Fan Noise - Comair Rotron

Before the season, the NFL employed 32 operators to be responsible for developing phony fan noise at their respective house websites, using a bespoke system stuffed with actual crowd sounds recorded over the last numerous years. "We never played a crowd noise that wasn't recorded at that arena," NFL Films VP and supervising sound mixer Vince Caputo stated.

Every network, and every crew, settled someplace various. ESPN decided to have one of its own staffers join the NFL hire in developing the fan mix to get a constant sound from week to week. Fox generated third-party Sonofans (which got its start creating phony fan noise for Pete Carroll's USC practices) for assistance.

One will remain in the broadcast center Sunday to keep tabs on the Super Bowl presentation. The natural audio made video games much easier on the ears. It also assisted broadcasters. Announcers normally like to have fan sound fed into their earpieces during video games so they can play off a crowd's energy.

"We found that, at least for particular individuals, they desired more of that in their ears, not less," CBS Sports VP of remote engineering Mike Francis said. On the other hand, NBC tamped down the fan noise for audiences on its Sunday Night Football broadcast over the course of the season. "As we started hearing more and more things from the field, things that Al [Michaels] and Cris [Collinsworth] might respond to in real time, we began lowering the crowd and taking the field results forward," SNF executive producer Fred Gaudelli said.

"We had the ability to lean on that a bit." In the cubicle, analyst and previous QB Brian Griese discussed to viewers that Can! Can! meant eliminating fan sounds for sleeping (or tossing it in a trash can) and changing to a 2nd. Chalk! indicated a draw play. That's what you make with chalk, after all.

Rather than positioning the viewers in the stands, with field sound in front of them and fan noise surrounding them, the sound mix strove to bring them onto the field this year. "We approached it more from a cinematic viewpoint, is what I call it," Fox's lead NFL sound mixer Fred Aldous stated.