Sound Quality in the Chuck

[SHOCKvalue]

I haven't created this thread in order to drag down the WSU athletics department as a whole, or spew negativity, because by and large I think business has been handled well in recent seasons. That said, is anyone else disappointed with the sound quality at Koch? Personally, I'm not "disappointed," I'm highly disappointed.

As most are aware, a fairly large chunk of change was spent before the beginning of last season to upgrade the sound system. The problem is, the new system was either mis-engineered with respect to hardware design/purchase, and/or it is not being handled professionally by the sound engineer during games. I'm no audiophile, but the current system lacks both volume and clarity - you can barely hear the music AND it is distorted terribly. WTH? It sounds ridiculous, to the point of embarrassment. I mean how does such a large system, costing into the 8 figures, designed by professionals (presumably), installed by professionals (presumably), and operated by professionals (presumably) come out sounding like the Kraco car audio demo wall at WalMart from my childhood?

All this money, time and expense is being spent to produce pretty freaking awesome media content during games, but all that is negated by the pathetic sound quality. I now yearn for the time each season when either GoShockers or Intake Studios release the season's content on youtube or vimeo, so I can finally watch the videos at home with their intended sound quality on my $50 Logitech computer sound system. I don't expect to have my hair blown back at Koch by the sound - as if I am at a concert - but I do expect to actually be able to hear the sound, and hear that sound clearly.

I just don't understand. I get there are challenges associated with every sound system and its application, but that's why people are educated and employed to make a living solving these issues. To me, this is the biggest failure by the WSU athletics department in recent memory, with regards to facilities. If I'm WSU, after that outlay, I'm making someone or some entity's life very uncomfortable until they make me whole again. I'm not sure that is happening though.

Does anyone have more information on this issue?

[KraRam]

I am in the last row with a speaker right by our head and we still cannot hear. Doesn't help the Don Hall is hard to understand as well.

[wu_shizzle]

You are incorrect that it is run by professionals.

The biggest problem is that you can't "set it and forget it". How many butts that are in the seats makes a huge difference in the overall sound quality.

[ShockBand]

My response is only semi-educated.

The shape of the building is a nightmarish challenge. Box shaped rooms are actually easier to deal with. That said, when they took everything back to a central cluster at the scoreboard it will create hot and dead zones. Most modern stadiums and arenas are going to very distributed setups, where you may have a central cluster, but there will be numerous speakers all over the place to provide cleaner and clearer fill. The challenge there is you have to put these speakers on a slight delay to allow the sound from the cluster and the satellite speaker to arrive at the listener at the same time.

Prior to the new scoreboard, they added some satellite speakers above the upper half all the way around and it really helped. I keep wishing they would add fill speakers again.

[ShockBand]

I am in the last row with a speaker right by our head and we still cannot hear. Doesn't help the Don Hall is hard to understand as well.

Where is that? I thought they took out all the "satellite" speakers.

[SHOCKvalue]

You are incorrect that it is run by professionals.

I thought Intake Studios had a contract to provide A/V services at games? Am I mis-informed?

[SHOCKvalue]

Where is that? I thought they took out all the "satellite" speakers.

They're behind the vertical I-beam roof supports. Can't really see them unless you get up there and look around.

On a related and previously mentioned point in the thread, I was not a fan of the aesthetics of the hanging satellite speakers of CKA 2003-2012, but if that is what required for a reasonable sound experience then by all means put them - or their new relative - back up.

[ShockerFan87]

I thought Intake Studios had a contract to provide A/V services at games? Am I mis-informed?

I'm assuming it's for all games, but I know at least for all men's games, the sound system is run by WSU employees. Sometimes they are student employees, sometimes it is an actual staff member/ supervisor. I used to work in that department (years ago, before the new system came in and they were brought in to be the sound engineers).

I've been able to sneak a peek at how it is all run. The sound system is impressive, and has a lot of bells and whistles that many people aren't aware of. The system is good, but the design is flawed.

Speaking as an audio engineer, I know that the arena is a large challenge, regardless of the speaker configuration. There is no perfect solution for a room that size and shape, and there will always be people that can't hear things.

I've been to quite a few games last year. Been to all three home games this year. I've sat everywhere from the first row all the way up to the rafters. For the most part, I can hear just fine. Yeah, somethings are muffled, but I think part of it is Don Hall not enunciating clearly enough. Videos sound fine to me. I can run Shazam to find the song for a video without a problem. Sure, you don't get the full force of it, but it's not a rock concert. It's a public address system, designed for people to hear announcements and videos. It does the job it's designed for.

Would I prefer it if you could hear everything crystal clear? Sure. But it's a large room with weird acoustics and 10,000 screaming fans in it. I take it with a grain of salt and move on.

[Dave Stalwart]

I'm assuming it's for all games, but I know at least for all men's games, the sound system is run by WSU employees. Sometimes they are student employees, sometimes it is an actual staff member/ supervisor. I used to work in that department (years ago, before the new system came in and they were brought in to be the sound engineers).

I've been able to sneak a peek at how it is all run. The sound system is impressive, and has a lot of bells and whistles that many people aren't aware of. The system is good, but the design is flawed.

Speaking as an audio engineer, I know that the arena is a large challenge, regardless of the speaker configuration. There is no perfect solution for a room that size and shape, and there will always be people that can't hear things.

I've been to quite a few games last year. Been to all three home games this year. I've sat everywhere from the first row all the way up to the rafters. For the most part, I can hear just fine. Yeah, somethings are muffled, but I think part of it is Don Hall not enunciating clearly enough. Videos sound fine to me. I can run Shazam to find the song for a video without a problem. Sure, you don't get the full force of it, but it's not a rock concert. It's a public address system, designed for people to hear announcements and videos. It does the job it's designed for.

Would I prefer it if you could hear everything crystal clear? Sure. But it's a large room with weird acoustics and 10,000 screaming fans in it. I take it with a grain of salt and move on.

What do you know about sound quality? I have it on good authority that you are just an old, washed up Bari sax player :) the sound quality of that Bari sax was like that of a chainsaw! (I'm afraid that is actually a solid complement to a Bari player)

It would sure be nice to have you in both places...behind the sound board at CKA and behind your sax, too :)

[AZ Shocker]

Seems like every other year they are "upgrading" the sound system. Good for WSU! But like ShockBand mentioned previously...I too believe the circular shape of the arena affects pockets of weird sound. A more rectangle interior would probably be easier for the sound man to manage BUT I wouldn't trade the Chuck for the world!

[ShockBand]

With the new larger scoreboard and speaker config this may not be true anymore, but there used to be a weird dead zone on the floor right near center court. Enough reduction in sound to be almost alarming. Can you imagine having the whole place screaming and then running through a spot where it was nearly quiet? Twilight zone...

[Jamar Howard 4 President]

I would be happy if we could just transition from the into video to the starting lineup introductions without it sounding like some 5th grader was sitting there adjusting the volume slider up and down.

"What? Don is about to talk? OK, here, I'll turn down the volume. Oh wait, too early... there, it is back up. Oh crap, it is too loud and Don started talking. The music just covered up Don announcing the first WSU starter's name. There, it is softer now, is that better? Wait, let me tweak it just a little more. OK, now... that's perfect, right?"

Uggghhh.

[ShockerPhi]

I've also noticed a few songs sound higher pitched than they originally should sound. A good example was during the dance cam, they played that Bang Bang song and everything was like an octave too high. Almost sounded like the chipmunks singing it. Something similar happened during a volleyball game earlier this year too.

I could have sworn the sound was really good last year, but something is definitely wrong this year.