After much controversy, Snoop Dogg pulled off an absolute blockbuster performance at this year’s AFL Grand Final.
As usual, JPJ Audio supplied the gear and crew, employing Richie Robinson to mix the main act. Richie has mixed a diverse range of pre-match entertainment acts, typically accepting the position without prior knowledge of who the act will be.
“I was employed by JPJ Audio for the AFL pre-match show, and it just happened to feature Snoop Dogg this year!” he said. “It’s important to keep in mind that you’re working as part of a large team for the event producers, and you’re there to help with their vision of how the show should sound.”
Richie received no specific requests from Snoop Dogg’s team, but Snoop had his own monitor guy who, along with Snoop’s production manager, listened in for the mixes going to broadcast.
Since the MCG had the full d&b install a few years ago, JPJ no longer have to augment the house PA with the speaker carts, which were always a big undertaking, both logistically and manpower-wise, getting them on and off the field for the show.
“Now we’re able to utilise the full MCG house system, and we start with a saved preset that has worked for the large sporting events where we have brought in extra production,” revealed Richie. “Doing all the checks when the stadium is empty but anticipating how it will sound when over 80,000 are in the stands is always a challenge – experience comes into play here.”
The audio control featured a fibre loop with five DiGiCo consoles included. The broadcast console was a DiGiCo 338, the stadium FOH was an SD12-96, and Snoop’s monitor console was another SD12 with Rupert Neve designs outboard. Two SD11s handled communications, as well as the anthem and AFL stage monitors.
“For my SD12 at FOH, I had two Waves servers (one as redundant), and my monitoring consisted of d&b E8s combined with two E12x subs,” added Richie.
SHHH Audio assisted with 12 Shure Axient ADX2 hand-held microphones featuring DPA 4018VL capsules and installed an extensive Wisycom fibre antenna network to ensure there were no dropouts.
Snoop had his own Shure KSM9 capsules with gold “bling” accessory. All RF was run AES.
The new Shure Axient PSMs were deployed this year for IEM duties, featuring 16 sends and 40 belt packs. FM transmit with 120 packs were used for the mass dancers and marching band.
Audio Chief Ryan Fallis from JPJ did a great fibre loop design and designed the playback rig.
Esteemed Audio Director James ‘Oysters’ Kilpatrick has handled GF broadcast duties for years. The music broadcast HQ was located in a newly renovated change room at the end of the umpires’ race, literally a door away from lighting and content control and close to FOH and monitors. According to Oysters, it’s fairly quiet considering the noise that a stadium like the MCG can generate at times.
Oysters’ setup consisted of a DiGiCo Quantum 338 as the main music broadcast board, redundant Waves servers, Genlec 8050B studio monitors with a sub, a few self-powered cue monitors for talk, comms and EVS replay. This was all connected to a large optical loop that encircled the ground and to the AFL scoreboard broadcast position. This ties into Boden, Ash, Hayden and Shaun at their respective consoles or RF racks.
A bespoke dual-redundant Mac mini, designed by Ryan, was set up for playback and two MacBook Pro machines with Pro Tools for recording and edits that connect to the playback and Oysters’ console.
“Sam ‘The Lizard’ Abrehart (playback/edits) and Ryan Fallis (design guru/boffin, audio production, edits and system design) are also with me in HQ,” added Oysters. “It’s really a full-time job for the three of us whilst on site.”
It’s a stressful position, but Oysters says that you have to try not to let the occasion get the better of you; stay calm, stay focused, and have redundancy and plans in place in case any curveballs come your way.
“Preparation and rehearsals off Pro Tools are the key,” he said. “I run through the show over and over till it becomes almost autopilot, so you can get through distractions that invariably happen on game day.
“It’s very well run by Mushroom Events. Travis Hogan, Simon ‘Junior’ Johnson, and Hayden Vassallo run a tight ship, and we have a very good relationship with John Hancock and the downstream broadcast crew, so that all works in our favour and minimises hassle. However, it’s live with a few million people hanging off the console with a lot of RF; there’s always something. It’s how you deal with it when it arises.”
System Tech: Boden Birkett
Monitors: Ash Trickey
RF Tech: Hayden Ineson
Monitor Tech: Shaun Ayles
Playback Tech: Sam Abrehart
Audio team: Angus Edwards, Alex Jackson, Mink Cummins, Sam Johnston
