POLL: Does the sound production in the stadium need to be fixed/revised?

[DJ Spanky]

There have been a lot of complaints about the sound production this year, volume, content, timing, etc. This is a continuing trend as prior years have been a problem, but this year seems to be particularly egregious. It has generated a lot of complaints all through the season, and because we have new teams in the Big 10 a number of fans have been comparing gameday in their stadiums to that in ours. I myself attended the Virginia Tech game and noted what a huge difference there was between their production and ours.

So what say you?

I have included quotes from 3 threads, 2 here on the Free Board and 1 on the Round Table.

If You Hate the Scoreboard Noise, Contact PJ Mullen

He has got to go….

Who is in charge of the gameday audio production?

He speaks for me and many others. I cannot stand the noise. I don't even mind the volume, other than the horn, which is way too loud and stupid to begin with. It's the complete lack of any type of tempo or sync. It's just a bunch of noise thrown together in a terrible sequence. There is nothing cool or inspiring about it. If it were a better set of music'sounds, I might be ok with it.

There is a lot of room for improvement.

What you say is so evident: this whole cacophony of sound up until a few seconds before the opposing offense snaps the ball, then it cuts out and no one in the stands is making noise. Just a horrible way to run things.

I've said it in here a few times, this year I voted with my wallet and gave up my tickets. I've let PJ know several times over the last few years he sucks at his job. I've also let him know that it's obvious the cacophony of noise on 3rd down specifically is to drown out our beloved students greatest chant and tradition "**** PENN STATE!" and I won't drop another nickel at Rutgers until he's looking for another job. Rutgers students are offered season tickets at a deeeep discount and I have a buddy with a daughter in the band. We get in on her tickets these days.

What is most galling is Rutgers won't even consider hiring for this job from within it's own Sports Management department. It's been stated a few times ITT: WE DON'T WANT TO BE JUST LIKE THE CULT. Find someone with fresh, locally pertinent ideas.

For the first time in my life, I went to every away game this year, and there is a stark contrast between the level of noise at our stadium vs. others. The sound effects and train horn have gotten completely out of hand. I was trying to have a short conversation with the person next to me this weekend, and we couldn't hear each other unless there was an injured player on the field. This actually works against the team, because there is no time for the actual crowd noise to build due to the wall-to-wall noise. It's gotten way out of hand.

Our crew mostly loves the gameday production, especially the kids. We'll be emailing PJ to thank him for his efforts.

Glad I’m not the only one. He basically transplanted the Penn State Stadium Music Selection/noise to Rutgers Stadium, with the exception of the train horn, which came from West Virginia.

My buddies and I go to an away game every year, and every year at whichever away game we go to, we inevitably comment on how refreshing it is to be able to talk to each other and feel the college football atmosphere with the band playing more frequently than the PA music. The fact that they even list the PA volume on the feedback survey where it asks which areas need improvement is pretty telling, I have never even heard of this being an issue at any other sports venue. I've seen parents bringing protective earmuffs to put on their kids because of how loud it is. You shouldn't need PPE to watch a football game, so ridiculous.

You and I both love music. I am big fan of Ozzy and metal music. But I also like watching sporting events and discussing the game with my seat neighbors, something that is impossible to do during the game because of the constant barrage of noise. What is worse, as has been pointed out multiple times, is the repetitive Make Some Noiz, Ozzy laugh, crazy train, train horn nonsense seemingly 50 times per game. @mb5789 , @Richie O, and @Alec Crouthamel brought this up during their podcast today.

You think the game day environment is fine, but you seem to be one of the only people in several threads saying this. I would think if a survey was taken, it would be more than 60% of people dislike the volume and repetitive noise played during the game. For us, the home games are dates for me and the Mrs. But we both are at the point that, among other things such as the tailgates we visited going away and the game day environment, that we will cancel our club and season tickets and do something more enjoyable on our Fall Saturdays. Rutgers Athletics is very poor when it comes to customer service and listening to their customer base, and this will hurt them in the long run.

The music has made fans complacent with NOT being loud. I have been around RU sports since the early 2000s and can definitively say that the music has made the stadium exponentially louder but the crowd noise lower.

I am going to think long and hard about ending my almost 20 year season tickets because of how unbearable it is. Out of my group that started as about 10, we are down to 4 season tickets.

Yeah the stadium music is rough. Even the entrance they have different parts of songs going over each other at the time time.. you can't even make out what the heck the words are.

Sometimes the pump up music takes the crowd out of the moments during the game. The awful sound ends and the fans are *meh* There is room for improvement.

Nobody in the Rutgers Athletic Department, Public Relations, or any other Survey Department gives a rats ass about what the public thinks on its operations.

Long for the days of just letting "for whom the bell tolls" ring out as the fans hit the third down signal three times and then make their own noise as the offense is about to snap the ball.

The sound effects from the scoreboard are HORRIBLE!!! I absolutely HATE the endless cacophony that comes from it. It is noise pollution. The game experience for me is extremely negative. I hate the Ozzy laugh, make some noise, leaning on the horn. All horrible. They destroy crowd participation rather than encourage it and they are too stupid to understand that. I can never discuss the game with my friends. I despise anyone involved with usage of the board for sound effects. And it now applies to the RAC.

How do you we make our voices heard about the absolutely miserable gameday experience? Why is the athletic department torturing its own fans? Who can we convince that it needs to change? It's getting ridiculous. Even opposing fans that visit our stadium talk about it.

I will never advocate for anyone to lose their job, but the game day production at the stadium is absolutely atrocious, and borders on embarrassing

There’s no flow, the scoreboard is entirely too loud, and there’s literally music or some kind of other nonsense playing every single moment of the game

It takes the joy out of watching the game and is literally ear piercing

Even on television our stadium experience sounded annoying. The abuse and laying on the train horn has gotta stop . Sounds awful. And the stupid sound bite “make some noise” guy followed the ozzy .. Is awful.

Use the band more … a lot more

Leave some white space and just use the video board maybe with no sound. Wild thing.

The idiots who run the game day operations are driving away loyal supporters who have been spending $ on season tickets, renewal fees, donations, concessions, etc. BRILLIANT

I gave up my season tickets because of the noise.
I go to one road game every year and it's a pleasure not
to be FVCKIN ASSAULTED by the noise you hear at a Rutgers game.

The stadium experience has gotten much better in a lot of ways and much worse in other ways.

As it relates to getting worse - the horrid and repetitive sound effects and constant and use of piped in music has absolutely ruined any semblance of college football tradition we had built up at Rutgers amongst the band, fans and students.

Its frigin sensory overload and not to mention it is blasted at unhealthy levels across most of the stadium.

 

[RU-AGK]

There have been a lot of complaints about the sound production this year, volume, content, timing, etc. This is a continuing trend as prior years have been a problem, but this year seems to be particularly egregious. It has generated a lot of complaints all through the season, and because we have new teams in the Big 10 a number of fans have been comparing gameday in their stadiums to that in ours. I myself attended the Virginia Tech game and noted what a huge difference there was between their production and ours.

So what say you?

I have included quotes from 3 threads, 2 here on the Free Board and 1 on the Round Table.

If You Hate the Scoreboard Noise, Contact PJ Mullen

He has got to go….

Who is in charge of the gameday audio production?

The prose from that AGK guy speaks to my soul. I find the depths of his insights into this issue simply astounding. 😁

 

[DJ Spanky]

The prose from that AGK guy speaks to my soul. I find the depths of his insights into this issue simply astounding. 😁

I believe that was taken directly from his preachings in the Rutgers Bible.

 

[BigRnj]

Currently a runaway… did an amateur weatherman vote twice? 😅😉

 

[Jimpeg]

....the Horn needs to go...volume way down... simple is better....I would also recommend building a platform under the score board and elevate our cannon guys, not hide it in the corner of the end zone...god help the folks in 110...

 

[GORU2014]

I didn’t graduate very long ago and I have issues with the volume, bad remixes of songs from when I was still in school and earlier, and the random and repetitive sound effects (MAKE SOME NOISEEEEE and the train horn).

I don’t see who they’re appealing to at this point (surely even the students would rather hear music that’s popular now?), and I’ve actively dialed back the games I go to due to the volume (not necessarily just for me, but for others I’d typically attend with). I’ve been to a lot of sporting events, at all levels, in the U.S. and other countries, indoors and outdoors, and I have never heard the volume anywhere close to what they’re using at SHI.

Basketball is trending in the same direction in terms of game day production, which isn’t promising.

 

[RU#1fan]

Currently a runaway… did an amateur weatherman vote twice? 😅😉

The most obvious conclusion of a Poll before it was even released.

 

[R1766U]

I didn’t graduate very long ago and I have issues with the volume, bad remixes of songs from when I was still in school and earlier, and the random and repetitive sound effects (MAKE SOME NOISEEEEE and the train horn).

I don’t see who they’re appealing to at this point (surely even the students would rather hear music that’s popular now?), and I’ve actively dialed back the games I go to due to the volume (not necessarily just for me, but for others I’d typically attend with). I’ve been to a lot of sporting events, at all levels, in the U.S. and other countries, indoors and outdoors, and I have never heard the volume anywhere close to what they’re using at SHI.

Basketball is trending in the same direction in terms of game day production, which isn’t promising.

The basketball sound is very concerning. This is a new trend for this season. 75 year oldish woman sitting next to me had to bring giant ear protectors at the Merrimack game. Not exaggerating either.

 

[mdk01]

....the Horn needs to go...volume way down... simple is better....I would also recommend building a platform under the score board and elevate our cannon guys, not hide it in the corner of the end zone...god help the folks in 110...

All time great from not football, lacrosse. RU - Penn St. Sunday night lacrosse game broadcast on Big 10 Network. Horn sounds after RU goals and the end of quarters. I forget which, but the horn gets stuck. For 5 f****** minutes. I was there, but I heard that the B1G Network goes to a commercial break, comes back and goes to a second commercial break.

 

[MrsScrew]

Way too loud. My conversations were interrupted multiple times this past weekend.

Additionally, the one time that there was an actual R-U chant going, they played overly loud music & stopped it.

Lastly, Wisconsin does not drown out their "eat sh*t.....F*ck you" student chant, WVU sings "eat sh*t Pitt" & so many other similar things around the country that dont get drowned out by horns or Joe Nolan (who is becoming insufferable)

 

[JayDogSmooth]

Way too loud. My conversations were interrupted multiple times this past weekend.

Additionally, the one time that there was an actual R-U chant going, they played overly loud music & stopped it.

Lastly, Wisconsin does not drown out their "eat sh*t.....F*ck you" student chant, WVU sings "eat sh*t Pitt" & so many other similar things around the country that dont get drowned out by horns or Joe Nolan (who is becoming insufferable)

Nolan used be awesome, now he is unbearable

 

[GORU2014]

The basketball sound is very concerning. This is a new trend for this season. 75 year oldish woman sitting next to me had to bring giant ear protectors at the Merrimack game. Not exaggerating either.

I’m not surprised. If they continue down that road it’s not going to be pretty next year after the Ace/Dylan draw is gone

 

[LETSGORU91]

Additionally, the one time that there was an actual R-U chant going, they played overly loud music & stopped it.

Probably better off as the students suck at the R-U chant. Unfortunately that was a plus for the horrible sound production crew.

 

[RU848789]

Oh great, another thread on this. Poll needs at least one more choice: "I don't care."

 

[ScarletR97]

Can't have a conversation about the game without screaming at each other. Can't hear the actual call of the play after flags are thrown, etc. Also really pissed that most of the captioning removed from the main video scoreboard and relagated to a corner of the ribbon on the sides of the stadium.

 

[MrsScrew]

Probably better off as the students suck at the R-U chant. Unfortunately that was a plus for the horrible sound production crew.

Perhaps if they had the opportunity to do it more often they would get better at it. Instead, when they try to do it they get stopped by overly loud obnoxious music.
They do an excellent job at the RAC with the chant

 

[R1766U]

Perhaps if they had the opportunity to do it more often they would get better at it. Instead, when they try to do it they get stopped by overly loud obnoxious music.
They do an excellent job at the RAC with the chant

They *did**. Only had one RUnchant at Merrimack and it was nothing like it should be. The music cut it off.

 

[LETSGORU91]

Perhaps if they had the opportunity to do it more often they would get better at it. Instead, when they try to do it they get stopped by overly loud obnoxious music.
They do an excellent job at the RAC with the chant

The effort is there. The execution isnt. The R and the U are now almost a race to see how fast the next could say it. Bring back the old days. A longer, drawn out RRRRR. Followed by a longer, drawn out UUUU. Rinse and repeat. I think it might have been a McCourty who was on the field earlier this year (last year?) who led the cheer and called out for it the way I said. It worked nicely but soon forgotten by the students after that time.

 

[NotInRHouse]

Washington was great.

Whoever decided to bring the horn back the past few games should be canned.

 

[ScarletDog]

All time great from not football, lacrosse. RU - Penn St. Sunday night lacrosse game broadcast on Big 10 Network. Horn sounds after RU goals and the end of quarters. I forget which, but the horn gets stuck. For 5 f****** minutes. I was there, but I heard that the B1G Network goes to a commercial break, comes back and goes to a second commercial break.

That was horrible. Felt like psychological warfare.