Dutch public broadcaster NOS has received a large number of complaints from viewers about the sound of the vuvuzelas at World Cup matches in South Africa. Apparently many viewers don’t like the sound, which to some people sounds like a constant droning, and want the level turned down. But director Jan de Jong told the Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad that the broadcaster has done its best to find a satisfactory balance between the commentary and crowd noise, and points out that the sound is being heard around the world.
Photo: AFP/ANTONIO SCORZA
Football website elfvoetbal.nl suggests that Dutch viewers who find the sound distracting should switch to Belgium’s Flemish public broadcaster VRT, which is available via cable all over the Netherlands, as its commentators use a different type of microphone that reduces the background noise from the crowd.
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Andy Sennitt comments: The people making these complaints are obviously not real football fans. I have watched several matches live, and you quickly get accustomed to the noise. There are literally thousands of vuvuzelas being blown throughout each match, so you don’t hear individual ones, just the cumulative effect. Far more irritating to my ears are individual vuvuzelas being blown in the street by kids around here when there is no football match on. Individually, the sound is quite penetrating, but inside a stadium they create a joyful atmosphere. It’s far more acceptable than the foul-mouthed chants you often get at football matches in England.
on Jun 12th, 2010 at 17:24
No, no joy.
Joy is chanting, drumming, actually distinguishable sounds which change in accordance to what’s happening on the field.
This vuvuzela hell is more the kind of sound you’d hear if you refused to advance at a green light and had 50 trucks behind you blaring their horns.
Disgraceful, pointless, annoying, and honestly, not a mature way to act from South Africa. The vuvuzela is not a “tradition” it’s a gimmick that’s making some people rich while making the rest of the world get headaches, and causing potential hearing loss to spectators who traveled from all over to watch the games.
on Jun 12th, 2010 at 17:39
Well, I guess vuvuzelas are like the British product Marmite - you either love ‘em or hate ‘em. Actually I was quite surprised as I expected to be irritated by them based on other people’s descriptions, but that isn’t the case. I suspect that may be due to my years as a shortwave listener, when strange noises used to emanate from my radio that annoyed my family and friends. Maybe I have become immune to annoying noises
on Jun 12th, 2010 at 18:10
Now it has started and it’s a bug, there are a couple of petitions online to ban the vuvuzela from the World Cup. Here’s one:
http://www.petitiononline.com/2010WC/petition.html
on Jun 12th, 2010 at 18:39
Indeed good point Andy,
We as SW or MW listeners, have trained ourselves to filter out the undesired noises and concentrate on that want we want to hear. I even did that with music programmes, certainly with the pirates who suffered from powerful state broadcasters on the same channel…….
As for the Vuvuzela it is a matter of using the right commentator microphone.
This BBC one might do the trick:
>>Microphones for Commentators: Model 4104
The 4104 Commentator’s Noise Cancelling Ribbon Microphone is of British Broadcasting (BBC) design and used for reproducing high quality commentary speech from noisy surroundings by cancelling out a considerable degree of background noise.
The 4104 has a proven reliable performance capability, being since its introduction used by such broadcasting networks as the BBC, IBA, CBS and ABC.
This microphone is generally regarded as the leader in its field. Wherever it is essential to single out a speaker’s voice without transmitting background noise, this is the choice of buyers from all over the world.
One example application is its use in sports reporting, selecting the spoken commentary and cutting out the roar of racing cars at Brands Hatch or the screams of the little old ladies in the ringside seats at wrestling contests. >>
One Dutch commentator does use this Mic: Evert ten Napel
And I wonder what our Flemish collegues are using.
on Jun 12th, 2010 at 23:01
BAN THEM NOW!! everybody here hates them!! IT DESTROYS THE ATMOSPHERE AND RUINS MATCHES!! BAN THEM NOW!!!!!!!!
on Jun 13th, 2010 at 03:56
Puts me off watching the games - sounds terrible - just ban them from games!
on Jun 13th, 2010 at 12:07
dumb fools dont even know what they are making the noise for,what about when the exciting trumpet bands, proper singing which we are accustomed to
turn up only to be drowned out by these imbeciles, they are ruining the whole show i almost felt sorry for the english sing songs yesterday
on Jun 13th, 2010 at 12:49
Well, it looks as if the international pressure is building. World Cup organising chief Danny Jordaan was asked on BBC Radio 5 Live’s Sportsweek if it was a possibility that fans could be prevented from bringing the instruments into the stadiums, and he told programme: “If there are grounds to do so, yes.”
He continued: “We have tried to get some order with it. We have asked for no vuvuzelas during national anthems or anyone is making an announcement. I know it is a difficult question but we are trying to manage it as best we can. This matter has been raised on many occasions and my personal view is that I would prefer singing. It has always been a great generator of a wonderful atmosphere in the stadiums and we will try to encourage them to sing because that is the strength.
“In the days of the struggle, we were singing - we did not blow anything, we were marching and singing. All through our history it is our ability to sing which really inspires and draws the emotions. It is a huge debate and it will continue, but we did say that if one lands on the pitch in anger then we will not think twice and take action.”
So I guess I must be in a small minority of people who are not bothered by it. The problem is, since the number of international supporters is much lower than usual, the crowd numbers are made up by local fans. If they are banned from bringing vuvuzelas into the stadium, I am not sure they will sing instead because they may have no affiliation with either of the teams on the pitch. So they could end up with games that have no crowd noise at all. Still, if that’s what the public wants…
on Jun 13th, 2010 at 19:42
It’s just brainless noise - I’m switching off until ITV come to their senses (difficult with that racket going on !)
on Jun 13th, 2010 at 20:07
It is irritating, I feel that thousands of bumble bees are hovering over me…I prefer chants, cheers, songs and ohhhhhs and ahhhhhhhs..And Andy, that doesn\’t make me a lesser football fan…Are you trying to sound politically correct by supporting vuvuzelas and hence your RNW Africa audience?
on Jun 13th, 2010 at 20:15
I guess it makes the primary difference at which level the TV stations mix the HBS feed with the commentary. Some critics suggest they should just throw it away and put only the dry comment on air. Word has it that German TV already reduced the level of the feed as a result of the experiences with the opening match.
Indeed one has to wonder what the point is in doing big-scale stereo and surround sound production when all these Schoeps and AT and whatever mics pick up is a constant buzz. It is especially obvious on the radio: Just the commentary with a slight background buzz that on AM could be easily mistaken for a disturbance. No sounds that could be associated with a soccer match at all.
It could become really interesting to observe the controversy further. I already see signs of the thin varnish breaking, revealing what is usually hidden under it.
Btw, some people in my neighourhood right now feel compelled to follow the trend, too. Reminds me much of my childhood. We used to play with such cheap plastic horns, too.
on Jun 13th, 2010 at 22:17
Get used to our way of living…and don\’t ever call us imbeciles for having fun..this is Africa not Asia or Europe. We wear yellow and hum like bees.
Get lost then.
===============<()
brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr poooppopopopopo brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
on Jun 14th, 2010 at 00:27
I remember people would complain about the levels of crowd atmosphere where commentaries mixed for FM where relayed on shortwave in the 90’s and the Optimod would pumped the background noise up to a point where the commentary was difficult to understand. I would think the current mix would render it useless on AM. I see Al Jazeera is complaining its signal on Nilesat has been disturbed by jamming of a different kind.
on Jun 14th, 2010 at 06:02
RE: Kai Ludwig’s post:
Oh, no - after such a great game with Australia Germans in Germany are picking up vuvuzelas! That’s the end of the world as we know it!
Since Russian soccer team didn’t qualify for the Cup the local media are concentrating of covering crime, vuvuzelas and other negative things.
on Jun 14th, 2010 at 08:58
I have some sympathy with ‘South African Vuvu-Expert’. Jasmin, it is not a case of being ‘politically correct’, it is a case of having respect for other cultures. Incidentally, vuvuzelas are not African in origin. They are based on the corneta, a very popular instrument in Brazil and other Latin American countries.
Europeans and Americans in particular expect the rest of the world to adapt to their behaviour, and are intolerant of anything that doesn’t fit their idea of what is good and bad. I say again, I am enjoying this World Cup, and I am sorry that so many people can only find things to grumble about.
In the meantime, NOS has turned down the level of crowd noise relative to the commentary, and hopefully that will placate some people.
on Jun 14th, 2010 at 09:34
Andy, it is not about disrespecting Africa, or vuvuzela, irrespective of its origin, it is about the constant noise in the background, that is annoying…The verbal reaction of the spectators isn’t country or culture-centric…it is natural and attractive and makes the stadium come alive. We don’t want dumb zombies or constant droning instruments, we want people who react to activities on the field.
on Jun 14th, 2010 at 09:37
I find I cannot hear anything from the crowd with this insane noise.
Cheers, oohs and ahhs have all been drowned out.
A sterile, irritating atmosphere not best suited to a football match.
The sooner banned the better, lets hear the real crowd not some hyped-up droning.
on Jun 14th, 2010 at 17:03
Personally the noise does not bother me. Mind you I think like Andy I have become immune to noise and didn’t really notice anything until someone mentioned it. Here in Taipei during every holiday and weekend people let off firecrackers. The weekends are worse as everyone of the thousands of temples in Taipei County do this. But now I just tune out.
To the sourpusses who complain: Get over it! This is a big event for South Africa and the continent.
on Jun 14th, 2010 at 17:15
Ban them after the games are over, it’s like the shortwave dx signal you always wanted to find, this is very distinctive for these games only sure it may cause the talking heads to get lost in the crowd but it’s a football game and that is going to happen, and besides it makes it more exciting.
It all depends on who is running the mixing console, if you put too much in you get garbage out.
on Jun 15th, 2010 at 14:40
I have a feed running of VRT’s coverage of the Ivory Coast-Portugal match and the noise of the vuvuzelas is indeed very faint in the background, as mentioned in the original story. So it does appear to depend on the broadcaster just how annoying the background noise is.
on Jun 15th, 2010 at 14:47
Same as here in Taiwan. The local network that is covering the games has it well down.
on Jun 15th, 2010 at 20:36
Do you know why south africans play vuvuzela!!!!!!
They say thank you to Sepp Blatter by playing vuvuzela because of giving world cup to south africa….
Do you know why they play vuvuzela during the game without stopping !!!!!!
presedent fifa is too old to hear well……
That’s why South Africans play vuvuzela during the game without stopping perhaps old enough and half deaf present fifa Sepp Blatter may hear their voices by chance…..