Delivering a Hollywood Bowl Spectacular for Home Viewers

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2024)—Recording and mixing services company HEAR was on-site at the Hollywood Bowl in May to handle the broadcast mix of a special live-to-film concert event of Disney’s film The Lion King.

The immersive 30th anniversary live-to-film event, also captured for viewing on Disney+, featured an A-list cast of vocal performers alongside a live orchestra to bring the film to life for those in attendance. HEAR’s mixers, in their Gemini audio mobile, maintained the balance between the film’s existing soundtrack and the live performers for the broadcast mix.

​Arriving a few days before showtime in their Gemini audio mobile, HEAR principals John Harris, Jody Elff, and Rob Macomber partnered with orchestra mixer Tommy Vicari and production mixer Paul Wittman. Gemini’s two identical control rooms—unique to Gemini—served as broadcast audio headquarters.

Rob Macomber Joins HEAR Engineering Team

“The expectations when we are brought onto a project like this are superior results and high production values within a short time frame,” Macomber says. “Gemini is designed specifically with these high-level productions in mind and because it is two networked control rooms within the same vehicle, we can offer a level of seamless integration and control to the audio of these events that is frankly, unprecedented. With a full orchestra and a voice cast of 77, this show is exactly what Gemini was made to support.”

“Ultimately our goal as music mixers in the broadcast audio realm is creating that feeling of experiencing this music live and all of the feelings that come along with that experience—and that’s more than just creating a competent FOH mix,” Elff says. “We are mixing with the performers and using our production experience to create a live-feeling experience that hits all the emotional high points.”

​Vicari and Wittman each had a control room in Gemini to focus on the orchestra mix and production mix at the same time, with Macomber and Harris supporting them. “This was the first time that I had ever mixed in Gemini, and it really was the best of everything we could have possibly had to work with,” Wittman says. “Everything was at our fingertips without any compromises in sound or capability despite budget or space constraints.”