Maybe it is just me, but it sure seems like the quality of the audio on hunting shows by and large sucks. I know that they use remote mikes which are probably not the greatest for sound quality, but about half the time when they are speaking you get this muffled sound like someone is talking into a can with a rag across their mouth. I am sure my shot-out ears do not help. With all the advances in cameras, HD and the like, you would think the audio quality would be better. With all due respect to Craig, Dave and Ivan, seems like the Tracks Across Africa audio is particularly problematic -- to my ears. Which is a pity since it probably has some of the best dialogue. Maybe it is just me.

Mike, it is not just you...

What?

You are spot on Mike. The answer is to wire the hunter and PH with a remote mike.

I don't really watch many hunting shows anymore but I do know a thing or 2 about sound. I'm an audio engineer and own a recording studio. I don't know what equipment they are using (maybe Craig or someone can be of assisstance there) but it could be the microphones, any baffles or windscreens, the medium that they record to (this should be HD and not present any problems), or the equipment that is used to edit and mix the audio. I also know that most if not all of that can be fixed in post-production (it can also be created there too if the Mix Engineer doesn't know what they're doing). All it would take is manipulation of the offending frequencies and wala! Pure, clear sound!! I do it everyday. It's the job of the Mix Engineer (or editor if they're pulling double duty which would not be the optimal situation unless they are highly skilled at both) to ensure the final product sounds the best it can.

Unfortunately all that is the networks' responsibility though, which is even more reason for it not to happen. They SHOULD know better...or care more.

Mike, and the boys
You are not the only ones to notice-we are raising hell about it too ! Our masters are flawless, we have checked and re-checked them when we too noticed the problem. I assure you the product we send to the Outdoor channel is audio mixed perfectly. We are awaiting a response from them as to why there is a problem on that end and what the solution is. I will keep you updated. As you can imagine, we work way too hard to get it right in the field to have a audio problem arise during broadcast. Our apologies for the problem but no one is more upset than the Safari Classics team. We WILL get this fixed-keep watching.

Bad audio, good audio, no audio, rest assured I will keep watching. My Sunday evening ritual is to tune in at 4:30 CT each week. It is a pity though to hear someone like Ian Gibson talking like he has a rag in his mouth when you know he has so much knowledge to share. Stay after them Dave and let us know if you need any viewer support.

mike ,
i echo what dave says , we have excellent quality lapel mics , if you look closely on my belt i have a small pouch that holds that ...they transmit excellent quality and our crew are very good at balancing the incoming ,....then on the studio end i know dave and his crew put a huge amount of effort into getting this well balanced and clips are chosen not based just on the image but on the sound quality aswell... thanks for your patience and the compliments

Thanks Mike
I'll take you up on the viewer support on both Outdoor channel and Sportsmans Channel. Both listen carefully to viewer feedback and it comes in handy to have positive input from viewers. A email goes a long way . The thousands of people who enjoy watching a big tusker hunted watch,but seldom email. EVERY ONE of the anti types who tune make their voice heard... Week in week out.
Thanks boys

Here is the message that I sent to The Outdoor Channel this afternoon. Since I only get The Outdoor Channel, I will leave it to someone else to take care of the Sportsman's Channel.

"I really enjoy Tracks Across Africa. It is one of the handful of shows on The Outdoor Channel that I regularly watch. My problem is that the audio portion of the show is terrible. It is hard to understand the speakers and the voices are muffled. It is not a problem on other channels so I presume it is a production problem on the show. As a real fan of Tracks Across Africa, I would appreciate someone looking into the issue. The host and guests on Tracks Across Africa have too much information to impart without the message being lost in poor audio. Thanks!"