GDQ Runner/Commentator Audio Q&A

2014-07-23 08:38:41 pm

Crawlathon WR, get down on my level.

Yes, those can be combined, that was what I was implying. Those are also the options for the couch speakers if we don't use headsets, by the way.

sinister1

2014-07-24 10:54:07 am

sinister1

so pro u don't even know

@Cool Matty: Oops, I misread that, thanks for clarifying.

Even without lag I am not a huge fan of headsets but I could certainly live with it. I do not like the distraction of something on my head, and then the sanitary issues Mike raised.

Legolish

2014-07-26 09:05:40 am

I could see having a few headphone setups for isolated uses, but having everyone use them would seem out of place for the scene of a GDQ. Ear sets are probably the way to go.

As far as feedback problems are concerned, you can do amazing things with a parametric EQ, and a little fiddling. Then shotguns for the couch won't necessarily be a audio liability.

Cool Matty

2014-07-26 01:33:07 pm

Crawlathon WR, get down on my level.

Quote from Legolish:

I could see having a few headphone setups for isolated uses, but having everyone use them would seem out of place for the scene of a GDQ. Ear sets are probably the way to go.

As far as feedback problems are concerned, you can do amazing things with a parametric EQ, and a little fiddling. Then shotguns for the couch won't necessarily be a audio liability.

We were grabbing feedback across the entire spectrum (effectively echo). I already tuned out all the harmonic points with EQ (after our setup downtime), it just wasn't really enough.

lurk

2014-07-26 11:20:29 pm

i feel like you should go with whatever option gives the best audio quality and educate everyone beforehand on how to make it happen. i personally didn't have any issues with the mic used at SGDQ but i did see others had problems, like duke's weirdly shaped head that had to have it taped on to fit.

OtakuSRL

2014-07-29 02:26:39 am

< ^ > < ^ >

Seems kind of gross after reading all of the rest of these posts, no offense. Lol. Cheesy

Anyways, this just seems like too much of a "risk", at least without a headset on you are bound to hear what you need to unless you magically go deaf. Just with all this "audio mixing" and the fact the individual sound levels (no pun intended) and their volumes cannot be changed makes it seem like this is going to create a huge issue, particularly for the runners.

Cool Matty

Edit history:

Cool Matty: 2014-07-29 08:25:50 am

2014-07-29 08:24:54 am

Crawlathon WR, get down on my level.

Quote from OtakuSRL:

Seems kind of gross after reading all of the rest of these posts, no offense. Lol. Cheesy

Anyways, this just seems like too much of a "risk", at least without a headset on you are bound to hear what you need to unless you magically go deaf. Just with all this "audio mixing" and the fact the individual sound levels (no pun intended) and their volumes cannot be changed makes it seem like this is going to create a huge issue, particularly for the runners.

I'm still going to be controlling individual sound levels for the speakers at the couch anyway. The whole point is to actually make it easier to hear your game, since in the past we've had to ask runners to turn the TVs down. By having exact control over it (with better speaker quality to boot), I can maximize the game volume for the runners. Note that this is exactly what we did at SGDQ, and other than complaints about host audio, it worked well. Host audio was a whole different situation though, and that'll be solved regardless.

[quote="OtakuSRL"]Seems kind of gross after reading all of the rest of these posts, no offense. Lol. :D

Anyways, this just seems like too much of a "risk", at least without a headset on you are bound to hear what you need to unless you magically go deaf. Just with all this "audio mixing" and the fact the individual sound levels (no pun intended) and their volumes cannot be changed makes it seem like this is going to create a huge issue, particularly for the runners.[/quote]

I'm still going to be controlling individual sound levels for the speakers at the couch anyway. The whole point is to actually make it easier to hear your game, since in the past we've had to ask runners to turn the TVs down. By having exact control over it (with better speaker quality to boot), I can maximize the game volume for the runners. Note that this is exactly what we did at SGDQ, and other than complaints about host audio, it worked well. Host audio was a whole different situation though, and that'll be solved regardless.

z1mb0bw4y

2014-07-29 11:03:38 am

Gets the cake.

is it possible to get the quality of the earpiece style mic with the comfort and "wearability" of the call-center style headsets? http://www.uniquecommunications.com/bin/images/products/plantronics/Encore1_large.gif Something similar to that maybe except have it cost more than $4? I really liked the quality of the earpiece and the ability to hear everyone around me clearly (except the host). Having one ear open and one ear potentially with audio input from the mixer could make hearing the host easier without moving anything else around. I don't know if a product like that exists, though.

That possibility aside, I as a runner really liked the earpiece mic. When the tech crew got it set up before a run, it seemed to work very well. It's when the runners tried to toss them on that they seemed to not work out.

Cool Matty

Edit history:

Cool Matty: 2014-07-29 12:00:10 pm

2014-07-29 11:45:58 am

Crawlathon WR, get down on my level.

Quality-wise, anything that looks like that is generally pretty poor. They're designed for phone communications only. I personally don't think they're very comfortable either Tongue

I'm okay with the earset option, and the quality of it was hands down the best (ESA is currently using the same earset). We will just need to try a different, stiffer model, potentially with the other ear extension to help wearability.

Based on input I've gotten from everyone, I think it's probably going to work out like this:

1. Headset for the host station. Host already must wear headphones anyway, so might as well make it a headset. Will also mean hosts can relax a bit in their posture and not worry about talking into a big, sensitive mic.
2. Earsets for runners and commentary, total of 4.
3. Actually use the couch mics for audience (will talk with Mike about how much of this we want to allow)

EggmaniMN

2014-07-30 08:45:46 pm

I would definitely say stick with the earsets and try to find a more comfortable version of them if possible. I'm partially deaf in my left ear so a headset wouldn't work for me at all given that I wouldn't be able to pick out 90% of the sounds coming from that side. I imagine there could be other people with odd problems like that as well.

heeheex2

2014-08-01 08:17:19 pm

any type of headset kind of ruins the fun, friendly nature of gdq runs and makes it into something more professional than it should be. larger stream rooms obviously make setups like agdq 2013 not very comparable, but if a shotgun mic (or whatever kind of mic) was used there and had pretty much perfect audio balancing (and honestly, no one watching really cares if the person running has a crystal clear voice), then there should be some way to get that setup to work again. of all the more recent gdq's ive watched, agdq2013 definitely sounded the best (and seemed to have the least audio problems? at least as a viewer, im sure there were plenty of things that went wrong and had to be quickly fixed behind the scenes :P).

heeheex2

2014-08-01 08:18:23 pm

I cant edit since i'm not online but if you guys are deadset on having some sort of attached-to-head mic then definitely go with headsets, they're comfy and dont require 30 minutes of fucking around with to work (see: psychonauts)

BroBuzz

2014-08-02 12:33:01 pm

Quote from Cool Matty:

Quality-wise, anything that looks like that is generally pretty poor. They're designed for phone communications only. I personally don't think they're very comfortable either Tongue

I'm okay with the earset option, and the quality of it was hands down the best (ESA is currently using the same earset). We will just need to try a different, stiffer model, potentially with the other ear extension to help wearability.

Based on input I've gotten from everyone, I think it's probably going to work out like this:

1. Headset for the host station. Host already must wear headphones anyway, so might as well make it a headset. Will also mean hosts can relax a bit in their posture and not worry about talking into a big, sensitive mic.
2. Earsets for runners and commentary, total of 4.
3. Actually use the couch mics for audience (will talk with Mike about how much of this we want to allow)

Sounds good. My only concern is the audio mixing with the couch mics and the audience, can easily see the audience noise either be overpowering or barely audible.

[quote="Cool Matty"]Quality-wise, anything that looks like that is generally pretty poor. They're designed for phone communications only. I personally don't think they're very comfortable either :P

I'm okay with the earset option, and the quality of it was hands down the best (ESA is currently using the same earset). We will just need to try a different, stiffer model, potentially with the other ear extension to help wearability.

Based on input I've gotten from everyone, I think it's probably going to work out like this:

1. Headset for the host station. Host already must wear headphones anyway, so might as well make it a headset. Will also mean hosts can relax a bit in their posture and not worry about talking into a big, sensitive mic.
2. Earsets for runners and commentary, total of 4.
3. Actually use the couch mics for audience (will talk with Mike about how much of this we want to allow)
[/quote]
Sounds good. My only concern is the audio mixing with the couch mics and the audience, can easily see the audience noise either be overpowering or barely audible.

MrLonghair

Edit history:

MrLonghair: 2014-08-03 07:36:55 am

MrLonghair: 2014-08-03 04:53:25 am

2014-08-03 04:52:29 am

Audio-guy. twitchtv:ohgoddamnit

Shotgun mics work in controlled situations for picking up someones voice, requiring actual shotgun mics with an appropriate pickup pattern for their form set up and aimed correctly, at a person who knows they have to sit with the head in that position and level to be picked up, the mic will also be as close as possible on the floor without a foot bumping into it. Cheaper shotgun mics do not have the shotgun pick-up pattern and are flat out worthless. Wired lavs running LR44 batteries are cheap and effective, the old fave model 3350 is a $50 loss if it breaks but does require knowledge of how to make the most out of the mixer they are hooked up to (20ft cable as standard). At home I use a $400 dynamic mic worth every penny because I am honest to god in love with the quality of it.

(which brings me to)
Monitoring audio is a must, with ESA over I am super happy it went as well as it did but something you guys can learn from was picked up there; sometimes they went live without making sure audio was piped through, sometimes donation readers/hosts were too close and/or loud for the mic, sometimes voices were simply in need of a run of the equalizer because their voices were 90% bass 10% mid 0% high and got muddy and inaudible. If you get some sort of check on which mic is which in real-time and write up a quick something for adjusting EQ in case of muddy voices that need tweaking to be heard, please do.

(which brings me to)
Audience audio is something you need gating, compression, noise-suppression for. You do not want the constant hum, you do not want to pick up whispers and indoors-voice voices, you want applause and laughter and gasps, but not that they get to overpower priority audio or make anything else inaudible, ever. The audience audio is meant to be a pinch of spice on an otherwise okay dish of food. There was brainstorming internally about handing a mic around the audiences for live questions for ESA, but that was scrapped quickly.

(which brings me to)
Room acoustics. You're going to need mics tied to people if it's going to be like that. Sounds are vibrations in the air, the larger the room, the larger the nightmare unless it has been treated. You can get large acoustic blankets for not-too-much, they help, but reconsider - do you need one gigantic room for everything but practice, or can you set active audience, runner and tech in one, viewing in another? SGDQ suffered from this, the people who actually were there caught it worse than the viewers.

((which brings me to: I was going to work at ESA this year but the government tripped my budget over. They got around very well with my assistance from proxy, offered renting my services out with travel & logistics as payment but they were more than fine with the crew they had. I know how to use an X32, would love to have that for ESA with all that its capable of, could run both streams from one. I recommend learning how to master it.)
(If you go with headsets, behind-the-ear sets; remember to clean them with anti-bacterial handsoap)

[b]Shotgun mics work in controlled situations[/b] for picking up someones voice, requiring actual shotgun mics with an appropriate pickup pattern for their form set up and aimed correctly, at a person who knows they have to sit with the head in that position and level to be picked up, the mic will also be as close as possible on the floor without a foot bumping into it. Cheaper shotgun mics do not have the shotgun pick-up pattern and are flat out worthless. Wired lavs running LR44 batteries are cheap and effective, the old fave model 3350 is a $50 loss if it breaks but does require knowledge of how to make the most out of the mixer they are hooked up to (20ft cable as standard). At home I use a $400 dynamic mic worth every penny because I am honest to god in love with the quality of it.

(which brings me to)
[b]Monitoring audio is a must[/b], with ESA over I am super happy it went as well as it did but something you guys can learn from was picked up there; sometimes they went live without making sure audio was piped through, sometimes donation readers/hosts were too close and/or loud for the mic, sometimes voices were simply in need of a run of the equalizer because their voices were 90% bass 10% mid 0% high and got muddy and inaudible. If you get some sort of check on which mic is which in real-time and write up a quick something for adjusting EQ in case of muddy voices that need tweaking to be heard, please do.

(which brings me to)
[b]Audience audio[/b] is something you need gating, compression, noise-suppression for. You do not want the constant hum, you do not want to pick up whispers and indoors-voice voices, you want applause and laughter and gasps, but not that they get to overpower priority audio or make anything else inaudible, ever. The audience audio is meant to be a pinch of spice on an otherwise okay dish of food. There was brainstorming internally about handing a mic around the audiences for live questions for ESA, but that was scrapped quickly.

(which brings me to)
[b]Room acoustics[/b]. You're going to need mics tied to people if it's going to be like that. Sounds are vibrations in the air, the larger the room, the larger the nightmare unless it has been treated. You can get large acoustic blankets for not-too-much, they help, but reconsider - do you need one gigantic room for everything but practice, or can you set active audience, runner and tech in one, viewing in another? SGDQ suffered from this, the people who actually were there caught it worse than the viewers.

((which brings me to: [i]I was going to work at ESA this year but the government tripped my budget over. They got around very well with my assistance from proxy, offered renting my services out with travel & logistics as payment but they were more than fine with the crew they had. I know how to use an X32, would love to have that for ESA with all that its capable of, could run both streams from one. I recommend learning how to master it.[/i])
(If you go with headsets, behind-the-ear sets; remember to clean them with anti-bacterial handsoap)

Cool Matty

2014-08-03 08:11:22 am

Crawlathon WR, get down on my level.

Quote from MrLonghair:

Shotgun mics work in controlled situations for picking up someones voice, requiring actual shotgun mics with an appropriate pickup pattern for their form set up and aimed correctly, at a person who knows they have to sit with the head in that position and level to be picked up, the mic will also be as close as possible on the floor without a foot bumping into it. Cheaper shotgun mics do not have the shotgun pick-up pattern and are flat out worthless.

I really questioned them as well, it's just the only way we would be able to avoid per-person micing.

Quote:

Wired lavs running LR44 batteries are cheap and effective, the old fave model 3350 is a $50 loss if it breaks but does require knowledge of how to make the most out of the mixer they are hooked up to (20ft cable as standard). At home I use a $400 dynamic mic worth every penny because I am honest to god in love with the quality of it.

We have Shure SM93 lavs. They're wired and the quality is fine, but we need something closer. They require too much gain to really be useful because of the game audio being blasted into them.

Quote:

(which brings me to)
Monitoring audio is a must, with ESA over I am super happy it went as well as it did but something you guys can learn from was picked up there; sometimes they went live without making sure audio was piped through, sometimes donation readers/hosts were too close and/or loud for the mic, sometimes voices were simply in need of a run of the equalizer because their voices were 90% bass 10% mid 0% high and got muddy and inaudible. If you get some sort of check on which mic is which in real-time and write up a quick something for adjusting EQ in case of muddy voices that need tweaking to be heard, please do.

Yep, we already do this. There was probably times where it was sloppy (I don't count anything before our Setup Repair Day since that was just an unmitigated mess and not an indication of how it was meant to be set up), particularly during graveyard when we had less educated folks running the equipment. But that's the nature of volunteer help, and I'm doing my best to automate things in software to help here.

Quote:

(which brings me to)
Audience audio is something you need gating, compression, noise-suppression for. You do not want the constant hum, you do not want to pick up whispers and indoors-voice voices, you want applause and laughter and gasps, but not that they get to overpower priority audio or make anything else inaudible, ever. The audience audio is meant to be a pinch of spice on an otherwise okay dish of food. There was brainstorming internally about handing a mic around the audiences for live questions for ESA, but that was scrapped quickly.

Yep, we already do this as well. I was very skiddish to raise the volume for the audience at SGDQ after all the issues we had, but I won't be at AGDQ.

Quote:

(which brings me to)
Room acoustics. You're going to need mics tied to people if it's going to be like that. Sounds are vibrations in the air, the larger the room, the larger the nightmare unless it has been treated. You can get large acoustic blankets for not-too-much, they help, but reconsider - do you need one gigantic room for everything but practice, or can you set active audience, runner and tech in one, viewing in another? SGDQ suffered from this, the people who actually were there caught it worse than the viewers.

Yeah, no amount of blankets were going to stop the bass next door.

Also, viewers separated from the couch in another room is something that's out of my hands (it's why I want a stage environment), no one else wants this.

[quote="MrLonghair"][b]Shotgun mics work in controlled situations[/b] for picking up someones voice, requiring actual shotgun mics with an appropriate pickup pattern for their form set up and aimed correctly, at a person who knows they have to sit with the head in that position and level to be picked up, the mic will also be as close as possible on the floor without a foot bumping into it. Cheaper shotgun mics do not have the shotgun pick-up pattern and are flat out worthless.[/quote]
I really questioned them as well, it's just the only way we would be able to avoid per-person micing.

[quote]
 Wired lavs running LR44 batteries are cheap and effective, the old fave model 3350 is a $50 loss if it breaks but does require knowledge of how to make the most out of the mixer they are hooked up to (20ft cable as standard). At home I use a $400 dynamic mic worth every penny because I am honest to god in love with the quality of it.
[/quote]

We have Shure SM93 lavs. They're wired and the quality is fine, but we need something closer. They require too much gain to really be useful because of the game audio being blasted into them.

[quote]
(which brings me to)
[b]Monitoring audio is a must[/b], with ESA over I am super happy it went as well as it did but something you guys can learn from was picked up there; sometimes they went live without making sure audio was piped through, sometimes donation readers/hosts were too close and/or loud for the mic, sometimes voices were simply in need of a run of the equalizer because their voices were 90% bass 10% mid 0% high and got muddy and inaudible. If you get some sort of check on which mic is which in real-time and write up a quick something for adjusting EQ in case of muddy voices that need tweaking to be heard, please do.
[/quote]

Yep, we already do this. There was probably times where it was sloppy (I don't count anything before our Setup Repair Day since that was just an unmitigated mess and not an indication of how it was meant to be set up), particularly during graveyard when we had less educated folks running the equipment. But that's the nature of volunteer help, and I'm doing my best to automate things in software to help here.

[quote]
(which brings me to)
[b]Audience audio[/b] is something you need gating, compression, noise-suppression for. You do not want the constant hum, you do not want to pick up whispers and indoors-voice voices, you want applause and laughter and gasps, but not that they get to overpower priority audio or make anything else inaudible, ever. The audience audio is meant to be a pinch of spice on an otherwise okay dish of food. There was brainstorming internally about handing a mic around the audiences for live questions for ESA, but that was scrapped quickly.
[/quote]

Yep, we already do this as well. I was very skiddish to raise the volume for the audience at SGDQ after all the issues we had, but I won't be at AGDQ.

[quote]
(which brings me to)
[b]Room acoustics[/b]. You're going to need mics tied to people if it's going to be like that. Sounds are vibrations in the air, the larger the room, the larger the nightmare unless it has been treated. You can get large acoustic blankets for not-too-much, they help, but reconsider - do you need one gigantic room for everything but practice, or can you set active audience, runner and tech in one, viewing in another? SGDQ suffered from this, the people who actually were there caught it worse than the viewers.
[/quote]

Yeah, no amount of blankets were going to stop the bass next door.

Also, viewers separated from the couch in another room is something that's out of my hands (it's why I want a stage environment), no one else wants this.

cfox7

2014-08-04 02:35:44 pm

I prefer the headphone setup for a couple reasons. Being able to actually hear the commentator would be nice since through most of my run last year at AGDQ I couldn't hear any of the questions from him/her the entire run. Also having game audio would be a huge plus since in my case of the DK64 race the very first trick was done purely by audio and not being able to distinguish the audio from the TV next to me lead both of us to mess up the trick several times(even though it had turned out i had gotten the trick the first time Tongue

) From what I have read above it sounds like you won't be able to change the audio levels of the tech/commentators/game/crowd individually (correct me if i'm wrong) which could provide some unwanted sounds at parts where you really need to focus on either the game or someone asking you a question. I do see a lot of people wanting to go with the earsets instead though (at least for the runners) would it be possible to give the runner a choice for one or the other or would this prove to be too complex?

I prefer the headphone setup for a couple reasons. Being able to actually hear the commentator would be nice since through most of my run last year at AGDQ I couldn't hear any of the questions from him/her the entire run. Also having game audio would be a huge plus since in my case of the DK64 race the very first trick was done purely by audio and not being able to distinguish the audio from the TV next to me lead both of us to mess up the trick several times(even though it had turned out i had gotten the trick the first time :P ) From what I have read above it sounds like you won't be able to change the audio levels of the tech/commentators/game/crowd individually (correct me if i'm wrong) which could provide some unwanted sounds at parts where you really need to focus on either the game or someone asking you a question. I do see a lot of people wanting to go with the earsets instead though (at least for the runners) would it be possible to give the runner a choice for one or the other or would this prove to be too complex?

Cool Matty

2014-08-04 03:22:34 pm

Crawlathon WR, get down on my level.

The thing with individual levels is they are set at the mixer. I can adjust the balance, but it's rather technical, so it's not something that can be expected to be performed on the fly. So the goal would be to achieve the best middle ground (game audio first, host/commentary second, etc).

Providing the headset as a backup option isn't out of the question but yes, it'd involve more complexity, and also additional cost. What might make more sense is to just provide separate headphones instead, although that will be uncomfortable when combined with the earset.

Sir Tonk

Edit history:

Sir Tonk: 2014-08-04 09:22:19 pm

2014-08-04 09:21:05 pm

Would it be possible to leave a 1/4" or 1/8" female cable up near the runner location if someone wants to use headphones for audio cues in a game that needs them? Would be nice as an option, not sure how many runners would actually make use of it.

Quote from Cool Matty:

Based on input I've gotten from everyone, I think it's probably going to work out like this:

1. Headset for the host station. Host already must wear headphones anyway, so might as well make it a headset. Will also mean hosts can relax a bit in their posture and not worry about talking into a big, sensitive mic.
2. Earsets for runners and commentary, total of 4.
3. Actually use the couch mics for audience (will talk with Mike about how much of this we want to allow)

These all seem like very reasonable solutions, given what y'all have to work with in that setting. Should be good for the runners and it keeps that look of a bunch of people just hanging out, without it looking too professional.

Perhaps there could be an area off to the side where people can do quick interviews with the previous/upcoming runners and headsets with built in mics (like the sporting event ones you referenced) can be used there, I dunno.. Might help to fill time between runs. Probably more work than is reasonable, just a thought.

Would it be possible to leave a 1/4" or 1/8" female cable up near the runner location if someone wants to use headphones for audio cues in a game that needs them? Would be nice as an option, not sure how many runners would actually make use of it.

[quote="Cool Matty"]
Based on input I've gotten from everyone, I think it's probably going to work out like this:

1. Headset for the host station. Host already must wear headphones anyway, so might as well make it a headset. Will also mean hosts can relax a bit in their posture and not worry about talking into a big, sensitive mic.
2. Earsets for runners and commentary, total of 4.
3. Actually use the couch mics for audience (will talk with Mike about how much of this we want to allow)
[/quote]

These all seem like very reasonable solutions, given what y'all have to work with in that setting. Should be good for the runners and it keeps that look of a bunch of people just hanging out, without it looking too professional.

Perhaps there could be an area off to the side where people can do quick interviews with the previous/upcoming runners and headsets with built in mics (like the sporting event ones you referenced) can be used there, I dunno.. Might help to fill time between runs. Probably more work than is reasonable, just a thought.

Naegleria

(user is banned)

2014-08-05 01:36:54 am

Quote from Sir Tonk:

Would it be possible to leave a 1/4" or 1/8" female cable up near the runner location if someone wants to use headphones for audio cues in a game that needs them? Would be nice as an option, not sure how many runners would actually make use of it.

yes yes yes. not just for delay, but to hear the audio directly, and loudly.

Wyrm

2014-08-17 07:19:23 pm

I'll put in my 2 cents against headsets. Visually I think they look poor, that the runner is isolated. Earsets makes sense to me, although I'll definitely defer to the runner as to which they would prefer.

Mystery

2014-08-17 09:45:21 pm

The difference between sound coming from a headset and an old CRT TV is like the difference between night and day, though. So if there would be an advantage for headsets, it would be that.

johannhowitzer

2014-08-18 11:56:18 am

Viking it up

Quote from mikwuyma:

If I had to choose one, I'd probably go with the earset because it's not as obvious on stream (I don't like the headset aesthetic, it seems too detached or removed from the couch feel) ...

This was half my reaction to the idea while reading the first half of this thread - the perspective of the viewer. I love that the marathons convey "a bunch of people on a couch playing games," and headsets would destroy that. And I am even inclined to pick that over the other half of my reaction, which was... dang I hate feeling like the earset's gonna fall off my head. Perception of the viewer wins over my personal comfort / avoiding distraction, every time.

Zero|DPX

2014-09-01 02:18:19 pm

I'm a big fan of earsets. They're lighter and easier to wear longer, less obtrusive, and sound better. That's worth a little bit of familiarizing. Not a fan of lavs.

For the host station I don't know if it matters much. Almost any solution could work.

mabdulra

2014-09-13 08:08:14 am

LADX

I remember when I watched the Ocarina of Time Any% race between Cosmo and Skater that the audience ended up cheering for the initial Gohma wall clip, but due to them cheering they missed an audio cue that immediately followed and thus had to reattempt the trick. On stream I remember the room audio sounded pretty dang loud, so it's understandable how they messed this trick up. The game I currently have offered has a similar situation: a moment that the audience would want to cheer for followed immediately by a trick that requires an audio cue. This only happens once in the game and I could alert everybody to it through commentary, but I also don't want to silence the audience, they should be allowed to cheer during moments they deem cheer-worthy.

I agree with a lot of the sentiment that wearing headsets is a poor aesthetic. The feel of the event should be that of a "sit down at a couch and play" style. This is what makes speedrunning a little unique to, say, eSports: speedrunning can be done by anybody and everybody, and maintaining the relaxed aesthetic of the couch I feel is super important for this type of event. Even when I was behind the couch and watching runs, it felt very much like I was at a friend's house and just watching them play a game. That feeling I believe has been translated properly to the large audience as well.

My question in regards to what I stated above with the Cosmo/Skater race is this: Would the earsets be successful enough to allow the player to hear in-game audio cues even if the crowd is cheering as loudly as they can? If the answer is yes then this is the option that I believe should be taken.

I remember when I watched the Ocarina of Time Any% race between Cosmo and Skater that the audience ended up cheering for the initial Gohma wall clip, but due to them cheering they missed an audio cue that immediately followed and thus had to reattempt the trick. On stream I remember the room audio sounded pretty dang loud, so it's understandable how they messed this trick up. The game I currently have offered has a similar situation: a moment that the audience would want to cheer for followed immediately by a trick that requires an audio cue. This only happens once in the game and I could alert everybody to it through commentary, but I also don't want to silence the audience, they should be allowed to cheer during moments they deem cheer-worthy.

I agree with a lot of the sentiment that wearing headsets is a poor aesthetic. The feel of the event should be that of a "sit down at a couch and play" style. This is what makes speedrunning a little unique to, say, eSports: speedrunning can be done by anybody and everybody, and maintaining the relaxed aesthetic of the couch I feel is super important for this type of event. Even when I was behind the couch and watching runs, it felt very much like I was at a friend's house and just watching them play a game. That feeling I believe has been translated properly to the large audience as well.

My question in regards to what I stated above with the Cosmo/Skater race is this: Would the earsets be successful enough to allow the player to hear in-game audio cues even if the crowd is cheering as loudly as they can? If the answer is yes then this is the option that I believe should be taken.

Cool Matty

2014-09-13 01:47:13 pm

Crawlathon WR, get down on my level.

The earsets are only microphones. Game audio would come from dedicated speakers next to the TVs (which would hopefully be louder than in the past thanks to our constant work on this micing setup).