Big House Sound Theory
We've heard arguments for some time about whether UM fans are quiet or whether it's the stadium. We have heard all sorts of studies comparing decibel levels,etc.., to see if the big house really is quiet. I think UMxWolverines was right in his recent diary that, no matter which way you slice it, it could and should be louder, and that's probably due to both the fans and the stadium.
However, I'm wondering whether those two components of the volume (fan noise + stadium acoustics) can have positive iterative effects. In other words, if you make a it a bit louder by changing the stadium, the increased noise could make people want to scream more, which in turn raises the volume another notch, which makes people want to scream even more . . . . you get the point. Of course, taken to its extreme, this theory would predict that, just because we add some luxury boxes, we will all be screaming at the tops of our lungs for 3+ hours and will all go deaf. That's obviously not going to happen (especially if we have another year like last one). There would naturally be some limit to the volume level.
The underlying idea is based on an observation that most normal people tend to be less noisy in quiet places, and louder in loud places. When you hear this great, big roar from 100,000 crazy fans, you think: fuck, I feel like screaming too!
Whereas we have been thinking, all along, that fan noise and stadium acoustics are independent variables, perhaps they are at least partially dependent on one another.
Just a random thought.
I think this is a pretty logically sound theory.
haha pun intended?
Was that a pun?
I think you've got something here
...tell you to sit down, but they can't tell you to shut up when it's so loud from every direction.
It will push them even faster to the lux boxes.
And maybe that waiting list will start moving at more than a snails pace as well.
Yet another connection between the two variables: new luxury boxes attract the quiet people now sitting in the stands, and new loud people enter their empty spots in the stands. You'd have to think that those on the cusp of getting season tickets through the waiting list will be louder on average.
won't attract them up there until:
a) the economy gets a bit better
b) we start winning
the reason those luxury boxes haven't sold out yet is a combination of those two things.
And something crazy like a $20,000 application fee.
There are too many old fucks who not only sit on their hands the entire game but expect others around them to, also.
I am 56 myself, but that is never an excuse for acting like a fucking corpse at a football game, nor is it an excuse for berating those who actually want to get up and make noise. And HEAVEN FORBID SOMEONE SHOULD ACTUALLY WANT TO STAND UP WHILE THE GAME IS GOING ON!!!!!!!
There are plenty of great fans at UM, but the older guard has ruined the environment of the stadium. Not only that, but they pass it down as learned behavior from generation to generation.
I have seen 40K USF fans make more noise than 110K UM fans. That is not acceptable.
Another thing that always pissed me off about going to UM games is that many season ticketholders seem to think you can only cheer "at the right time." I have gotten some of the most condescending looks and comments from "fellow UM fans" for cheering at the "wrong time" that you can possibly imagine.
I think they should place season tickets by your ability to make noise. They could make the end zones the "quiet section" for those who can't be bothered with actually cheering, and put those who want to be real football fans between the yard lines.
All the present "seniority" system does is reward those who are too old to function by giving them seats that should go to those who want to actually support their team.
I think the acoustics of the stadium have been used as an excuse long enough.
I think they are pretty dependant. It's guys like us that are going to be the leaders and best. If we get enough people to agree, we could change this....I hope....
I'm all for more sound in the stadium. Sometimes it's like a funeral home in there. But I don't want UM fans to become AHoles, a la Columbus. When I went to Pasadena, the USC fans were great. Same at ND. They cheered on their team without being insufferable and dangerous. Now, I hate ND, but that doesn't mean I want all their fans to be jerks like their coach.
Also, I don't want the sound in the stadium artifically pumped up with loud speakers. I'm not a fan of huge jumbotrons that try to force cheers from the stands. Neither do I like cheesy announcers and announcements. I love Michigan football. I do not love WWF, or truck pulls, etc. I have always loved that Michigan had class, and never want to lose that. IIRC, the Aggie fans in College Station stand the entire game, and cheer, but have class. If true, that's what I want for Michigan. I would love to have some sections designated for "standing room only."
Well, adding the new structures will certainly make it louder no doubt. They say its going to go from 100db to 110db just adding the structures.
Also, when someone is in a loud environment, it makes them louder.
Imagine being at your friends house drinking w/ with 10 or so people. Your outside, your going to be quieter because the noise travels out. WHen your inside your going to be louder. When everyone is just chillin, you will just chill. If everyone is being loud drunks, more than likely you will fit in as well. This can be when drinking or not.
"Your (You're)outside, your going to be quieter because the noise travels out".
Wow. Wear a helmet, yo.
Haha, +1
RRerabeginsin2009 + english = FAIL
Putting aside the proper English. WTF, does that sentence mean?
I know people have said this before, but sound is logarithmic. This means that if you have one person clapping, to double that amount of noise, you need 10 people clapping at the same rate, not two people. So I assume that if you have 10,000 people to double the noise you need 100,000 people. Just because Michigan Stadium has 100,000 doesn't mean it should be that much louder than say 60,000 or 80,000. I have read that with the glass boxes, this will add close to 10 percent more noise. This 10 percent would be close to adding another 100,000 people. It's not the amount of people at the stadium that makes it loud, its acoustics and how loud the people yelling are.
No sarcasm meant. It doesn't sound intuitively correct that 10db would equal 100,000 more people, but then I'm a liberal arts guy and don;t really know what logarithmic means.
He's right. He's not saying 10db equal 100,000 people. Only that if you have 100,000 all screaming at 100db, you would need 1,000,000 people screaming to hit 200db.
All he and everyone else is saying is that the new acoustics of the stadium will allow those same 100,000 fans who were screaming at 100db to be heard at 110db. This is a pretty significant increase. What everyone else was saying is that if you only have 60,000 people actually participating in the screaming of 110db, that more are likely to join in because as it get louder more people tend to join in. If you can add another 40,000 people to that screaming, you're looking at around a 7 db increase to 117db. Anyway, enough of that.
Cliff notes: as everyone else said, when people get louder, more people want to join in. Herd mentality. Thus, shit gets louder.
This requires a slight change to the theory. The theory still holds if a 10% increase volume (due to the luxury boxes) makes the people that are already yelling get louder.
I think what you're saying is that if 50,000 people (out of 100,000) are each cheering at a medium volume, then getting the other 50,000 to join in won't really do much for the sound intensity in the stadium. However, if each of those 50,000 start cheering twice as loud, then the sound intensity will . . . . (imagine Dr. Evil with his pinkie to his lip) MULTIPLY BY ONE MILLION PERCENT.
Okay, this theory is much more odd than when it started, but I'm sticking with it.
There was noticeably more echo last year. Was anything ever public on the noise levels of 2007 vs. 2008?