Sports television has always chased immersion. Higher frame rates, longer lenses and increasingly complex graphics all served the same goal: putting the viewer closer to the action.
But for all the visual advances, sound remains a powerful shortcut to realism.
At the U.S. Figure Skating National Championships in St. Louis on Jan. 11, a quiet piece of audio innovation brought audiences closer to the ice than ever before by placing microphones directly inside it.
Cutting Into the Ice
Broadcast audio technicians arrived in St. Louis early to help the ice operations team install prototype Audio-Technica contact microphones directly into the skating surface. These contact microphones converted vibrations in the ice into an electrical signal that could be amplified for broadcast.
From there, a narrow trench ran from the mic location back to the dasher boards, allowing the cable to exit cleanly at the rink perimeter. Once the microphones were seated, the cabling was dressed tightly against the wall so it could later be tied into the broadcast infrastructure.
After installation, the ice team packed slush over the microphones and trenches, resurfaced the area, and painted the ice to conceal any visible lines. When finished, there was no visible evidence that 10 microphones were sitting just beneath the surface, positioned evenly around the rink.
Once the physical work was complete, the broadcast audio team tied the microphones into the broadcast truck, where the real test began.
A Different Kind of Microphone
The prototype microphones were contact mics, capturing only vibrations from the ice. Audio-Technica supplied the mics, with Gary Dixon, director of broadcast business development, closely involved in testing and exploring their applications.
“The goal is always the same,” Dixon explained. “How do we make sounds more interesting to people?”
Because the element was embedded directly into the ice, the microphones were inherently isolated from ambient noise. The mics use standard phantom power and were connected to conventional microphone inputs, with an internal amplifier bringing the piezo-element (an electrical charge or voltage generated by mechanical stress) signal up to microphone level.
Crowd reaction, PA spill and arena noise simply did not factor into the signal path. What remained was pure mechanical sound: blades carving ice, shifts in pressure, landings, takeoffs and the rhythm of the skating itself.
The microphones used in St. Louis were available through Audio-Technica’s rental program, with plans for a future commercial release. Dixon sees broad potential well beyond figure skating, such as basketball rims, soccer goalposts, swimming environments and even engines. Anywhere vibration tells a story, contact microphones offer a new way to listen.
Mixing the Ice
For Randy Pekich, senior audio mixer with NBC, the first listen was eye-opening.
“When I heard them, my first reaction was, ‘No way that’s a shotgun mic,’” Pekich said. “I was completely fascinated.”
With more than three decades in television audio and a background spanning music recording, studio television and large-scale remote productions, Pekich had embedded microphones into just about every imaginable place. But contact microphones in ice were new territory.
His initial concern was physics. With roughly an inch of ice covering each microphone, Pekich expected the sound to be thin, fragile or highly localized. Instead, he found that each mic captured a surprisingly wide area, roughly a 6- to 8-foot diameter, with enough detail to hear skaters working at center ice.
“They’re outstanding,” he said. “One of the best inventions to happen to the sport.”
Historically, figure skating audio relied on a combination of shotguns, PCC-style boundary microphones and occasionally lavaliers embedded in the dasher boards. As overall venue levels increased, those microphones inevitably behaved more like crowd mics, capturing PA and audience noise instead of isolating on-ice action. The in-ice contact microphones changed that equation entirely.
Simplifying the Mix
During the event, Pekich continuously monitored ambient sound levels in the arena, including crowd noise, music playback and general environmental spill, to understand what he was up against. With the contact microphones, much of that fight disappeared.
“I worried whether 10 microphones would be enough,” he admitted. “Then I heard everything.”
Because the microphones only responded to vibration in the ice, fader management became significantly easier. Instead of chasing skaters around the rink or riding levels to avoid crowd surges, Pekich could focus on storytelling. Subtle compression and minimal EQ were all that was required.
“Considering the massive frequency restrictor of the surrounding ice, they performed flawlessly,” he said. “They’re very true to sound.”
Importantly, the sound resonated with those who knew it best. Former skaters serving as on-air analysts commented that the audio matched exactly what they remembered hearing while skating. In some cases, they could even identify blade placement, helping them explain technique and judging decisions to viewers.
The Ice Team Perspective
Embedding equipment into the field of play is always a sensitive issue, particularly in a sport where surface quality directly affects athlete safety. John Monteleone, director of education with the U.S. Ice Rink Association, who oversaw the ice operations, acknowledged the initial hesitation.
“Most ice operations staff shy away from placing any foreign matter in the ice,” Monteleone said. “But after refining the process since 2019, we’re confident in the installation.”
The key, he explained, was precision and consistency. Keeping the cable runs straight, thoroughly removing ice shavings and carefully packing slush over the microphones ensured a uniform surface. Throughout the event, there were no impacts to ice quality, no interference from resurfacing equipment and no contact from skaters’ toe picks.
Removal, however, remained the most time-consuming part of the process. Locating and extracting the microphones after the event could take time and required chipping and hot water. Even so, Monteleone said he would be comfortable deploying the system again.
“My preference is always to keep the field of play as clean as possible,” he said. “But with the experience we’ve gained, I have no reservations about continuing to use in-ice microphones for these events.”
A New Layer of Immersion
Figure skating is a deceptively difficult sport to mix. The action is fluid, the pacing varies and the most important moments are often quiet, such as a subtle shift before a jump or the scrape of an edge setting up a landing. These embedded contact microphones added an entirely new layer of that story.
The on-ice sound translated exceptionally well, earning praise from the production team, leadership and viewers alike.
For audio, innovation doesn’t always mean more microphones or more channels. Sometimes it means listening differently. By installing directly to the ice, these contact microphones offered a rare combination of isolation, authenticity and emotional impact, bringing audiences closer to the sport without ever being seen.
