Stadiums are built to house sports events, events that do not primarily produce much noise, while the audience produces as much sound as possible.

A concert works almost 180 degrees in the other direction: the sound is produced in the 'arena' and the public is listening (and of course also singing).

Some stadiums work both ways, some do not. What are your experiences, which large venues are relatively good, which are less?

Great:

1. Stade de France, 'Paris'. Sound can escape due to the big gap between stands and roof, so almost no echo; concrete roof (only a rainshelter, the stadium is open) so almost no resonance.

2. Kuip, Rotterdam. Also only a rainshelter, with minimal proportions. Little echo because of the opening between 'roofcap' and stands, some resonance because the building is made of steel (it shakes, which is a great experience) but not too much. It has no closed roof, so the show is still outside, wich adds to the athmosphere if you ask me.

Bad:

1. There it is: the Amsterdam Arena. It is truely as bad as its reputation. They've tried to improve it with all kinds of accoustic materials, worth 1,4 mil euro, but with little result.

Other good or bad ones? What do you think about the O2 arena? Anybody been inside? How is the noise there, and would it be a good place for a concert? Edit: I expected it to be the actual DOME, but now I understand they built a real arena somewhere next to it.

Jelle



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2007-02-07 15:56 by sluissie.

It's not that simple.

Stade De France was the worst sound I ever experienced in 03. Twicks 06 was great at the back but awful at the front of the pitch.

It really depends on the sound system, the acoustics of that venue, the orientation of the stage and even other factors such as the humidity and temperature!

Stuttgart Daimler stadium sounded tight last year

With enclosed modern football type stadiums, you need to be FOS or in the middle of the pitch and away from the stands for the best sound in most cases. There are just too many long delay times in such a large enclosed structure.

My experience of stadium gigs in the UK in recent years has been that the best sound was always at Sheffield's Don Valley Stadium...because it's a very open athletics stadium with no huge towering enclosed stands to cause problems.

There will always be exceptions...but on the whole modern enclosed stadiums are not ideal acoustically. I know that the stones have experimented on recent tours with some very sophisticated DSP electromics which attempts to address these problems, but it can't ever optimise the sound for everybody.

sjs12 wrote: "Stade De France was the worst sound I ever experienced in 03".

Yes, but during the first 3-4 songs, only. After these the sound became very good, atleast from where i was.

Spud wrote: "With enclosed modern football type stadiums, you need to be FOS or in the middle of the pitch and away from the stands for the best sound in most cases. There are just too many long delay times in such a large enclosed structure.
My experience of stadium gigs in the UK in recent years has been that the best sound was always at Sheffield's Don Valley Stadium...because it's a very open athletics stadium with no huge towering enclosed stands to cause problems.
There will always be exceptions...but on the whole modern enclosed stadiums are not ideal acoustically"

I think you're right, Spud. And your analysis IMO does explain why the sound is perfect (or almost) at fields. My personal expirience: Letna Park (Prague)2003, best sound i have heard...

The best sound I heard this tour was in Durham and Bergen.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2007-02-07 16:33 by erikjjf.

under concrete overhang = bad

My experience from last tour (Paris and Amsterdam) is also a muffled start; lots of base, little vocals on the first two/three songs. After that the sound improved very much.

I can also imagine that fields are usually much better, soundwise.

Jelle

schillid Wrote:
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> under concrete overhang = bad


...as in the new Soldier Field in Chicago......

Schillid: you mean at the Stade de France? We were on the field, exaclty half way in the long axis, and about 15m from the B-stage. It was very good there, but we were not standing under the overhang. It reflects a lot of sound probably.

Jelle

Stadiums, ALL stadiums, generally suck as far as acoustics go..the absolute worst place to hear a show unless you are lucky enough to be in just the right spot...

Yeah, it's a funny paradox, and we keep ignoring it ;-)

But I think that if you would be selective in the choice of the venue, and spend some time moving around to find a good spot, a decent sound is possible.

This is very different


from this:


Or this:


Jelle

What keefstheman said.

sluissie Wrote:
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> Schillid: you mean at the Stade de France?


A few months ago, I went to a concert at Giants Stadium in NJ. (A group called the Rolling Stones)... My seat was under a balcony. The dreaded concrete overhang. Totally echoey bassy mush. Sometimes, we didn't even know what song they were playing! No clarity on the guitars, impossible to hear the singing.

I found a different seat... and there was dramatic improvement in sound quality.

Bon Jovi at wembley the sound was brilliant, Stones at Wembley the year before was crap. I could hear the echo as well as the sound from the PA and i stood about the same place for both shows.

Keefstheman has got it right.

Some spots are better than others, but we are really talking about degrees.

I was in Stade de France last year, and I thought, the accustics were "good".
Daimlerstadion Stuttgart was very good, also Olympiastadion Munich, whereas Olympiastadion Berlin wasn't that good. But I think these are mostly subjective opinions...

At the Stade de France, the sound can be bad for those who have seats in the last ranks of the lower and middle sections
Otherwise it's pretty good.

Amsterdam Arena had the worst sound I ever experienced.
Giants stadium is good, and the Stade Velodrome in MArseille is great. There is no roof, and on a shiny day without wind, like in 2003, it's a fabulous place.

[doctorstonesblog.blogspot.com]

Ford Field in Detroit Michigan is actually pretty good for sound they built it with the intent of making it good for concerts as well as football.

Dome stadiums suck!

Rickster Wrote:
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> Ford Field in Detroit Michigan is actually pretty
> good for sound they built it with the intent of
> making it good for concerts as well as football.


But how good are the acoustics for football?

Doc Wrote:
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> At the Stade de France, the sound can be bad for
> those who have seats in the last ranks of the
> lower and middle sections
> Otherwise it's pretty good.

Don't know how you worked that one out because I was 10 rows off the B stage for Licks and sound was terrible. People only a short distance from me report good acoustics though.

Don't you just hate it when you can't tell what song is being played?

Estadio do Dragao (Porto 12-08-2006) has bad acoustics also, if you are not FOS centered...

As Keef said, it all depends on where you are. I've seen the Stones six times at BC Place Stadium in Vancouver and I thought it sounded great because I was on the floor most of the time close to the stage. Friends who were in the upper deck on the endzone said the sound was terrible.

Maybe, just maybe, they could take up a residency at The Crawdaddy Club (or a new facsimile). Charlie could stay at his home, Bill wouldn't have to fly, and the sound would be great. Please don't wake me from this dream.

shadooby Wrote:
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> Dome stadiums suck!


Very true! The best sound that I've heard was at Ft.Worth in 1997. It was cold and it was not enclosed in. The sound had nowhere to go but out and didn't bounce around.

mr_c_ox Wrote:
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> Bon Jovi at wembley the sound was brilliant,

which means you couldn't hear at all, right?