Levi's Stadium CAN get loud, if our fans aren't silent

Originally posted by Young2Rice:

Meh.

My friends who went to the game said people were still looking at him strange for standing up and cheering like at the stick.

Originally posted by CMIO:
Even Harbaugh gave our fans a mediocre review, and I think he was being nice.

Not that I can deduce much from watching it on tv, but last week vs Dallas my wife told me to lower the volume...this week I had it at the same level and she asked me why I wasn't watching it on loud like I usually do

Originally posted by Psinex:

I don't know who started this thread, but based on my experience during the San Diego pre-season game, I wasn't impressed by the level of the crowd noise. Having two gaping openings on both the south and north sides of the stadium allow for a ton of sound to escape and also allow wind to come into the stadium, which neutralizes sound the way noise canceling headphones work. Wind carries all kinds of sound frequencies from outside the stadium into the stadium.

The biggest effect on sound of Levi's Stadium would come from the reflections of the glass luxury box suites on the west side. That means the crowd on the east side would have to cheer extremely loudly to have the sound bounce right back toward them and the field. Except...the stadium was planned so that the visitor's side would be in the sun during a game.

The open design of Levi's runs contrary to the concept of amplifying sound within an enclosed space. If you want to let sound escape, you start poking big holes in an enclosure.

Read this article about why CenturyLink Field is so loud (hint: sound is trapped and amplified using two enormous over-hanging canopies that cover 70% of the seats):

"While the vocal cords of Seahawks fans surely deserve credit for piercing ears, so do the designers of CenturyLink Field. Even though it's a mostly open-air stadium, the building traps noise. While CenturyLink Field isn't domed, two huge canopies — one on the east side of the stadium, the other on the west side — cover 70% of the seats. This design has two benefits. One, it protects fans from Seattle's famous rain. And two, it pumps up the volume.

The main thing that creates noise is any type of overhanging structure that reflects sounds back into the stadium," says Andrew Barnard, a research associate at Penn State's Applied Research Laboratory, specializing in structural acoustics. What's more, Seattle's stadium has two additional overhangs, functioning as the bottom of the upper seating bowl, that cover the lower seating bowls. "Sound also reflects off the bottom of the upper deck, and back onto the field," says Barnard.

The curves on these canopies are also key. "They are large parabolas," says Bill Stewart, managing partner at SSA Acoustics, which is based in Seattle. Stewart was responsible for measuring the record-setting noise on Sunday night. "The curvature and angles of the canopies act to focus the sound energy onto the playing field, producing higher noise levels."

These physics also change behavior. "Fans get caught up in it," says Stewart. "They experience an intense increase in the sound levels that they would not normally experience in an outdoor environment, and are energized by it." As a result, they scream even louder.

Over a decade ago, Seahawks owner Paul Allen told Jon Niemuth, the architect of CenturyLink Field, to model his team's new home after Husky Stadium, home of the University of Washington. Allen wanted that crazed, college feel. So at CenturyLink field, the seats are relatively close to the field. In the north end zone, the design team created rows of aluminum bleachers. "When fans stomp on them," Niemuth says, "things get really loud."

Originally posted by mustangmele:

I'm in the brand management/marketing industry and I put a lot of blame on the organization. You need to encourage the fans (especially if newer ones in Santa Clara) to GET LOUD. You flash the message all over the stadium, have a loud-meter on the jumbo-tron, hand out towels etc. It starts at the top.

Originally posted by Oakland-Niner:

Originally posted by Young2Rice:
Meh.

My friends who went to the game said people were still looking at him strange for standing up and cheering like at the stick.

I got to be honest, my section made me feel very uncomfortable cheering outside of a big play. Everybody pretty much sits there waiting for something to happen. I even joked with a couple of the guys next to me about using "jazz hands" instead of clapping. Finally, I was one of the only guy in my section telling people to keep it down when the O was at work at the end of the game....

Rookies

Originally posted by hps49:

I wasn't impressed with the noise either, but there wasn't much to cheer in the 2nd half. The HEAT had to have an effect on the crowd - that s**t was beaming.

Originally posted by mustangmele:
I'm in the brand management/marketing industry and I put a lot of blame on the organization. You need to encourage the fans (especially if newer ones in Santa Clara) to GET LOUD. You flash the message all over the stadium, have a loud-meter on the jumbo-tron, hand out towels etc. It starts at the top.

Originally posted by SportsFan:

Originally posted by hps49:

I wasn't impressed with the noise either, but there wasn't much to cheer in the 2nd half. The HEAT had to have an effect on the crowd - that s**t was beaming.

If the sun was beaming during a 5:30 game what do you think it will be like for a 1pm game.