"American Idol" Uses Personal Mixers For Communications Network

The 2008 season of the popular TV show "American Idol" is being broadcast from Hollywood's Kodak Theatre, with audio production services being provided by ATK Audiotek of Valencia, CA. This year, American Idol has a brand new, larger, multi-level set and, for the first time, conductor Rickey Minor, also the bass payer, is separated from the other musicians in a second-story balcony across from the band. This new configuration made the show's communication network even more vital to the production. Making use of audio networking and monitor mixing equipment from Aviom, engineers were able to replace an aging communication system, allowing seamless bidirectional communication between Minor, the director, and the mixing engineer as well as providing cues to the band.

The system is arranged into two individual zones—one for the band and one for the drummer—to which Minor and the director can speak using Clear-Com and Studio Technologies announcer consoles as the main interfaces. The band zone is equipped with an A-16R rack mountable mixer controlled by the monitor engineer while the drummer uses a standalone Aviom A-16II mixer, which he can control himself. Tweecomm OB-1 headset boxes with headphones are provided for the rest of the band.

For the first time, several band members are using the A-16II for monitor control. "At first they were somewhat hesitant, but now the players have embraced the A-16II mixer and are enjoying the increased control it offers," says Andres Arango, staff engineer at ATK Audiotek.

In addition, the system was flexible enough to move from the small set used during the earlier rounds of the show to the new, larger stage in the Kodak Theatre for the semi-final rounds with simple wiring adjustments and the addition of several boxes. "All we did was add some more OB-1 boxes and lengthen our XLR cable to the units," Arango explains. "It was that easy."