How were the acoustics?

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Ski U Mah 55

Ski U Mah 55

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I saw a video that had the band playing in the background and it sounded great, not all mushy like at the dome. What were the in-person impressions?
 

Ski U Master said:
I saw a video that had the band playing in the background and it sounded great, not all mushy like at the dome. What were the in-person impressions?
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We were pretty far away from the band - upper level and opposite corner - and I thought they sounded great. I noticed a bit of echoing on the PA but not much - a vast improvement and hopefully they'll be able to fine tune even more as we go.
 

Sound was good

The cymbals really echoed, which leads me to beleive that it will hold sound really well. If I remember correctly the architechts indicated that one feature of the design was excellent sound retention.
 

I honestly thought they had their share of A/V issues. Started with the anthem and there were various issues throughout...
 

Was down on the field during the pregame Rouser and I have to say that the spell out at the end sounded really loud even with a stadium that was maybe 1/3 full. When the place is packed and rockin' it's going to be incredibly loud for opposing teams.

I can't wait!
 


I really look forward to hearing the band play in an outdoor stadium!
 

I thought the band sounded great, but the majority (maybe all) of the PA sounds came from the big scoreboard. The result was that speaker had to be turned way up for the sound to reach the other side of the stadium. I was on the 40 yard line closest to the scoreboard in the middle of the upper deck and i just felt that my right ear was overpowered by the sound from the one direction.

If they were able to somehow get more speakers on the other side of the stadium and even it out, that would be better IMHO.

All of this comes with the caveat that this is the first big football/baseball/whatever at an outdoor venue in a really long time, so perhaps that is normal.

Lastly, it is a gorgeous facility and i think it'll make a great home for years to come.
 

the main speakers are extremely loud, crisp, and punchy. sitting on the top row of the closed end, it was almost too loud. more bodies will dampen that, but it won't be any problem.

the small band sounded great...big band will fill that stadium nicely.
 

Biggest thing I noticed acoustically:

Crowd and band were synched up pretty well for the spellout after the rouser every time for seemingly the first time simply because people could hear them. When it's slower and together it sounds much louder. Can't wait until its 50k (minus visitors) instead of 15k participating.

Edit: by slower and together I mean not in a rush to get to the end starting at a faster tempo like the student section at the dome got in the habit of doing
 



amateurdwarftosser said:
I thought the band sounded great, but the majority (maybe all) of the PA sounds came from the big scoreboard. The result was that speaker had to be turned way up for the sound to reach the other side of the stadium. I was on the 40 yard line closest to the scoreboard in the middle of the upper deck and i just felt that my right ear was overpowered by the sound from the one direction.

If they were able to somehow get more speakers on the other side of the stadium and even it out, that would be better IMHO.

All of this comes with the caveat that this is the first big football/baseball/whatever at an outdoor venue in a really long time, so perhaps that is normal.

Lastly, it is a gorgeous facility and i think it'll make a great home for years to come.
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All the speakers are in the scoreboard. And actually, they don't need it that loud to reach the closed end. I watched part of the 2nd half from various parts of the closed end and trust me, it was PLENTY loud there too.
 

I'm in the upper deck closed end (Sec. 231), and I thought it was too loud, personally.
 

One question for anybody...do you think that band section in the bowl end will be big enough to seat slightly over 300 students and instruments? My guess is that Saturday was slightly over 100 and that little section looked full.??? any room for more?
 

I was sitting in the student section for the game and the acoustics were amazing. Chanting "M-I-N-N-E-S-O-T-A" was move in sync than it ever was at the dome. Also, for the first time at a game, I could clearly hear what the announcer was saying. Overall, a much better experience than at the dome.
 



THE ACOUSTICS WERE TERRIFIC.

...on warm days the huge Daktronics scoreboard cooling system fans might benefit from a muffler...
 

go4rob said:
One question for anybody...do you think that band section in the bowl end will be big enough to seat slightly over 300 students and instruments? My guess is that Saturday was slightly over 100 and that little section looked full.??? any room for more?
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I'm going to guess they'll be ok. They got other, more difficult, details right so I'm pretty confident they could make sure the band has enough space. :)
 

Actually from a lot of people I have talked to in the band I have heard the space isn't big enough for all members of the band. When you throw in required space for drums, tubas, trombone slides, and the uniforms themselves you start running out of space real quick. Word is they will have a small temporary bleacher on the field for some of the band member overflow.
 

RailBaronYarr said:
Actually from a lot of people I have talked to in the band I have heard the space isn't big enough for all members of the band. When you throw in required space for drums, tubas, trombone slides, and the uniforms themselves you start running out of space real quick. Word is they will have a small temporary bleacher on the field for some of the band member overflow.
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Well I stand corrected! ;)
 

RailBaronYarr said:
Actually from a lot of people I have talked to in the band I have heard the space isn't big enough for all members of the band. When you throw in required space for drums, tubas, trombone slides, and the uniforms themselves you start running out of space real quick. Word is they will have a small temporary bleacher on the field for some of the band member overflow.
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Yikes! Why would it have been designed to be a smaller space than the current band?
 

The band area is 325 seats. This year's band will be about 320 people. A clarinet or trumpet player, for example, needs one seat. A tuba needs about 2.5, a set of tenor drums needs about 5. It all averages out to about 1.5 seats per person. The band has been averaging 300 people for the past several years (450 seats).

Our retention from year to year is about 200 people, and we get about 100 rookies a year. Retention from last year was a little higher due to the stadium (which we were expecting). We have more 4th and 5th year students than a normal year.

When we first saw the plans for our seating area, it didn't specify how many seats were there. But, we told them it looked too small. "No, it will be fine." "We really think it looks too small."

When they installed the concrete we brought the band to the stadium after the Michigan game and put them in the stands. We told them, "It's too small." "No, it will be fine."

After a year and a half of telling them it's not enough room, they are finally listening. So, now we are trying to figure out how to make it work. We will probably be bringing in some temporary seating that we will put up against the wall adjacent to our area.
 

...and for the scrimmage we had about 60 current students and about 70-80 alumni band members. We filled up about 2/3 of the space.
 

umnhcky said:
The band area is 325 seats. This year's band will be about 320 people. A clarinet or trumpet player, for example, needs one seat. A tuba needs about 2.5, a set of tenor drums needs about 5. It all averages out to about 1.5 seats per person. The band has been averaging 300 people for the past several years (450 seats).

Our retention from year to year is about 200 people, and we get about 100 rookies a year. Retention from last year was a little higher due to the stadium (which we were expecting). We have more 4th and 5th year students than a normal year.

When we first saw the plans for our seating area, it didn't specify how many seats were there. But, we told them it looked too small. "No, it will be fine." "We really think it looks too small."

When they installed the concrete we brought the band to the stadium after the Michigan game and put them in the stands. We told them, "It's too small." "No, it will be fine."

After a year and a half of telling them it's not enough room, they are finally listening. So, now we are trying to figure out how to make it work. We will probably be bringing in some temporary seating that we will put up against the wall adjacent to our area.
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Boo! It's happened! The big "little detail" that got missed...I may never recover from this betrayal! :)

Seriously though, that's just dumb. You gotta listen to the folks who will, ya know, actually play there. Someone needs to wear a dunce cap for a day or something.
 

Hopefully you can make something work..that is poor planning on the "U's" part. wondering if you can expand to JUST outside the brick wall on both sides of the band or maybe even 1 or 2 rows behind it. The temp seats in FRONT of the band might be in a danger zone with players running into them.
 

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