Accessing Multichannel Audio in the Virtual Commentary Studio

Introduction
Often incoming broadcast feeds contain multiple audio tracks, each providing useful information to a commentator. These tracks could contain anything from international sound, to referee microphones or existing local language commentary. Commentators and other members of a production benefit from being able to hear those channels while on air. Spalk's Virtual Commentary Studio supports listening to up to 8 channels of incoming audio simultaneously. This allows commentators and producers to independently select and listen to different audio channels within the Spalk studio, allowing them to take full advantage of all audio tracks in the incoming signal.

How It Works
Multichannel audio uses a set of faders is to provide flexibility and customization for the audio each user hears. Commentators can choose from up to 8 incoming audio channels, mixing and matching as needed to suit their commentary requirements. This selection process is independent for each user - adjustments by one commentator do not affect others, or the output mixes.

Technical Requirements and Limitations
It's important to note that this functionality is intended for use with MPEG-TS streams, (SRT and MediaConnect input types) given that RTMP input streams typically only contain two audio channels. Furthermore, access is restricted to the first eight channels. This range typically suffices for most broadcasting needs, please contact your Spalk representative if this is unsuitable.

Use Cases
The multichannel studio audio feature is particularly beneficial in scenarios such as:

• Access to referee microphones, enabling commentators to better understand what is happening on the field and thus provide a better commentary.
• Access to Assistant Director or Director audio, when that Director is not directly using the Spalk studio. This can be useful to hear Ad break counts and other external production information.
• Language-specific commentary, where a commentator benefits from access to embedded commentary audio in different languages. This flexibility supports a broad spectrum of use cases, from translators to international commentators, enhancing the live sports broadcasting experience.

Studio Interface Guide
Within the Spalk studio, users can easily expand their monitoring audio options to select from different channels by clicking this button

Users click the Speaker icon to Mute/Unmute each channel, and use the faders to increase or decrease the volume.

Setting Preferences and Defaults
Before an event, admins can pre-select the channels that commentators hear through the dashboard, which means commentators don't have to be aware of where the relevant audio is. To preset the defaults in the dashboard, open the "Commentators" dropdown, then click on "Monitor". This will show you the same interface, and you can set the default configuration for all commentators in each team.

The system will apply the audio channel settings in the following order:

1. Default to Channel 1-2 unmuted, 3-8 muted.
2. Dashboard-configured defaults for that team and event
3. Commentator-configured preferences inside the studio

This hierarchy ensures commentators start with a baseline setup that can be personalized as needed.

Adjustments made by commentators to their audio channels override any default settings, this means that if you change the default settings while the event is live, the commentator may not see those updates, even if they exit/rejoin their studio.

It's advised to configure audio preferences before live events to minimize the need for in-game adjustments.

Conclusion
Multichannel input audio makes remote live sports commentary easy for productions of all sizes. By making all audio inputs available for all members of a production, we make World Feed, and Localised Feed production easy for commentators and producers alike. As usual, we love to hear from you so if you have any questions or feedback please reach out to your Spalk representative. Happy Broadcasting!