Boom Boom not loud enough?

[Thalas]

I'm capable enough of following regardless of how loud it is, but my main point is that it's hamstringing how much support upper on the whole is providing. It only takes a little bit of getting out of synch or the drum going quiet and most of upper just stops and it's really hard to get them back into it, takes a goal or a near corner or a big sub. Portland should've been epic from a support standpoint, it wasn't in upper, especially not in the first half, and I fully believe it was because the drums were quieter.

[RatCity]

So what would you suggest as a solution. Keep in mind that moving the drum only very slightly improves your issue, and would cause potential new issues in other sections.

[SeattleCalcio]

So what would you suggest as a solution. Keep in mind that moving the drum only very slightly improves your issue, and would cause potential new issues in other sections.

Hit it harder.

TWSS

[PapermakerFC]

There's been a consistent revisit of upper section support not being able to hear the drum. If we need to explore moving a drum(s) back to the middle of the section, I think we should entertain it.

A decision was made to move the drums to the front and add a bigger drum to improve the sound. It's helped, but if more upper section people feel as if the sound is not as good, or they can't be punctual enough for the songs/chants/claps, more of you should be putting an effort here in the thread or talking to a capo so that we can all know about it.

As a drummer for the ECS, I only know how good the section sounds and responds based on the people around me. (Let's face it: If I hear anything in the match that isn't goal-celebration or my own hits on the drum, it's the immediate surrounding of supporters/fans.)

A related side-note: After the first half of the match against scum, the side of the largest drum we were using eventually broke, and we needed to switch to the other, not-as-seasoned/tuned, side.

[casey133]

Wait, wait. Did you hear that? Did you see what he wrote? Our drummer BROKE the FUCKING DRUM. Hard enough for ya!?!

[Bagelhead_Josh]

I just want to chime in that it felt support as a whole for PortSCUM was off the chain. My seats are in 312 and while there were a lot of people I did not recognize in our immediate section, we also had easily 10x more people in/around our singing & chanting with us.

That being said, I think the largest issue with Upper GA not hearing the drum and losing support may have been more to do with the amount of non-GA ticket holders that crammed their way into GA. That shit was fire hazard overcrowded. I do agree the drum wasn't as loud as previous matches this season but the overall ambient noise of over 65,000 people probably had a lot to do with that.

As for Tottenham, it was a friendly. Support was half-assed at best. NOT by those that showed up, you guys/gals did great, but there was easily 1/3 of GA missing for that match and that makes a difference.

[ericgi]

I think more topos using bullhorns so that they can actually be heard more than a handful of rows away would help here.

I haven't noticed a lot of bullhorn usage by the topos... although to be fair, some of the auxiliary bullhorns haven't been in the best working order. However, if they're working, then they should be utilized .

[Thalas]

I don't think it's a bullhorn issue, I can hear the capos and see the capos really well usually, same with the drummers usually, upper supports pretty well with loud drums and loud capo calls for the first verse of two of each cheer, but their hard work and sacrifices weren't as effective and weren't being appreciated as fully as they could've been in the last couple games and I wanted to see what we could do going forward. One game I wrote it off, two games in a row though worried me quite a bit.

For Portland the drum gave out at half, which means it was probably giving out the whole game, and the capo mic was low which I really wasn't attempting to address since it was loud during Tottenham, that explains that.

For Tottenham only one drum was used and that's not the normal plan going forward, that explains that.

Let's see how LA goes but I'm pretty confident.

[Futbol4Life]

Thalas, I think I hear what you're trying to say and I don't disagree that upper-upper 122 has been off a bit so far this season (I'm in 122 KK). I don't put it on drums or leadership (BTW - Nate does a kick ass job getting 122 going) though. We bring song cards and encourage participation in our area. But honestly, people don't seem to be doing it. Stop by and we can get you a handful of cards to hand out. Chat with people around you and encourage them to use the capos for visual ques (no drum needed for BBC, look at the capos hands). Let's get upper-upper 122 loud here in the second half of the season and see if upper 121/123 can keep up.

[Thalas]

I put the last two games on the drums, but I'm not looking to blame anyone, stuff breaks, friendlies aren't a focus, and the drummers don't have sound monitors in upper. I was just worried that LA would be the same, and I don't think it will be. If the drums are quiet during LA then I'll be back here because I think they're crucial to the support that upper gives, and I think the support that upper gives is important. Maybe the mallets are the problem, but if someone doesn't say something the drummers won't know that.

[RatCity]

Upper sections have been the best they've ever been this season. I promise you this. The supporter sections are the best they've ever been IMO. Sometimes it can be difficult to judge the group as a whole from the same place week in and week out. I've been walking around all 6 sections periodically this season. trust me. It's good. And im the guy that's never satisfied . I love that people are taking some ownership of the upper sections. We'll need that moving forward. Just keep being positive. Positive support is infectious.

[Ultra666]

. The supporter sections are the best they've ever been IMO. .

Yes, and no...but my opinion on this matter would be better suited for the Capo forums.

[Thalas]

So what would you suggest as a solution. Keep in mind that moving the drum only very slightly improves your issue, and would cause potential new issues in other sections.

Thought of a few things over the weekend, they've probably been thought of before, but what the heck.

The capos are mic'd, maybe try mic'ing the drums with the intent to help carry the sound to upper. Probably can't/don't want to use the stadium's speakers even though there's some at the top of upper, but the capo's speakers would probably help at least a little.

Split up the drums, but it sounds like this was why they were moved nearer to the capo so that's probably out.

Raising the drums might help with line of sight/sound issues, but I doubt it's this as upper seems a little steeper than lower and has pretty good line of sight/sound, but maybe there's an acoustics issue down there that was different from the middle, like all that rubber infill or something.

Again though, looking forward to hearing the drums tonight, I have high hopes.

[Thalas]

They sound awesome right now during pregame.

[RatCity]

New 32" drum was a pretty nice addition tonight.