Yamaha PM1D Scores at NCAA Final Four

YAMAHA PM1D SCORES AT NCAA FINAL FOUR

—Large Format Digital Console Plays Winning Role for Broadcast—

BUENA PARK, CA (April 23, 2001)—A fixture in downtown Minneapolis since 1982, the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome is one of the busiest and visible sports facilities in the U.S., hosting the American League Minnesota Twins baseball and NFL Minnesota Vikings football teams, plus other sporting and entertainment events. As the only air-supported dome in the major leagues, the Metrodome is covered by over 10 acres of Teflon-coated fiberglass material overhead, and can seat up to 68,000.

“March Madness” swept the world of NCAA college basketball, the Metrodome hosted three games of the “Final Four,” which drew 50,000 attendees and millions of worldwide television viewers.

The demand for updated technological requirements, coupled with intelligibility problems that accompany such a large venue, led to a comprehensive overhaul of the audio system, featuring a Yamaha PM1D large format digital mixing console as the control center and an Electro-Voice P.A. system. Involved in the design were Tom Pearson of Minneapolis-based Hollywood Sound, the State of Minnesota (who owns the venue) and the Metrodome's managers, the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission.

The first major test of the new system came as "March Madness" swept the world of NCAA college basketball, as the Metrodome hosted three games of the "Final Four." On April 2, over 50,000 attendees and millions worldwide tuned in to watch the top-ranked Blue Devils of Duke University win their third NCAA championship with an 82-72 victory over the Arizona Wildcats.

Permanently installed in the sound booth (the upper deck of the baseball press box), the PM1D acts as the control center for the entire system. "Based on its flexibility and capabilities, we thought the PM1D would be the best choice for the 'Dome,'" explains Pearson, who serves as audio director for the Metrodome. "What struck me was its user-friendliness—it looks like an analog board—yet will patch anything, anywhere, at any time, seamlessly. That's a 'must have' for televised sporting events. We have 96 inputs, 48 outs with 12 stereo matrices as outputs. Plus, we're also using the entire board as a routing switcher for all the audio signals throughout building."

The Yamaha PM1D acts as the control center for the entire Metrodome house and broadcast system.

Pearson explains the system in detail. "We installed Horizon stage boxes all over the arena, and those are fed directly into the PM1D. The signal then goes into a Peavey 950 MediaMatrix with eight DSPs, which handle all the D/A and A/D format conversion. The signal then runs to a Telecast fiber optics converter and then on to three amplifier rooms, (located about 1,000 feet away), where it's converted back to analog, and feeds the overhead clusters."

The speaker system consists of a center cluster, comprised of 20 Electro-Voice Xi X-Array Series XI1153, plus an elliptical delay ring of 28 EV custom arena horns covering the upper decks. All cabinets are driven by Crown MacroTech MA600 and MA2400 amplifiers.

"Since the building is a dome," he adds, "and the court is offset, every one of those speakers in the ring is on a different time delay. That was probably this system's biggest challenge. Also, in a dome situation, you've got to run a pretty substantial amount of feedback control, so the system has feedback locator EQs (two Sabine 901 and four Peavey FX431). That's very important, since you don't get a traditional soundcheck when going live."

Tom Pearson, audio director for the Metrodome, at the PM1D.

Pearson put the PM1D through its paces during three Final Four broadcasts, mixing the in-house production. "We mic'd the full college bands for anthems, all the announcers, plus the buzzers and horns—all the standard effects for a basketball arena game go through the system. We were also feeding all the broadcast trucks—CBS, Hi-Definition and World Feed—and discovered that you could patch and un-patch anything on the PM1D with no clicks or pops. The D/A feeds were exceptionally clean—very transparent. In fact, the broadcast techs were amazed that there weren't the standard buzzes and hums going to so many different feeds."

Many arenas and athletic events utilize a variety of playback material, and the Metrodome is no exception, as Pearson explains. "That's all done through computers here. Our system has a custom five-computer network of 1.2 gigabyte processors, plus a tower server with about 120 gigs of storage, where we load all our sounds into Datronic Soundburst, which is an instantaneous Windows Wave File playback program. Since we got the PM1D, I don't use a lot of outboard effects, but I do use two T.C. Electronic Finalizers to enhance the announcers. The music busses are run through a new Aphex Aural Exciter Model 102 for an extra 'kick.'"

Configurable in both 48- and 96-channel versions with 48 mix busses, 24 matrices and 12 DCAs, the Yamaha PM1D system utilizes top-quality 28-bit A/D and 27-bit D/A conversion. Dual inputs on each channel provide 96 inputs for the 48-channel system (192 inputs on the 96-channel version). If additional channels are required, adding a second digital engine (DSP1DEX) can expand the PM1D system to 384 inputs on 192 channels with 96 mix busses, 48 matrices and 24 DCAs.

With a control surface at slightly over half the weight of comparable analog consoles, the compact configuration provides easy transport and positioning. Features include: total recall, undo, off-line programmability, central control, graphic parameter readout and an advanced user interface. Up to 990 scene memories can be stored. In the event of a control surface disconnect or power failure, the system will continue to pass audio. Console-to-stage audio and control signals are carried via one 68-pin cable and two Ethernet cables. Head amp gain trim settings are recallable and may be controlled via remote control. In situations where multiple control surfaces are used which share I/O (e.g., monitors, FOH and remote truck), the main DSP1D mix and processing engine may be configured with a simple switch to select which surface will control head amp gain.

Additional channel features include a powerful virtual channel, four-band fully parametric EQ, compressor and a gate on every channel, user-definable number of aux sends, effects processors and graphic EQs.

"We love our new system," Pearson says. "The PM1D looks and operates like any analog mixer. It's one of the first products I've used where every challenge you're given is, 'Yes, I can do that.'"

For more information on the PM1D, write Yamaha Corporation of America, Pro Audio & Combo Division, Commercial Audio, P.O. Box 6600, Buena Park, CA 90622; telephone (714) 522-9011; e-mail info@yamaha.com; or visit www.yamaha.com/proaudio.

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