Nashville, TN (February 22, 2024)—TNDV, in a first for the Nashville-based live production specialist, fielded three mobile units to deliver the People’s Choice Country Awards from the Grand Ole Opry for NBC and Peacock.
Vibration, a 45-foot sound mixing trailer with a Studer Vista 9 console capable of 384 inputs, was used to record separate audio mixes of all artists including a complete backup of each performance. Exclamation, TNDV’s largest truck, a 53-foot double expando tractor trailer, handled cameras for the main event’s presenters and performances. Aspiration, a 40-foot single unit with an expanding side, provided cameras to broadcast and stream the pre-show festivities and interviews on the red carpet as well as interviews with winners and crowd members during the main show.
Exclamation and Vibration, the sound truck, were tied together with fiber to get the audio signals back and forth and to communicate via intercom, which was tied in with some of the house intercoms. Aspiration was dedicated to producing the red-carpet pre-show, which was separate from the awards ceremony. With all three trucks together, TNDV was able to provide a simultaneous recording and transmission of two live network-quality program feeds, an awards show and a red-carpet, behind-the-scenes program, as well as a large volume of live performance and multitrack audio recordings for archive.
Recording a Truly Underground Concert Series
“We have an excellent working relationship with the Grand Ole Opry because of all the shows we’ve worked on there,” said Rob Devlin, president of TNDV.
Vibration, which handled all the music mixes, allowed every band that performed to get the music dialed in the way they wanted. Every instrument for every artist was transferred from the stage through TNDV’s fiber MADI stage box. Additional audio inputs came from around two dozen audience mics stationed around the Opry venue.
“All tracks go through both Pro Tools and a JoeCo recorder, so there’s a redundant backup for each multi-track configuration,” Devlin said. “If any issues arise, there’s always a backup. Having Vibration on site also frees the production truck from all the audio fine tuning, so they can focus on transmission, recording, playback and all the other critical visual program elements.”
