Audio-Technica Brings The Sound Of The Alpine World Ski Championships

Audio-Technica provided the entire ambience microphone system for the 2025 Alpine World Ski Championships in Saalbach Hinterglemm.

Mainz-based TV Skyline was commissioned by ORF (the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation) to produce the international television sound, with the company selecting a wide variety of Audio-Technica microphone solutions for locations including the Starter's House, the piste itself and stadium. Lavalier, shotgun and boundary microphone models were employed as necessary to capture the race atmosphere and put viewers at the heart of the action.

Chosen for their discreet design and sonic performance, BP899 subminiature omnidirectional condenser lavaliers and U851R boundary microphones were placed in the Starter House to pick up highly detailed sound whilst remaining invisible. Customised wind baskets were used for the U851R to capture the optimum sound without impact sound or wind noise. In the stadium, a high-resolution sound image was delivered via directional shotgun microphones including the BP4073, BP4071L long and BP4029 stereo models, ensuring the TV audience were immersed in the race atmosphere.

Given the nature of the 2025 Alpine World Ski Championships, one of the main challenges of the audio broadcast was miking the athletes themselves. Parabolic reflectors fitted with low-profile Audio-Technica ES933 cardioid condenser microphones were used at the jumps, handheld by sound technicians in order to perfectly capture wind noise in the air and the jump. A specially developed microphone based on the BP899 was also used in competitors’ helmets - tuned in terms of frequency response and level and similar to the helmet microphones used in the MotoGP motorcycle race series.

Race start times were organised so that competitors started while the previous runner was still on the course, with the main control room always following the previous competitor until they crossed the finish line.

A separate control room was therefore set up for mixing the upper section of the course, which was equipped with mixing solutions from Allen & Heath. A dLive S5000 console with DM0 MixRack was integrated into the audio infrastructure via MADI and Dante using a Dante 128 x 128 interface card and an sMADI interface card. Four DT168 stage boxes in the upper part of the track picked up the atmosphere microphones there and fed them into the Dante network. This allowed the upper part of the track to be perfectly pre-mixed until the main control room took over and followed the runners to the finish line.

Audio-Technica will be exhibiting a range of its broadcast-oriented microphone solutions at IBC 2025 between 12-15 September at RAI Amsterdam in Hall 8, Stand no. D46.

www.audio-technica.com