[Tonedeaf]

I do sound for some NBL games in Canada for Rogers Television.

To capture the court side sound, I've been using the following method with some really positive success.

I use lapel mics behind the nets which protrude slightly from between the foam barrier that surrounds the backboard. This catches the "swish sound" and the ball bounce off the net very well. A gate on those mics to reduce ambient noise and compressor to catch the transients from a really heavy bounce of a ball off of the hoop itself. I like to hear the net noise, but i just don't want it to be abnormally loud for viewers.

A handheld camera under each net catch the majority of the court noise (sneaker squeak, ball bounces and player voices) with their shotgun mics. The middle court fill is caught with an ME66 at court level at the center. This mixed with the camera mics to keep a pretty even court sound as the players travel from one end to the other with no discernible difference in level changes in the ball bouncing etc.

I assign the left side and right side court mics to their own subgroup with the center mic assigned to both groups. As players travel from one side to the other, I just transition from one subgroup to the other on the audio board, the center mic being assigned to both group makes that transition seamless. Might be a bit of overkill, but makes me feel better. The less unnecessary going to air the better.

Commentators sit at court level and use the standard Sennheiser commentator headset and clearcom commentator boxes. These headsets tend to bring in a little more background noise than I would like, but in the long run, does help to keep a constant dull roar of the stadium activity present if I pull back my court side subgroups.

For additional coverage, we put (with their permission) wireless mics on the coaches to catch some court side banter. It really brings the energy of the game to the show. We use them with a certain level of caution, some coaches do express themselves more vigorously than others! So far so good.