the mix engineer’s audio interface. This is where MADI systems play an important role. With fibre connections, it’s possible to cover distances of up to two kilometres at high speed without losing signal. Without these advanced techniques, it’s virtually impossible to keep video and audio in sync.

Broadcast for Grand Tour Season 1 (2017)

The complexity of a broadcast mix

Re-mixing the sound for broadcast is crucial: “A PA mix generally sounds pretty poor for broadcast. That’s due to various factors, such as the venue acoustics and the dynamics of the live mix,” Huub explains. “In a venue, you already hear certain elements—like drums and guitar amps—loud enough through the acoustics. For TV, those elements need to be balanced differently because the venue acoustics aren’t part of what you hear at home.” Acoustics are unique for every concert location, which means the ideal balance between instruments and vocals differs from venue to venue. It’s Huub’s job to adapt those relationships for television. “In a reverberant arena, you need less reverb because the space itself already provides reflections. For TV, you often have to add more reverb to make the sound feel full.” Besides acoustics, volume also plays an important role: “A live performance can have big dynamic differences, from soft ballads to ear-splitting rock tracks. On TV, the volume has to stay consistent so the viewer isn’t constantly grabbing the remote.” The acoustic properties, sound systems, crowd noise, and environmental factors that make a live show feel lively and dynamic can be problematic for a broadcast mix, because the listening conditions and equipment differ massively,” he says. A broadcast mix therefore requires a different approach to make sure the sound is clear, balanced, and enjoyable for the audience at home.

Global Citizen Festival broadcast, Ghana (2022)

The challenge of audio and video synchronisation

Although recording a concert might seem straightforward, there’s much more to it. “There are a lot of variables and a lot that can go wrong. With high-end video recordings, like Coldplay in Argentina or Taylor Swift in Dallas, everything has to be perfect. If the audio recording goes wrong, you can throw the video away too,” says Huub. So synchronising audio with video is a crucial part of his job. To keep audio and video in sync, a sample rate converter is used: this device ensures the sample rates of different incoming signals are aligned. “If audio and video don’t use the same timing reference, they can drift out of sync over time, which makes for a confusing viewing experience.” When picture and sound don’t stay aligned, professionals refer to it as ‘drift’.

Coldplay live broadcast in cinemas worldwide – video direction, Buenos Aires (2022)

Huub recalls a situation during the Rolling Stones recordings in Cuba where this went wrong. For that recording, there was no central synchronisation; the audio recording, the separate film cameras, and the switched video signal were each running on their own clock. This caused a major problem in the edit. “When we started editing, we discovered that during the concert, ‘drift’ had developed between the recorded PA mix, the picture, and the mix made from the audio recordings. Everything started in sync, but over time it got further and further out. When you record a concert like that, you’re working with multiple parties, so it’s crucial to keep a cool head and look for the right solution.” That Huub can keep calm—even when working with world-famous names—becomes clear when he talks about the happy ending: “In that situation, I was in contact with the mix engineer, the legendary Bob Clearmountain, and the video editor. Together, we discussed the best way to solve the problem. Thankfully, I was able to advise them on how we could restore synchronisation. Thanks to our collaboration and technical knowledge, we ensured the recording eventually lined up with the video again,” Huub says with satisfaction.

Taking equipment around the world

One impressive project Huub worked on was the broadcast of the Global Citizen Festival from Ghana. “It was a worldwide live broadcast, including on ABC in the US,” he says. For this job, Huub requested two mixers of his choice, plus speakers, plug-in servers, and multitrack systems. The size of the acts and how quickly they followed one another was why he needed two mixers to keep everything running smoothly.

Mixing from a shipping container at Global Citizen Festival, Ghana (2022)

“In pre-production, I requested two mixers of my choice—an MC2 56 by Lawo—from a rental company, including speakers, two plug-in servers, and a few 192-channel multitrack systems.” The scale of the event becomes even clearer when Huub explains that he needed no fewer than 6 MADI systems to sync digital signals to the video clock. The obvious next question is how all that kit gets to the right place on time. Huub answers: “Normally, we set everything up in the Netherlands first to test it. Think of the audio mixers and outboard gear, the video control room including the engine room, and all the cameras. After testing, everything goes into flight cases and onto pallets, so it can be transported by plane.” Thanks to extensive technical preparation and logistics planning, the chance of problems during the recording is reduced as much as possible.

Preparation for TV broadcast UAE National Day (2023)

One of the most extreme jobs Huub has experienced was for the UAE National Day. For this annual TV broadcast, SR Films needed no fewer than 57 pallets of audio, camera, and video equipment: “You don’t often see the video and audio control rooms being built in a two-storey tent with two separate control rooms.” The live concert you see on TV is actually only a small part of the full production—but it’s clear that behind the scenes there’s a whole world of preparation and planning. Audio engineers and technicians spend days building, testing, and fine-tuning all the equipment to make sure every note sounds perfect, so you can enjoy your favourite artists at home.

Stunning locations and flawless productions

Huub has worked in many special locations, but Coldplay’s album launch live from Amman, Jordan, was one of the most impressive. “Coldplay chose a mountain in Amman that’s historically important to both Christians and Muslims.” The concert was played at sunrise and sunset and broadcast live. A great chance to capture unique footage: “We worked with only 4 film cameras and no artificial lighting. It looked unbelievably good. Alongside the sparkling visuals, it sounded so perfect that ‘the internet’ could hardly believe it was live. But it really was. I think that’s the most impressive production I’ve ever been involved in,” Huub says, pleased.

Coldplay album launch on a mountain in Amman, Jordan (2019)

From legendary acts to exciting prospects

It’s clear that Huub has a portfolio that would make many music fans drool. Still, we’re curious whether there are any artists/bands left on the audio engineer’s wish list. When it comes to his musical taste, Huub loves artists from the ’60s. “The artists I really think are fantastic generally come from the ’60s, so they’re either elderly or dead,” he laughs. Still, he has dreams for future projects. “I’d be very happy if Vulfpeck popped up in my schedule.” He remembers a conversation with Bolke Burnaby Lautier of SR Films—his client—years ago. “Bolke asked me who I’d most like to record, and my answer back then was: the Foo Fighters. As luck would have it, not long after that, a Foo Fighters recording in Barcelona appeared in the schedule.” Those kinds of coincidences and challenges keep his work exciting and rewarding.

Coldplay live broadcast worldwide, Buenos Aires (2022)

The work of broadcast audio engineers like Huub Lelieveld often goes unnoticed, even though it’s crucial to the quality of the concert recordings we all watch on television. Next time you’re dancing in the living room in front of the telly during a concert broadcast, take a moment to listen to the clarity, balance, and quality of every instrument and every voice. Sounds good, doesn’t it? Who knows—maybe Huub is the one working hard at that moment to make the music sound fantastic in your home.

Huub Lelieveld, (2023)

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