As English football to television screens, viewers are watching teams from the Premiership and Championship complete the 19/20 season in empty stadiums. Empty, but not quiet…

Queens Park Rangers’ ground at The Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium will benefit from a new ‘crowd atmosphere’ system as the Hoops play their game against Barnsley on Saturday.

Working with production agency Entourage, the UK’s largest theatrical sound company, Autograph, has redirected its expertise to providing atmosphere to a very different audience. Designed and developed the in-house team, Stadium Sound by Autograph creates a live crowd atmosphere at sports events that can be dynamically controlled in real time to the game. The system is operated live to follow the energy levels and punctuate the dramatic moments as they happen.

Autograph Sound Designer Ian Dickinson was a week away from opening a new version of Company on Broadway when the pandemic closed everything down and he was on the first flight home. In his new role as in-house ‘football expert’: ‘Unlike the similar systems being used by the Premier League broadcasters, our system is actually played out into the stadium using a high-spec 12.1 concert grade surround sound system,’ he explains.

‘This allows the players to get the full psychological benefit of having the crowd behind them even though the fans can’t be there. The flexibility of the system also allows us to locate the audio to specific stands within the stadium and position the chants so they sound like they are coming from the home end.’

Swapping theatre stalls for football terraces, Autograph and Entourage are now working to bring the sound of the crowds back to Championship Football for the remainder of the season.

‘We are working with Championship clubs to help restore home advantage during the last vital few weeks of the season,’ confirms Andy Barnes from Entourage. ‘The data from the Bundesliga is showing that home advantage has been radically reduced since the lockdown with a drop from 43 per cent to 21 per cent of games resulting in a home win. We believe that this advantage can be restored by creating a raucous home atmosphere that includes home team chants from the home stands to support the players on the pitch. We hope that once the Premier League players see the benefits of playing with a home crowd atmosphere that the Premier League will reconsider their position to enforce silent stadiums.’

The sound of the crowds have been sourced from Autograph’s extensive archives, gaming libraries, and from partners like Fanchants.com. Following a demonstration at QPR, Andrew Holland from Fan Chants says: ‘I had to shut my eyes, just to check because the sound was really authentic. They can even make the chants come from where they would actually come from in the stadium – that’s the really impressive bit that I hadn’t really thought of before, but it really sounds amazing.

‘I’ve spoken to an ex-professional and we’ve all been watching matches in echoey stadiums and realising that its not always the visual of the fans, but its the noise, when they are moving forward or defending thats important. There is a real psychology to it’

Following its debut at Loftus Road as QPR take on Barnsley, the system is being offered to other championship clubs over the remainder of the season. The team are also investigating how to roll out similar solutions for Rugby, Cricket and other sports later in the year.

See also: Sport in Absentia: The Sound of the Crowd 
(Bringing sound to behind-closed-doors sports events and broadcasts)