ESPN will have a fair share of the cameras covering the progress of tonight’s Derby, and its audio coverage is no less impressive. Tasked with bringing the crack of the bat and the feel of a towering home run, technicians have installed an array of microphones in certain areas around the field, including the dirt portion around home plate. Since the All-Star Game and its Home Run Derby take place in a new venue every season, the audio team learns to adapt to the schedules and workflows of each facility’s grounds crew. To make sure this procedure runs as smoothly as possible, the broadcaster accurately follows the home team’s rules.
This year, the crew buried four Quantum Q5X systems after the conclusion of the 2021 MLB Futures Game and before the MLB All-Star Celebrity Softball Game. The time-sensitive process is extremely important to bringing the full breadth of the Home Run Derby to fans watching at home, but the moment is also filled with tension and pressure.
“We sometimes have to bury them earlier, and, other times, we have to bury them extremely close to game time,” notes Cleary. “It’s usually a scramble because you don’t have much time [to work with] for a Major League Baseball game, so you have to get in and out of there pretty quickly.”
“One of the biggest challenges has always been working together with the grounds crew,” says Kevin Cleary, remote operations specialist, ESPN. “This area is usually hallowed ground for them, and allowing us to dig into their infield to place microphones was a big hurdle to get by. Once they realize that we’re respectful of their space and we treat their ground as if it was ours, we do the insertion and extraction with a member of their team, and we try to leave the infield in the same condition that it always is.”
This year, the crew buried four Quantum Q5X systems after the conclusion of the 2021 MLB Futures Game and before the MLB All-Star Celebrity Softball Game. The time-sensitive process is extremely important to bringing the full breadth of the Home Run Derby to fans watching at home, but the moment is also filled with tension and pressure.
“We sometimes have to bury them earlier, and, other times, we have to bury them extremely close to game time,” notes Cleary. “It’s usually a scramble because you don’t have much time [to work with] for a Major League Baseball game, so you have to get in and out of there pretty quickly.”