Broadcast Innovator Olivier Chambin

Stepping foot inside a music studio at the age of 15, Olivier Chambin knew he’d found his calling. A lifelong music enthusiast with an early interest in computing, he quickly realised he could combine both passions into a career, as the recording engineer tells Headliner from his home in France...

"When I was a teenager, I was very passionate about music and also computing," he recalls. "I took sound on my old Windows 98 computer to try to produce drum and bass. I asked sound engineers in my area to meet and discuss what the job of a sound engineer is. I'm still in contact with them today."

Chambin studied at a music conservatory, where he enrolled in sound recording and Musique concrète (a style of music where composers use recordings of real-world sounds, like environmental noises or sounds from everyday objects, to create their compositions).

"Honestly, I didn't know what ‘concrete music’ was until my first day of class," he laughs. "It was fascinating to discover experimental music and be in this environment with classical, jazz and electronic musicians. It was very stimulating."

His education continued at the Institut National de l'Audiovisuel, while gaining hands-on experience mixing and producing TV programmes. Early in his career, he worked alongside renowned classical sound engineer Denis Vautrin, recording hundreds of live concerts for television and albums.

"We used new technology, very innovative at the time, like Ravenna and Dante," he explains. "When you record in a church, you have long distances. Traditional XLR cables can impact audio quality over those distances, but IP transmission improved the sound."

Chambin’s technical curiosity subsequently led him to broadcast engineering at Eurosport, part of Warner Bros. Discovery.

"They asked me, 'Can we connect an on-site event to the headquarters using this IP technology?' I said, 'Yes, it's not a problem,' but in fact, it was a big challenge," he smiles. Over six years, Chambin helped deploy one of the largest audio networks across Europe and Asia, supporting events including the Olympics, 24H of Le Mans and the Tour de France.

"When you produce the Olympic Games, you don't have a choice. You cannot say, 'Let's delay and go again.' Everything must be ready," he says. "It takes about nine months to prepare, with over 100 engineers working on the project for just two weeks of broadcasting. It's stressful, but when it works, it's very satisfying."

Throughout his career, he has relied heavily on Merging Technologies. "Merging is more or less part of my family. They were one of the first to use IP solutions in their products, understanding that it could increase audio quality. In 2018, when I started at Eurosport, not many solutions were available for remote production. The Merging team was crazy enough to follow me on this project," he laughs.

Chambin recalls a particular standout collaboration with Merging involved developing a remote-controlled audio system where an operator could trigger a sound from a touchscreen, sending instructions across 5,000 kilometres to a virtual machine in a data centre.

"The sound appears in less than one hundred milliseconds," he offers enthusiastically. "That's less than human reactivity! The operator didn’t believe it. It was crazy, but it shows that if technology is used well, it can increase content quality. Technology is a tool to support talent. AI and cloud solutions are not bad in themselves - it depends how you use them," he furthers.

"Sometimes, I hear people say they don't trust technology, or they worry that AI is copying content, generating poor music or images. For me, that's just the tip of the iceberg. Technology itself is not smart. AI does what it is told. The real question is how we choose to use it.

“If we use it with intention - to enhance creativity, to improve workflows, to share resources - then it becomes a powerful ally. It's the same with audio. Technology should never replace the human touch; it should enable talent to shine more brightly."

He refers back to the Merging collaboration project. "At the end of the day, the operator is not thinking about the kilometres, the cloud servers, or the virtual machines. They are just focusing on the sound," he says. "And that's when the technology disappears, and the artistry takes over."

Never one to sit still, Chambin currently balances broadcast engineering, consulting and teaching.

"To be honest, it's a mess," he laughs. "But I don't like routine. Having multiple activities allows me to step back and look at my work differently. Teaching, especially, is important for me."

He recently founded OLCAST, a company offering broadcast consulting and training under one roof. "Unfortunately, I don't have much time now to record music anymore," he admits. "I only do a few productions a year with friends or musicians I appreciate. It gives me more pleasure now than before."

"When I was younger, people told me, 'There are too many sound engineers on the market. Don't do it.' I didn't listen. My advice to anyone starting in this industry is ‘do not listen’. If you feel good with what you are doing, continue."