The question behind the question
Studio managers and producers ask us some version of the same thing nearly every week: what does the sound team actually need to know before the show goes live? It sounds simple, yet the answers given in most galleries are scattered across email threads, whiteboards and the memory of whoever rigged the set last time. The result is that audio engineers arrive at call time and spend the first half hour working out what the day looks like instead of preparing it.
Our short answer is that the audio team needs the full picture of the setup, in one place, early enough to act on it. That means every source that will make a sound, every route it takes to the desk, and every person who must hear or speak to someone else during the programme. If any of those three is missing, the engineer fills the gap with an assumption, and assumptions are what cause the awkward silences on air.
The rest of this article walks through what that picture contains, how we suggest teams assemble it, and what to do when plans change late. It reflects the way Reading-area newsrooms and entertainment crews have told us they work, and the way we set up the shared workspace for them.
Sources: every microphone accounted for
Start with the sources. For each show the audio team should be able to see how many microphones are needed, of which type, and where each one sits: presenter lavalier, handheld for the audience, boom over the desk, a spare in the wings. A list that only says six radio mics tells the engineer very little. A list that says which presenter wears which pack, and which frequency block it is meant to use, tells them nearly everything.
It also helps to record what changes between shows in a single day. A bulletin might use two seated presenters and a standing reporter, while the entertainment recording that follows needs a band, a host and an audience mic. When both live in the same plan, the engineer sees the changeover as a defined task with a start and an end, rather than a surprise discovered when the previous programme clears the floor.
Batteries, spares and windscreens belong here as well. They are dull items, but a plan that lists them gets them checked.
- Microphone type and position for each source
- Which presenter or guest uses which pack
- Spare units and battery stock for the day
- Changeover notes between consecutive shows
Routing: from the floor to the mixing desk
Next comes the route the signal takes. Audio teams are good at reading a patch layout, but only if one exists and is current. We encourage studios to keep the input list for the mixing desk alongside the show schedule, so the engineer can see which stage box channel carries which source and which desk channel it lands on. When a studio has several desks or a shared stage box, it is worth noting which desk belongs to which programme on a given day.
A common problem is the inherited patch. Someone changes a channel to suit an early show and forgets to say so, and the next team finds a microphone on the wrong fader at ten minutes to air. Keeping routing changes in a visible record, with a name and a time against each one, takes seconds and prevents most of these moments.
Where a show uses a remote contribution or a feed from another studio, the plan should say how that audio arrives and who is responsible for checking it. Those links are the ones most often left implied.
Talkback: who needs to hear whom
Talkback is the part people forget until it fails. The audio team needs to know who is on which talkback group, who has a return feed in their ear, and who can speak to the floor. In a newsroom gallery the director, producer and vision mixer may share one group, while the floor manager and camera operators sit on another. In a live entertainment show there are usually more groups, with the stage manager and band on their own.
Write these groups down as simple lists attached to the show, not as folklore. When a guest director or freelance crew joins for a single recording, a written talkback plan lets them plug in and get on with the job. It also helps the audio engineer spot clashes, such as two people expecting to hear the same cue on different channels.
Presenters with earpieces deserve a line of their own: which feed they hear, at what level, and who can cut in. Getting this agreed before the rehearsal saves the awkward conversation during it.
- Talkback groups and their members
- Return feeds for presenters and floor crew
- Who can interrupt and who listens only
Getting it in front of the team early
Timing matters as much as content. A perfect plan seen at call time is only slightly better than none. We suggest the audio setup is visible to the engineers the day before, with a note on anything still undecided, so they can ask questions while there is still time to change something. In the shared workspace this simply means the sound plan sits on the same schedule page the producers and directors use, so nobody has to forward a document.
Rehearsal slots are the second moment worth protecting. Even ten minutes with the real microphones and the real talkback groups reveals problems that no paperwork will. If the schedule shows when that check happens, and who must be present, it tends to survive the pressure of a busy morning.
Finally, keep one person responsible for the sound plan on each show. It need not be a senior role. It just needs to be clear who answers questions and who updates the record when something moves.
When plans change late
Plans do change. A guest brings a musician at short notice, a presenter swaps places, a set piece is cut. The point of a shared record is not to prevent change but to make it visible quickly. When the producer updates the rundown, the audio team should see the effect on microphones and talkback straight away, not hear it second hand at the studio door.
In mid autumn, with schedules filling and seasonal specials being recorded alongside the regular bulletins, we see these late adjustments more often. Teams that handle them well tend to do two small things: they note the change in the plan the moment it is agreed, and they tell the engineer directly as well, because a message on a screen is not a conversation.
None of this requires special equipment. It requires one agreed place for the setup, and the habit of using it.
So, what should an audio team know before the show goes live? Every source and where it sits, the route each one takes to the desk, who hears whom on talkback, and what has changed since the last programme. Put that in one shared place, show it early, and keep one person accountable for it. The details will vary from studio to studio, but the habit of writing the setup down before call time is what lets engineers concentrate on the sound.
