Some minor construction at TCF is

[ski-u-mah]

Would be goofy to do. I picked my seats to be in the sun, I could care less what sideline I'm on.

Ok, obviously I was mostly kidding, but I think the Purdue game was the one that was totally freezing, but I remember looking at the teams on the field and the Gophers were all bundled up and freezing in the shade, while Purdue looked pretty comfortable hanging in the sun.

Seemed like advantage...visitors.

 

[Gopherdrummer]

I love Vuvuzelas & Thunder Sticks. Some fellow trumpets joked about doing a Vuvuzela roar instead of Mars (some people call it "3rd down noise") on 3rd downs next year.

I saw an American football game in Austria 3 months ago (fun fact: the team was called the Vienna Vikings...it was weird) and they had noise makers. Not vuvuzelas, more like bulky harmonicas that were just as loud. It was annoying as hell. You couldn't heckle the other team at all. The only reason they had them was because not too many people fill the seats. A majority left their seats and went to a grass hill to watch the game where it was quieter. In the end I think 50,000 people screaming and cheering is more bone chilling than a handful of vuvuzelas.

 

[awag777]

Doesn't anyone in the band ask for feedback?

FWIW, directors/staff were aware of it after Game 1. Tried different things all year (including SEVERAL turns during halftime shows so we played in all diff directions) to fix sound problem both in the stands and during the field shows. REALLY difficult problem to fix given the acoustics of the stadium.

 

[Ski U Mah 55]

FWIW, directors/staff were aware of it after Game 1. Tried different things all year (including SEVERAL turns during halftime shows so we played in all diff directions) to fix sound problem both in the stands and during the field shows. REALLY difficult problem to fix given the acoustics of the stadium.

That's a bummer considering acoustics and noise were really touted during the design and construction phases of the stadium.

 

[awag777]

Well, I'm sure acoustics wise (for concerts and containing crowd noise--the whole 50k that sounds like 80k concept) it's great, just turns out it's awful for a marching band.

 

[GhostofBronko]

Lemme guess, you're over 55? "Those damn kids with their rock and their roll! I'm turning off my hearing aid."

MIck Jagger will be 67 in a couple of weeks. Your attempted taunt is absurd.

 

[CP Gopher]

...and I'm nowhere near 55. I just like watching football without artificial noise designed only to "bother" the opposition.

 

[GoGophers2005]

FWIW, directors/staff were aware of it after Game 1. Tried different things all year (including SEVERAL turns during halftime shows so we played in all diff directions) to fix sound problem both in the stands and during the field shows. REALLY difficult problem to fix given the acoustics of the stadium.

I have no problem with the halftime shows, just when the band is in their hole. At the same time I didn't pick my seats so I could hear the band perfectly either. So I really shouldn't be complaining. I would say I give it a score of 6.5/10 on quality of band sound in my seats. Could be better but could be alot worse. Dome was a 3/10. Could've been alot better, but not much worse.

 

[Schnauzer]

Some of the problem comes from it not being an all brass band, but some of it has to do with that anti-sound pit the band now sits in. I sit in section 133, which is literally as close to the band as you can be and NOT be in the student section. It is a real strain to hear anything the band is playing. I realize the band isn't "pointing at" me but my area should hear it better just based on close proximity alone.

Watch an Ohio State or Michigan game on TV sometime and note how easy it is to hear the band on TV too. Hail to the Victors is crystal clear over TV and it sounds very powerful. There are microphones placed in front of our band but they only seem to pick up the flutes and wood winds so you either can't hear the band at all on TV (overpowered by the crowd) or when you can hear it, it sounds like a civil war march because it sounds like an all flute band. I used to blame it all on the dome and with the arrival of TCF, I was really looking forward to its ability to showcase the great band. Instead, in many ways it is worse for hearing it. It was a bummer to get home from the games last year, watch the Tivo replays, and see the band was still fighting accoustics despite the stadium switch.

I love the band. I don't catch it EVERY time, but at least half the home games I check out the pre-game mini-concert in front of the stadium.

 

[Ski U Mah 55]

Some of the problem comes from it not being an all brass band, but some of it has to do with that anti-sound pit the band now sits in. I sit in section 133, which is literally as close to the band as you can be and NOT be in the student section. It is a real strain to hear anything the band is playing. I realize the band isn't "pointing at" me but my area should hear it better just based on close proximity alone.

Watch an Ohio State or Michigan game on TV sometime and note how easy it is to hear the band on TV too. Hail to the Victors is crystal clear over TV and it sounds very powerful. There are microphones placed in front of our band but they only seem to pick up the flutes and wood winds so you either can't hear the band at all on TV (overpowered by the crowd) or when you can hear it, it sounds like a civil war march because it sounds like an all flute band. I used to blame it all on the dome and with the arrival of TCF, I was really looking forward to its ability to showcase the great band. Instead, in many ways it is worse for hearing it. It was a bummer to get home from the games last year, watch the Tivo replays, and see the band was still fighting accoustics despite the stadium switch.

I love the band. I don't catch it EVERY time, but at least half the home games I check out the pre-game mini-concert in front of the stadium.

Michigan is not an all brass band, they have the same sections as our band including Piccolo, Clarinet, Saxophone.

 

[Schnauzer]

I didn't suggest that Michigan WAS an all brass band. However, they sound much better on TV. I am also NOT suggesting they are a much better band and that is why they sound better on TV. That was one of my main points: They seem to have figured out microphone placement/band placement to avoid the problems our band is having being heard on TV, and probably in person too.

 

[Unregistered User]

Is there a band forum that this can be moved to?

 

[Ski U Mah 55]

I didn't suggest that Michigan WAS an all brass band. However, they sound much better on TV. I am also NOT suggesting they are a much better band and that is why they sound better on TV. That was one of my main points: They seem to have figured out microphone placement/band placement to avoid the problems our band is having being heard on TV, and probably in person too.

Sorry I misunderstood about the all-brass bit.

I think the way their band is situated in the stands may present a more homogeneous sound to the mics, rather than one instrument really taking over. Looking at some photos of the Michigan Marching Band, they situate their trumpet and brass sections in the front of the pit (really just seats in their case). This might present less muffling of the sound behind the bodies in front and almost certainly presents alot more brass to the TV mics.