
d&b audiotechnik and Autograph Sound Join Crowd-Sound Sweepstakes Joint venture's system targets a crowd-challenged future By Dan Daley, Audio Editor
Tuesday, October 20, 2020 - 10:30 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
Implementation of artificial audience audio - so-called enhanced crowd sound - across major-league sports since COVID-19 shut down most of televised sports in March is transitioning from a novelty to a business sector, evidenced by the number of independent companies moving into the market.
For instance, after the NFL developed its own system for crowd sound for its broadcasts, Fox Sports opted instead to deploy a third-party system from SonoFans, which is also being used for all MLB postseason broadcasts. The entire NBA season's crowd sound was handled by Firehouse Productions, a live-event producer that created an array of sounds from the NBA's own audio library and other sources as well as a content-management/playback system and hired and trained engineers to operate it.
d&b Fanblock crowd-sound system is mixed via QLab or iPad.
The most recent entry into the pool is a joint venture of German sound-system manufacturer d&b audiotechnik and UK-based theatrical AV-rental vendor and systems designer Autograph Sound. The resulting crowd-sound system, dubbed d&b Fanblock, comprises an immersive-type multichannel PA system installed in a sports venue and focused on the field of play. It uses d&b's immersive SoundScape processor and En-Scene software to build a virtual object-based signal-management system that lets artificial crowd sounds physically follow the action on the field, with reactions moving from one line-array hang to another, allowing, for instance, spectator chants to grow from one section before building out to fill the entire stadium.
Content, provided by FanChants, is managed through Autograph's Stadium Sound software, which crowd-audio mixers access via QLab and iPads as the system interfaces. (FanChants serves mainly European sports; d&b Fanblock will rely on teams and leagues it works with in the U.S. to secure local content, according to a spokesperson.)
The system is scalable and can be put in any size stadium or arena. Its first full-scale use is scheduled to be UK football club Queens Park Rangers at London's Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium starting tomorrow.
To Animate Athletes and More Fanblock is intended to energize the field of play, much as the NBA's system, developed by Firehouse Productions, was focused solely on the courts at the Wide World of Sports arena in Orlando. Both systems are also capable of sending a separate feed to broadcast. Fanblock additionally is designed to send a third, mono feed to skyboxes, bars, concessions, and other back-of-house areas in arenas and stadiums.
d&b audiotechnik's Nick Malgieri: In a post-COVID world, does it still bring value? I think there are a lot of situations where it will.
According to Nick Malgieri, advanced systems specialist, d&b audiotechnik, technical needs for crowd sounds dovetailed with technologies that the company had developed for immersive event and concert applications, as well as with the theatrical sound-design expertise of Autograph.
Our specialty is designing and deploying sound systems, not so much creating the content, whereas Autograph had that type of experience base already, he explains. It seemed like a perfect marriage for us to be able to partner the content-artistic side with the technology-platform side, so that we're closer to a turnkey solution.
Malgieri adds that d&b's U.S. office is in talks with several sports teams and leagues about implementing Fanblock. NDAs prevent his naming names, but he says interest thus far is coming from professional and collegiate basketball, soccer, and football. Systems will be designed and components provided through d&b's U.S. distributors, the same outlets that provided touring sound systems prior to the pandemic shutdown.
Not all existing installations have the type of speaker format that we need for this immersive experience, he says. By leaning on our rental-company user base, we can get a local system to them very quickly. And getting the programming and content is quick because most of that's digital delivery.
Custom programming of the QLab/iPad interface is being done by Autograph. The goal is to keep operational complexity to a minimum, says Malgieri, with a GUI that allows control of volume, intensity, and types of crowd reactions. d&b technicians will design the dedicated crowd-sound PA system and program its software according to the geometry of each venue, so that audio objects populate, travel, and process in a manner similar to how a natural crowd would react to events on the field.
In addition, crowd-sound mixers - two are assigned per game - will operate separate home and away crowds, which in European soccer tend to occupy different parts of a stadium's seating. Malgieri says it will not be a problem to adapt that approach to U.S. sports, where home crowds tend to dominate in stadiums and arenas.
Benefiting Fans in the Stands Although enhanced-crowd-sound systems used this year have been either focused specifically on the field of play, as in the recently concluded NBA season, or intended primarily for broadcast applications, as for the MLB and the NFL - both of which allow generalized murmur tracks to play through the venue PA systems to give the stadium a basic sense of occupied stands - Malgieri says Fanblock is further intended to energize the few fans allowed into venues now, usually a fraction of their capacity.
We think [that], for a period of time, we're going to see restricted-capacity seating, to allow some patrons to come to the game but with social distancing, he says. We need to try to maintain valu
Most recent headlines
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
KPop Demon Hunters Stars Visit Berklee for Weeklong Celebration Andrew Choi and EJAE, who voiced the film's main characters and contributed to its soundtr...
17/12/2025
With the new season of Dancing with the Stars shimmering in the not-too-distant future this New Year, the celebrity and dancer pairings of the twelve couples ha...
16/12/2025
Hawkins has landed on Spotify, just in time for Stranger Things Season 5, Volume...
16/12/2025
Wherever you are, your favorite music and audio content should go seamlessly with you. That's why Spotify has partnered with NAVER Corp, Korea's leading...
16/12/2025
2025 Wrapped arrived bigger and bolder than ever. This year's experience is designed to be ultra personal and shareable, with new features like Wrapped Part...
16/12/2025
Three 12-kilowatt Advanced Electric Propulsion System thrusters, supplied by L3Harris Technologies, form the core of Gateway's propulsion system. Pictured i...
16/12/2025
The challenge facing America's defense industrial base is not just about speed - its about rebuilding the foundation that makes speed possible. Our nations ...
16/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
16/12/2025
SEVILLE, Spain Canal Sur, the public broadcasting service for Andalusia, Spain, has completed a total technology refresh based on Pebble's resilient, softwa...
16/12/2025
NEW YORK Teleprompting hardware provider Telescript International has acquired all software code and intellectual property previously owned by Telescript West. ...
16/12/2025
As cable operators face increased competition from 5G fixed wireless access providers, a new report from Ookla Research finds that T-Mobile is the FWA speed lea...
16/12/2025
Apple has announced a major upgrade to the Apple TV app for device owners outside the Apple ecosystem with news that the Apple TV app for Android now supports G...
16/12/2025
Space42 grows Direct-to-Device partner ecosystem through a Memorandum of Underst...
16/12/2025
16 Dec 2025
VEON Announces Release Date for Full Year and Fourth Quarter 2025 R...
16/12/2025
16 Dec 2025
VEON's Kyivstar Invests in Renewable Energy in Ukraine with Acq...
16/12/2025
Back to All News
Emma Appleton, Fares Fares, Frida Gustavsson and Jakob Oftebro...
16/12/2025
Back to All News
Docu-reality My Korean Boyfriend Gets a Trailer and Premiere D...
16/12/2025
Harmonic's XOS Advanced Media Processor Improves Streaming Video Quality and Boosts Viewer Engagement SAN JOSE, Calif. - Dec. 16, 2025 - Harmonic (NASDAQ: ...
16/12/2025
RT Sport Awards 2025 live on RT One and RT Player at 8:05pm on Saturday 20 December.
On Saturday 20 December live on RT One and RT Player at the earlier t...
16/12/2025
Singer -songwriter Brian Kennedy has been announced as the final celebrity dance...
15/12/2025
Harlem Globetrotters Celebrate 100th Anniversary With New Brand Campaign From Th...
15/12/2025
Top L-R: La Tierra Del Valor (The Home of the Brave), Mangittatuarjuk (The Gnawe...
15/12/2025
L3Harris will leverage 15 years of experience supporting the E-4B Nightwatch and...
15/12/2025
CONWAY, Ark. In a notable example of how the loss of federal funding is forcing public stations to make massive cuts and operational changes, the statewide pub...
15/12/2025
BOULDER, Colo. Public Media Venture Group (PMVG), Venture Technologies Group (VTG), and WQED have completed a multipart agreement that they say will significant...
15/12/2025
Cape Town, November 13, 2025 - SES and International artist and humanitarian, Fo...
15/12/2025
Luxembourg, December 15, 2025 - SES, a leading space solutions company, and Abra Group launched fast and reliable multi-orbit inflight connectivity service on t...
15/12/2025
How Rivian s Design Puts Drivers First-And Why That Matters Published on Dec 15, 2025 Categories: Business Solutions
LinkedIn Corporate Communications
Sha...
15/12/2025
Space42 and Cobham Satcom completed the full range of advanced terminals for the...
15/12/2025
15 Dec 2025
VEON's Beeline Kazakhstan Delivers First Starlink Direct to Cel...
15/12/2025
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor finds himself the topic of year's cracker jokes
Oasis, David Harbour, Celebrity Traitors and Angela Rayner all feature in this y...
15/12/2025
Comscore Expands Cross-Platform Campaign Measurement to Include Audio and Social New capabilities strengthen cross-platform campaign reporting suite; CCR rebran...
15/12/2025
NVIDIA today announced it has acquired SchedMD - the leading developer of Slurm, an open-source workload management system for high-performance computing (HPC) ...
15/12/2025
RT .ie has reached one billion page views this year and is on track to finish 2025 2% ahead of last year. Average time spent on the site is up 3% on 2024, with ...
15/12/2025
Modern workflows showcase the endless possibilities of generative and agentic AI on PCs.
Of many, some examples include tuning a chatbot to handle product-supp...
13/12/2025
Powering Client Growth: Horizon Deepens Nielsen Partnership, Enabling More Effic...
13/12/2025
In a move that will help it offer more flexible and less costly programming options, YouTube TV has announced that it will be launching YouTube TV Plans with mo...
13/12/2025
SINGAPORE Magna Systems has designed, built and completed what is believed to be the first full UHD and IP-based OB truck in Southeast Asia for a Singapore medi...
12/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Everything You Need to Know for Next Week's Big Sho...
12/12/2025
Hailey Gates at the Atropia premiere (photo by George Pimentel / Shutterstock for Sundance Film Festival)...
12/12/2025
Last month, Spotify announced a new collaboration with the ATP Tour, the global governing body of men's professional tennis, aimed at bringing the next gene...