Tech Focus: Venue Sound, Part 1 - Designs Apply Lessons From Music Tours' Systems Impactful is new buzzword in stadium sound By Dan Daley, Audio Editor
Wednesday, April 20, 2022 - 7:00 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
As with everything else in sports, COVID-19 rearranged venue sound: entirely new sound systems were designed and installed specifically to propagate the sound of artificial crowds, both onto the courts and playing fields and into the broadcasts, compensating for the lack of fans in the stands. It was a condition that persisted for well over a year, spanning most of 2020 and 2021. Now, as the seats are once again mostly filled, the focus has returned to what it takes to make a stadium or arena sound great.
A venue's signature sound, which is largely established well before its sound system is installed, comprises a combination of acoustical architecture and treatments. The sound system can either complement that combination or try to ignore it. The latter involves highly directed sonic energy that is tightly focused on seating areas and away from reflective surfaces, such as walls and floors, minimizing acoustical interactions with the venue's materials.
That's the way system design has trended for most of this century. However, the task is harder today than ever, given the increasingly extensive use of glass inside arenas and stadiums to cover suites and other discrete areas.
But it's a capability that high-end touring sound systems have achieved. These systems move from venue to venue and seek to avoid becoming part of each acoustical signature and to keep the music from the stage as uncolored as possible. That technical capability is being aggressively applied to sports venues.
L-Acoustics' Dan Palmer: The right kind of sound system can help drive business [beyond sports].
The intent is to excite the room as little as possible, so that the sound system can reproduce what it's intended to amplify as accurately and authentically as possible, explains Dan Palmer, business development manager, sports facilities, USA and Canada, L-Acoustics, whose portfolio includes the NFL Arizona Cardinals' State Farm Stadium and the NBA Philadelphia 76ers' and NHL Flyers' Wells Fargo Center. In addition to delivering concert-quality sound, the level of support that sports venues require now is also much higher. We've doubled down on that in terms of training, software modeling, and [system] calibrations.
Sports venues are paying more for high-end, tour-rider-ready sound systems, referring to the brands and models of systems demanded by top touring music artists and shows. But they're also able to promote those systems, particularly upper-level-installed speakers, as able to be used as seamless-delay extensions of a visiting touring system, reducing a tour's transport and rental costs.
The right kind of sound system can help drive business [beyond sports] for the venue and contribute to [the system's] ROI, says Palmer.
Schools Are Out Front College sports venues have tended to lead some industry trends in live sound, mainly because their youthful home audiences make their musical preferences clearly known. That has pushed the low end in systems, with hip-hop and other genres once known as urban becoming prominent.
But use of such systems clashes with the trend toward ever-larger scoreboards, and the growth in venue video makes it harder for sound to do the same. Integration of video and audio into the same unit has been a trend for some time, and form-factor consolidation helps optimize space for such large constructions.
However, video has been increasingly crowding out sound-system components. That's behind a design trend to extract more energy and ever lower bandwidth from smaller form factors. It's a conundrum that would cause head-scratching among physicists.
Scoreboards are getting larger to accommodate larger displays; however, the space allocated for loudspeakers is often becoming more restricted, confirms Stephen Siegel, president/CEO, Fulcrum Acoustic, adding that the company developed its AHS loudspeaker modules specifically to address that trend for scoreboard-mounted audio systems. At approximately 30 in. square x 28 in. deep, they can be more easily maneuvered within scoreboard structures.
Danley Sound Labs Mike Hedden Jr.: College venues are the three L's: louder, lower, and little.
College venues are the three L's: louder, lower, and little, observes Mike Hedden Jr., president/CEO, Danley Sound Labs, whose portfolio includes systems at the flagship stadiums at Arizona, Michigan, and Louisiana State, emphasizing the push to make form factors more compact. They want to play a Dua Lipa or The Weeknd or a Post Malone track and really feel it everywhere in the venue.
Marc Lopez, VP, marketing Americas, d&b audiotechnik, declares, Video is still king. The company's U.S. sports installations include Rice Stadium in Houston and the MLB Mariners' T-Mobile Park in Seattle. He notes that d&b has also developed a smaller-form-factor line to address scoreboard encroachment on audio's real estate in stadiums: the Y-Series or the new XSL system are internally referred to as light and loud.
Players Make Themselves Heard Although the venues themselves make final decisions regarding their sound, resident teams and even individual players are influencing those decisions. It's a trend clearly visible in basketball and, more recently, baseball, sports in which individual athletes are closely connected with music.
NBA players travel from arena to arena, notes Justo Gutierrez, director, AV and sound, sports and live events, Diversified. When they hear the newest sound system somewhere, they come back and compare that to what [their home arena has]
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
13/05/2026
New Adobe Premiere Color Grading Mode Accelerated on NVIDIA GPUs
Joel Pennington May 13, 2026
0 Comments
New NVIDIA RTX-accelerated features streamlin...
13/05/2026
Grass Valley announced that dB Broadcast has delivered new IP-based outside broadcast (OB) trucks for Cloudbass, featuring Grass Valley LDX 100 Series cameras a...
13/05/2026
Ikegami will exhibit the latest additions to its wide range of broadcast production cameras, control units, viewfinders and monitors on stand 5D3-1 at Broadcast...
13/05/2026
FISE, working with the founding members of the XR Sports Alliance (XRSA), Accedo, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and HBS, have collaborated to develop an immersive...
13/05/2026
Canon Unveils New EOS R6 V Full-Frame EOS Camera and RF20-50mm F4 L IS USM PZ Bu...
13/05/2026
Boston Conservatory at Berklee Honors Beth Morrison and Moses Pendleton at Comme...
13/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/05/2026
Creative software developer Foundry today announced the latest developments on Nuke Stage. A purpose-built application for end-to-end virtual production and in-...
13/05/2026
A definitive portrait of one of Ireland's most influential musicians
New TV documentary airs Monday 18 May on RT One and RT Player at 9.35pm
Watch the...
13/05/2026
Agentic AI is changing the way users get work done. Following the success of OpenClaw, the community is embracing new open source agentic frameworks. The latest...
13/05/2026
Reinforcement-learning agents - AI systems that learn by trial and error - can c...
12/05/2026
Beyond the Hype: A Strategic Post-Hoc Analysis of NAB 2026 If NAB Show 2026 had an underlying theme, it was a quiet, industry-wide pivot from the high-energy sp...
12/05/2026
Guntermann and Drunck (G&D), a Panoptec Technologies Group company, and CT Square, led by Chandresh Shah, have announced a joint venture to distribute G&D and V...
12/05/2026
With 30 days until the start of the FIFA World Cup 2026, Telemundo, the exclusive Spanish-language home of the tournament in the United States, has announced th...
12/05/2026
The NHL has announced the return of Stanley Pup for its third consecutive year, a 90-minute special featuring adoptable rescue dogs competing on a miniature rin...
12/05/2026
NBCUniversal presented its 2026 Upfront to advertisers at Radio City Music Hall, detailing upcoming programming across NBC, Peacock, Bravo, and Versant properti...
12/05/2026
FOX Sports has announced funding for the Fandom and Social Connection Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School's Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Publ...
12/05/2026
TNDV and Live Media, both divisions of Live Media Group, supported live broadcast coverage around NCAA Final Four weekend in Indianapolis, including the March M...
12/05/2026
The European Football Alliance (EFA) has announced a content distribution agreement with Fubo Sports Network, the free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channel ...
12/05/2026
For the first time, Spanish-speaking fans in the U.S. will have two separate tel...
12/05/2026
CP Communications led a comprehensive spectrum management initiative on behalf of Churchill Downs during Kentucky Derby week, coordinating RF assets across the ...
12/05/2026
LiveU has announced a strategic partnership with DRONERESPONDERS, a 501(c)3 non-...
12/05/2026
Open Broadcast Systems has announced that BMC TV, a specialist in IP transport of broadcast content, has selected the Open Broadcast Systems 5G Flyaway solution...
12/05/2026
NEP Europe, part of NEP Group, has announced it will deliver broadcast solutions...
12/05/2026
Grass Valley has announced continued collaboration with Ravensbourne University ...
12/05/2026
Stats Perform has announced the launch of Opta Pulse, an AI-assisted video creation and distribution platform for leagues, rights holders, and broadcasters. The...
12/05/2026
FOX Sports has announced a collaboration with Sesame Workshop to integrate Sesame Street characters into FOX Sports' FIFA World Cup 2026 programming. Conten...
12/05/2026
To date, NHL Productions has produced 19 broadcasts with commentary in American Sign Language
NHL in ASL (American Sign Language) may be just one show, but the...
12/05/2026
Google's Brian Albert: creators, athletes, highlights, nostalgia, second-scr...
12/05/2026
A still from Past Lives by Celine Song, an official selection of the Premieres program at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. (Courtesy of Sundance Institute | p...
12/05/2026
Spotify is where fans and artists come together, turning discovery into somethin...
12/05/2026
Features patented Marco-MMC clocking technology
Black Lion Audio's latest release combines the company's expertise in clocking with their renowned p...
12/05/2026
New Track Panel, sequencer upgrades & more
Following their recent public beta release, Reason Studios have announced the full release of Reason 14. With the...
12/05/2026
One month to go! SBS reveals expansive FIFA World Cup 2026 lineup beyond the pi...
12/05/2026
Rohde & Schwarz presents its advanced solutions for power electronics testing at...
12/05/2026
aconnic AG (ISIN: DE000A0LBKW6), Munich, has developed a modified fund raising p...
12/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/05/2026
Tyrell Corporation, specialists in high-end live sports and entertainment broadcasts, was tasked with delivering compelling broadcast coverage of premier equest...
12/05/2026
Registration is now open for IBC2026 as the global media, entertainment and technology community prepares to converge on the RAI Amsterdam from 11 14 September ...
12/05/2026
Ross Video, a global leader in live video production technology, will present its latest innovations and integrated production workflows at BroadcastAsia 2026, ...
12/05/2026
500 selected leaders from around the world across start-ups, corporates, and venture capital. Over 50bn in assets under management among attending investors, a...
Tech Focus: Venue Sound, Part 1 - Designs Apply Lessons From Music Tours' Systems Impactful is new buzzword in stadium sound By Dan Daley, Audio Editor 
