Filtering Crowd Noise at Pro Football Games...

James H.

James H.

Active member
Hey audio pros...

This NFL season, I'm going to be shooting games from the sidelines with a cinematic approach... among the challenges this presents is audio. What I'm really hoping to achieve is to at least hear the crashing of the linebackers, tackles, and perhaps even be able to make out some vocals (quarterback, etc).

I will be positioned up and down the sidelines, so fan noise is going to be coming from every direction.

Any of you fine folks have some ideas about mic solution and how to filter out as much crowd screams as possible and focus into the line of scrimage?

Cheers.
 
you can use a dish , but then you will need someone will point it to the action .
AUDIOTECHNICA - have very directional 4 capsules microphone , also need extara person to operate
 
Much appreciated, Oleg 2. I'll have to see if I can get clearance for something like that, and an assistant.
 
...If he has the budget for it he may as well try to get useable synch sound.

As far as filtering goes there probably isn't much you can do. Atleast while recording, in post you can experiment. I would be curious to see what something like Sonic NoNoise would do to it (Pro Tools Plugin).
 
HansonD said:
I would be curious to see what something like Sonic NoNoise would do to it (Pro Tools Plugin).
Click to expand...
Irregular broadband noise such as crowd reactions really isn't what most noise removal plugins are designed for. They're sometimes useful for steady, constant noises (AC hum, line buzz, tape hiss), but they aren't really designed for removing background vocals.

Your best option will probably be a combination of three things:
  1. Increasing the distance between the microphone and the crowd.
  2. Decreasing the distance between the microphone and the sounds you're trying to record.
  3. Keeping the desired sounds on-axis, while keeping the unwanted sounds off-axis
If you have a couple of boom opperators following the action from various locations using hand-held directional mics (eg. parabolic mics or Sennheiser MKH816), you may be able to get a greater sepperation between the on-field action and the crowd. You'll have to be pretty careful about keeping the action on-axis, though.
 
No post processing is going to do much to help get rid of the crowd. The mic Oleg is talking about I have heard some amazing things about and it was designed for exactly what you want to do.
 
For sound of the players you really have to go with a parabolic; the bigger the better. There are some DIY parabolics but I have only seen two or so feet diameter dishes for DIY. Unless you can get inventive you will probably want a pro dish...maybe you could use one of those old larger satalite dishes.

Depending on your city, there are not a lot of rental options for large parabolics.

"DIY parabolic" in google will get you some good links

Good luck
 
Wabbit is right about parabolic reflectors. Anything that has a central focus point can work. I haven't used one for sound, but I did use old DirecTV satellite dishes to get over a mile distance with normal 11g wifi putting the antenna where the old LNB used to be. I don't know how the accoustics of the dish material work, but they work great for RF.
 
Wabbit,

It actually depends a lot on how close you are. I did a bunch of recordings from the sidelines with a med shotgun and got very close up player sounds. The multi element mic that Oleg was talking about was designed to get player sounds for pro football broadcasts. It is very directional and supposedly sounds a lot better than the dishes, and is a bunch easer to handle.
 
I have heard good things about that AT mic but never used it. A fellow mixer has one but I have never taken the time to experiment with it. Guess I should give it a try.

But to my understanding, louder sounds will come through as the array phases out the "off axis" sound across the full spectrum, but it won't magnify softer sounds that the way a parabolic will. Basically it does nothing to overcome the inverse square rule. So you get much better lower frequency response with the AT but lose more subtle audio that you will pick up with the parabolic.

To that end both would have the advantages at a professional NFL game but I would go with the beaten path if I could only bring one type. Not doing that type of work that is just a guess.

To that end, if I were in James' position I would place some calls to find the guys responsible for audio at the games and get their opinion. As a side note, wouldn't the NFL have some pretty strict rules on who can use mics that can pick up the QB calling plays? I never thought about it much but I wonder what kind of encryption they use for the headset com. Anyone familiar with this?

Cheers
 
There aren't limiting restrictions on it (yet)... plays are well protected and called in code language anyways.

I'm about decided on Oleg's suggestion. There's obviously no way I'm going to filter out all the crowd - wouldn't even want to. Just hope to capture those agressive, man-bending thuds on every tackle. I'm not sure I could get approval for an assistant to run around with a big reflector like the tv crews.

I'll be making little cinematic "films" of each game and posting them on the team site. Looking forward to sharing with you fellas.

Suggestions and guidance is much appreciated.
 
Anybody ever seen a parabolic mic system mounted to a fig rig... even better if the fig was mounted to a vest. The weight is starting to add up.
 
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