Sound At Large Sporting Events
A hands-on pro takes us behind the scenes, explaining how it’s done
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It is said by prestigious pro audio marketing consultants that on any given day, and certainly any given Sunday, the greatest number of persons listening to sound reinforcement systems are in churches. I would argue that the greatest number of persons listening to sound reinforcement systems on any given day, not just any given Sunday, are witnessing major college and professional sporting events. |
I’m convinced that one of the most significant, yet overlooked, portions
of the presentation audio business is the proper management and operation
of live sound systems for large sporting events. Somehow I’ve convinced
the powers-that-be at Live Sound of this oversight, and they have graciously
agreed to let me pen a column that focuses specifically on the daily challenges
of providing presentation audio for big sports.
Like many of us who have enjoyed working in the sound reinforcement industry,
I hail from an entertainment background. Ten years ago I had an awakening
of sorts. While competing for the opportunity to supply a large point-source
loudspeaker system for an NFL franchise, I ignorantly assumed the reason
I was there was to support an athletic contest.
Silly me. It didn’t take long to realize this wasn’t about sports, an
athletic contest can be waged perfectly well without a PA thank you, but
rather about what went on in the stadium bowl, boxes, concourses, and
clubs during time outs. While you are at home retrieving another beverage,
the in-stadium fans need something to do. It’s entertainment, stupid
pure and simple.
MASTER OF MANY TRADES
I wanted to start the discussion of stadium sound by reflecting on the
most vital component in a stadium system; the operator and the challenges
he or she faces in the world of stadium operation. Live touring sound
provides the best training for a skilled stadium operator, and it is the
many challenges unique to a stadium environment including politics, mix
location, equipment, and life-safety responsibilities that make it interesting.
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To almost anyone in our business, supporting an entertainment endeavor comes very naturally. We have all learned from others before us the various treatments and techniques; loudspeaker tuning, proper management of gain structure, and client and artist relations, that make us effective providers within the entertainment community. To the seasoned on-stage veteran, applying these skills is simply second nature. |
Ten years ago, it was these very skills that I found almost completely
lacking in the vibrant and fiscally abundant world of big sports. This
was no doubt due to the metamorphosis the entertainment sports community
was experiencing. Previous audio-visual support for large sporting events
consisted of scoreboards displaying game clocks, down and distance, and
score, or box scores, runs, hits and errors, and simple vocal public address.
The crews that operated these facilities were typically building electricians
called into a role foreign to them, or occasionally techs from the local
sound install company who enjoyed watching the game from a warm, dry booth.
Any sound person sitting at home appreciates this staffing problem when
they hear the referee’s mic feeding back due to an inexperienced operator
without the technical know-how to prevent it from happening.
Modern sporting facilities are completely different and feature large
video replay boards, impressive matrix messaging displays, and rocking
full range systems capable of delivering high decibel speech and music
reproduction. The operating environments and the skills required to support
these presentations have evolved just as significantly.
Perhaps the best way to reinforce just how meaningfully the role of the
audio operator has changed in today’s stadium world, is by contrasting
between the primitive control rooms of the past and today’s sleek, functional
operating spaces.
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When I first visited a well-known NFL stadium in the early ‘90s, the audio was run from a wall-mounted 12 RU rack containing a vintage Altec mixer with rotary knobs, an EQ of similar vintage, and a cassette deck for program source. That was pretty much the norm in stadiums 15 years ago. One fascinating component in the control rack was a small black and white video monitor. The monitor displayed the output of a camera mounted in the hallway opposite the amplifier racks, trained on the large analog VU meter showing the output of the main system limiter! Somehow this gave the operator the confidence he was not launching a plethora of two-inch drivers out the front of the multi-cell horns in the point-source cluster mounted above the press box. It never occurred to him that he could in fact mount the limiter in his rack and maybe even adjust it occasionally as the game conditions changed. |
Contemporary control rooms are designed by skilled consulting engineers
experienced in the unique challenges of stadium audio, and are usually
installed by experienced national sound contracting firms who understand
the scale and complexities of audio for professional sports. The typical
control room of today draws from a combination of proven analog technologies
of the past, and the best available digital signal processing and control
solutions.
NOT STRANGE TERRITORY
As a live sound engineer, much of what you would find in a stadium control
room would be familiar to you. There is of course a mixing console, usually
of the analog variety, and typically not larger than 24 inputs. There
are also CD players, a cassette deck, and possibly even a DAT player.
You’ll also find an outboard mic preamp or two to process the announcer’s
vocal, plenty of wireless mic receivers, and a liberal number of limiters.
But there the similarity ends.
There are very few live sources, so most of the music for playback is
stored on digital hard-drive recorders borrowed from the broadcast community,
like the Digicart II or Instant Replay systems manufactured by 360 Systems.
This allows the operator instant access to the program material, much
of which is used every game, without having to handle CD’s. Digital message
repeaters, like those made by Roland Corporation, are used to replay announcements
to the stadium’s gate entry loudspeaker system for hours on end as the
crowd approaches the stadium.
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The biggest differences in the stadium control rooms of today are in the digital operating and signal processing platforms. In stadiums, due to the great distances between the control room and the amplifier rooms distributed throughout the building, most designers elect to use a DSP platform, typically Media Matrix or Soundweb, and distribute the audio over a fiber optic network running on an audio-friendly platform like Cobranet. This provides the most reliable and flexible method of distributing the many specialized audio feeds that are sent throughout a stadium environment. |
Control of amplifiers becomes significantly easier as well, because it
can be piggy-backed on the fiber network at a reasonable cost. Many of
you are experienced with amplifier control systems like QSControl, Crown
IQ, or Crest’s Nexus to remotely adjust and monitor your amplifiers. These
PC-based control platforms provide touring engineers access to their amps
that are often 300 feet away. Imagine how valuable and convenient remote
adjustment and monitoring is to stadium operators as the amplifiers are
often 1500 feet away!
These technologies have revolutionized the role of the stadium mixer in
recent years. And the old-school audio guy, or the electrician forced
to double as an audio engineer, simply cannot effectively operate and
maintain these systems adequately.
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Differences between the audio hardware of years past and today’s technically superior systems is apparent, but the political challenges are just as demanding. A stadium operator is responsible for both entertainment and life-safety functions. From an entertainment perspective, the mixer must satisfy the needs of the team’s marketing department, a game producer, and indirectly team ownership. The mixer must also satisfy the whims of the network broadcasters they interface with; it is the television revenue that makes the entire pro sports world turn. |
As the bowl sound system is usually a component of the building-wide
evacuation system, the operator has life-safety responsibilities and must
coordinate with the stadium manager and fire marshal in the event of an
emergency. In the touring world it is not usually the responsibility of
the house mixer to contribute to crowd control in a disturbance.
But in a stadium atmosphere, it is part of the job description. I personally
participated in providing loud and intelligible emergency announcements
during an event at a 79,000-seat college football stadium. The PA was
used to clear the field of 10,000 happy revelers who had stormed the playing
surface after a huge win by the underdog home team. The fans were unaware
that a literal pile of humanity 20 deep, caused by a rush from the student
section, had many pulse-less non-breathers at the bottom of the heap.
We cranked the PA and effectively instructed the partiers to clear the
field so ambulances could reach the injured. Dozens of people went to
the hospital, but luckily nobody died. The sound system played a critical
role in assisting the building security and police protect human life.
DON’T ASSUME...
Another aspect that makes stadium mixing challenging is that the mix location
is usually inside, with a window providing access to the bowl, or enclosed
altogether. Many stadium mixers incorrectly assume they can mix the sound
through a window, but any experienced live engineer knows how difficult
it is to judge what is happening in one acoustic environment while mixing
from another, like mixing theatre from under a balcony.
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Often we advise our clients to locate the mix position in a closed
room with some acoustic treatment and good level metering, and have
the operator mix through a quality studio monitor. A second engineer,
with a good pair of ears, walking the bowl and calling adjustments
over the radio can be extremely helpful in this scenario. |
Good audio supervisors always stress housekeeping, and it ranges from
maintaining hum-free lines and good gain structure to clean work surfaces.
Rarely do we hear a great sounding concert mixed by an engineer operating
from a poorly kept, sloppy FOH riser. It is no different in a stadium
environment. Because the stadium engineer always mixes the same style
game in the same control room, sloppy housekeeping can quickly lead to
inconsistency and a degrading of quality. In stadiums, it is even more
important for the mixer to fight the repetitive nature of the job and
not become complacent in his or her work habits.
Good housekeeping, understanding the mix environment, and using contemporary
technology to one’s advantage all play a major role in maintaining production
audio quality. Applying ourselves to deliver a quality sound, and the
satisfaction it brings, is what makes our often underpaid and under-appreciated
industry so special.
Danny Abelson has decades of experience in design, installation and management of sound reinforcement systems He is the sound operator at both Lambeau Field, home of the NFL Green Bay Packers and Miller Park, the new retractable-roof venue built for the MLB Milwaukee Brewers.
October 2003 Live Sound International