LOS ANGELES—Working on the 97th Academy Awards this past March as the broadcast mixer inside NEP Denali’s Summit unit was a massive but deeply rewarding undertaking. This is one of the most complex shows on television, a global broadcast with countless moving parts, and the Calrec Apollo is at the center of our workflow.
The routing alone is staggering—it includes international feeds, audience microphones, podiums, RF mics and playback elements from multiple audio and video sources. While the orchestra and live performances are handled in the music truck, those feeds are integrated into our final broadcast mix.
Total Recall
What made it manageable was the Apollo’s ability to recall last year’s setup with a single press of a button. When I walked in, Hugh Healy, our longtime chief technical engineer, loaded last year’s configuration, giving me a fully mapped session to build on. From there, I could focus on refining, adjusting levels, EQ, panning, reverbs and microphone gains, rather than reinventing the wheel.
The familiarity of the setup was a huge advantage. We’d been in the same venue for years, working with the same Calrec console, the same outboard gear and, most importantly, the same amazing team. Pablo Munguia handles Pro Tools, Biff Dawes and Tommy Vicari mix the music and orchestra, Patrick Baltzel runs front of house, and Mike Parker and Tom Pesa manage artist monitor mixes. Many of us have been doing this show for decades and that consistency allows us to hit the ground running.
Getting ready for a show of this scale was a finely tuned process, kicking off with two intense days of technical setup, which included wiring the stage, deploying RF systems, assembling the orchestra’s space and ensuring that every microphone and audio feed synced perfectly between us, front of house, monitors and the music truck.
By midweek, rehearsals took center stage, first with stand-ins to nail down timing and movement, then with the actual performers to perfect everything from traffic flow to camera angles. Friday transformed into “music day,” where the orchestra and performers came together for full run-throughs of every performance. On Saturday, the focus shifted to the presenters, wardrobe checks for RF mic placements and a complete production rehearsal. After a final dress rehearsal on Sunday, the stage was set and we were ready to go live.
It was a far cry from when I first mixed the Oscars in the early ’90s, after working my way up from a maintenance engineer at Wally Heider Recording in the late ’70s. Back then, it was all analog, no Pro Tools, very few RF mics and far less I/O to manage.
The jump to digital has been transformative. The Calrec Apollo desk handles the insane number of inputs and outputs with ease, and its layers allow me to access everything without taking myself out of the mix sweet spot. I can preview RFs and line up the next act while mixing the current one, which is critical for live television.
Water-Cooler Moments
Of course, the job isn’t without challenges. Today’s stages generate significant noise from screens, lighting elements and fans, making it harder to maintain a clean, consistent room tone. The proliferation of RF devices requires constant spectrum management. And with streaming shows reducing or eliminating commercial breaks, there’s less time to breathe between acts, which means more operators handling things silently in the background.
But it’s still a thrill. Mixing this show gave me those “water-cooler moments,” the great speeches, stunning performances and elegant old-school presentation that make the Oscars special. The technology has evolved, but the goal remains the same: deliver a beautiful, seamless mix for a worldwide audience. After all these years, there’s still nothing like it.
More information is available at calrec.com.
