SportsAnnouncing.com - Weekly Tips

	Every couple of weeks or so, I'll put some tips up here. It'll range on several topics from Sounds for Sports, to working a DJ's contract to your favor, to game-production tidbits and more. If you would like to submit a tip for the "Tips", click here.

	GAME OPS and OTHER TIPS:
	The Best Tip to Ever Know Have fun. If you have fun, the people around you will have fun. This goes for the PA announcer and host who sounds like they are having fun. The game ops staff who are having fun in front of the fans will encourage other fans to have fun. This is the number one rule at SportsAnnouncing.com, have fun.

	The Second-Best Tip to Ever Know Treat each game/event, like it is THE most important one going on at that moment because it IS the most important event going on at that moment. The players have put in a lot of hard work to get where they are, the fans have taken time out of there day to be there, and in most cases, you are getting paid. If you would rather be at a basketball game instead of at the baseball game, then go. If you'd rather catch the all-star game on TV than be at the game between the two last place teams, then go home. People will appreciate you giving your effort night-in and night-out and never "taking a night off" or "going through the motions".

	The Third-Best Tip to Ever Know Get pronunciations and mention names. You'll find this tip in the different versions of "The Announcer's Guide." There is nothing worse than getting someone's name wrong, get with someone from each team before the game and get the correct pronunciations. If you do get a name wrong, don't worry about it. It happens but make sure you're prepared enough to know that you'll get it right the next time.

	Game Ops Never have a promotion during a game in which the fans will outright boo unless for unforeseen circumstances. If an promotion wont really be giving away a prize of value or nobody wins, then the fans will boo and be upset. The team and you will look bad because the fans are booing the promotion as a whole. Now, if a big kid beats a little kid or an adult takes down a 4-year old and the fans boo, that's ok. But turn it around and go with the fans when handing out the award. You look real good then.

	Rain Outs/Cancellations/Delays Weather sometimes hinders the playing of a sport and when it does, take it in stride. If you are lucky enough to have a roof over your fans, entertain them. If you know that the fans are going to be sitting around a while, play some upbeat music, do trivia questions by roving through the stands, encourage dance contests, etc. Just because the game can't be played doesn't mean you can't still have some fun. And those fans who might leave will see the fun everyone is having and stick around! If you know that you are going to be calling the game, don't announce it right away. Play all of your best dance songs then send the crowd home. They'll feel like they've been to a party and wont be as unhappy with the weather.

	Rain Outs/Cancellations When your game gets rained out or postponed due to other weather with fans already at the ballpark and you have to announce it, keep it simple. "Ladies and gentlemen, due to [rain, hail, snow, etc.] creating unsafe field conditions, tonight's game has been postponed and will be made up... --as part of a doubleheader on [give the date and time]. --as part of a doubleheader during a future meeting with [the visiting team]. --on [give the time, date, and location of the make-up game]. Your tickets for tonight's game are good for any remaining regular season home game and may be exchanged at the box office the date of the game. For more information, visit [team's website] or call [team's phone number with area code]. We thank you for coming, and remind you to please walk safely as you exit the stadium as the grounds are wet." This 30-second PA gives the fans all they need to know and it can be modified here and there depending on other conditions such as a differing ticket policy or how the game will be made up.

	Announcing When announcing anything like group tickets, future games, etc., ALWAYS announce the ticket office phone number at the end of your announcement. If people hear group names being called out and want to know how they can get their group out, that is the time the person is most likely to hear the number. You can never go wrong by giving out the team's phone number, eventually fans will remember it without having to look it up.

	Game Ops During games, it doesn't matter what sport, promotions or announcements may get pushed around because of different circumstances. When you finally get to those announcements/promotions, never mention over the sound system that the promotion is late. Unless it's one that is widely known as coming during the first timeout of the first half, the middle of the third, or during the first intermission, you don't need to tell the fans, "It's time for a special 'late' edition of..." It makes the game operations staff seem disorganized and you never want the fans to think you are disorganized.

	Game Ops Create checklists for all of your responsibilities. It's better to have a lot of things written down that you can check off rather than hope everything works out for you. All professional game ops personnel have itineraries for every game they work, even if it's the same thing they did last night.

	Announcing (Host) Never refer to a promotion as one that "you all have been waiting for". This goes into the category of not talking down to the fans. Fans that have never been to the ballpark wont know that you're doing it, and those who have may be waiting for another promotion.

	Announcing (Host) If you're the host or emcee of a sports team, make sure you keep it fresh by changing up your tag lines throughout the season. If the loser of a free-throw shooting contest has to help wipe the sweat off the floor every time you do the promotion, it wont be as funny as if you used four or five different lines.

	Announcing When testing your microphones don't bang the top of the microphone. This isn't good for the mic and sounds bad. A simple, "Microphone check, 1, 2, 3" will do you good. This provides you the chance to see if you're speaking too hard into the mic and to make sure you've got the proper volume. If you're not satisfied, read a P. A. announcement and adjust from there.

	Announcing and Game Production Keep the mystery in a game by doing all of your sound, video & message board and scoreboard checks as early as possible. Don't wait until just before the gates open as the people outside the gates can hear the testing. Make sure everything is in working order before anyone can have a chance to see or hear your testing. This way, the fans think that you just show up, plug everything in and it works. You look good and if something does go wrong, have the chance to fix it without the fans seeing you scramble.

	Announcing Names. People like to hear their names announced over the P. A. system and the announcer should do his/her best to get as many names announced as possible. When doing youth games, it's ok to include a player in on a play even if he/she was just watching. The higher up you get, try to include as many names as possible but don't go overboard. One Minor League Baseball P. A. announcer would add the clubhouse person, the radio announcer and two or three more people to the "coaching staff". Yes, it's good to get names in if they mean something, but when pulling out obscure names that have little to no relevance can be annoying and confusing.

	Announcing This tip is something that should be common knowledge to any host, announcer, etc. Never refer to yourself over a Public Address system. Think about it, when you're at a party, do you like it when people talk about themselves? No, in "How to Win Friends and Influence People", it says people would rather hear about themselves than you. So why would you refer to yourself on a PA system? There are some announcers who constantly drop the word "I" and "me" during games. Think how it sounds when the announcer says something like, "I need these people to go to the information booth", "I think it's a great prize" (this one can upset sponsors), "If you don't take the prize, then I'll take it". Which of those statements sounds greedy. Which of those sounds like the announcer feels he/she is more important than anyone else (it's guaranteed there are others that are more important than the announcer). Basically, never use "I", "me" or "myself" if you want to relate more to the fan.

	Announcing Non-partial does not mean non-enthusiastic. If you are chosen to announce for a tournament of some sort where the announcer has to be "non-partisan" or "impartial", don't be the down-quiet type that so many announcers thinks is so cool to use for visiting teams. First, it kills any enjoyment in the fans and makes you sound bored which will in turn, make you and the fans bored. Second, it sounds bad. Teams are vying for a championship and they are getting a bored announcer. Be upbeat and happy. You may miss out on an opportunity to really announce a fun name. This will keep the fans excited and get you excited in a game that may not mean anything to you. One member of "The Forum" did an ice hockey tournament whose final game went to overtime tied at one between two teams that were based more than two hours from the rink. "That was one of the most exciting games I've ever seen" said one fan. Now imagine if that drab, cold rink with a few fans was done quietly and with no enthusiasm. People would've left saying, "I'm glad that's over".

	Game Production This one came up during a late visit to a collegiate summer league game in North Carolina and it needs to be noted. Don't overuse sound effects. It's ok to use crowd prompts (organ music, claps, etc), but some think that using three or four sound effects together sounds cool. Except when they have no relevance to what's going on, are cut too fast to get the point of one of the songs/bits or do not enhance crowd enjoyment. A good rule of thumb on sound effects, use ONE at a time for strikeouts, foul balls, great catches (in the stands), coaches meetings, etc. Now the team, the Wilson Tobs, did an excellent job with between inning music related to the fans as there was a lot of dancing going on. They will not be ranked as arrival was in the seventh inning.

	Game Production Variety! How important is variety? Very important to fan enjoyment. Figure to yourself that every day is opening day for someone, but it's also someone else's 10th, 20th, 30th, etc. game at your site. Mixing up the songs makes it bearable for those who have to work there as well as the regular fans. And don't just mix up pre-game, do the in-game as well and mix up the other delay music. Don't keep using the same bit for the first coaches meeting, second meeting, etc. Shake it up a little. Laziness is something that can happen easily, especially when someone is given carte blanche and nobody supervises. Each night is different, each crowd is different, why keep the same things?

	General Information Have you ever heard the term "keeping it out of the reds"? No. Don't worry because not many people have but a lot make this mistake. The "reds" refers to the upper part of the sound meter, the red section that lets you know the sound level is getting too loud. You never want to peak your volume (also called pinning the needles referring to the indicators pushed all the way to the top) as the sound becomes distorted and tough to understand.

	General Information This tip goes against anything your mom, dad, teachers and pretty much anyone older than you ever told you but read all the way through. Don't plan your game. In fact, that even goes against a previous tip but here is the explanation. If you pre-plan everything you are going to play, you may miss a great opportunity to get the fans going or to try out a new song. Face it, if you're team is getting killed late in the game (pretty much any sport), your fans aren't really going to dance to YMCA, unless you did such a great job the fans don't care about the score (which is possible and has happened). This would be a good chance to try a new dance song to see if it might fit into your rotation. It's ok to plan here and there, just don't set everything in stone or you could miss out on some good things.

	General Information This one would seem like common sense to most in the sports production business, but a lot of people don't understand it so here it is. Variety. Mix up your pre-game and in-game music selections. There is a baseball team who has set-up four cues that alternate between in-game and pre-game. The person who does the music says, "It makes it easier on me to do it that way." Easy is good except when it's the same thing every night or every other night. Keeping things the same (with the exception of a certain few songs like welcome or introduction songs) makes things boring and shows no imagination. The fans will get bored too and wont come back as often or anymore.

	Special Event Production If you are having a fireworks show and want to add a little spice to it, add music and narration. But, make sure you have someone that can choreograph between the fireworks people and yourself. Most fireworks companies have a few racks of fireworks and no real order in which to shoot them before shooting off a specified finale. Get a contact to let the fireworks people know when you want to talk and wait until the fireworks have stopped (temporarily) before talking (see tip below). Think of a musical number larger bands do with narration, there isn't any talking over the music (and in this case, the fireworks too) because the music would be too loud.

	Special Event Production No matter how much you want to. No matter how cool you think it sounds. No matter if you think what you have to say is witty. DO NOT TALK OVER FIREWORKS. A scant few announcers talk over fireworks. There are several problems. 1. The fireworks make louder noises that a typical sound system ever will. 2. The fireworks cause enough of a high decibel output that you'd have to turn the system up really loud to drown out the fireworks which would hurt people's ears and possibly destroy (not just hurt) the sound system. 3. Fireworks are like movies, people go to see them. Now imagine someone in the audience chatting away during the movie. It takes away from the enjoyment doesn't it!

	General Information Are you troubled by foul language in some songs? Well, one Forum member was and found a great solution, turn the words around. Open the song with the foul language, find the section, then reverse that section. In some programs like Cool Edit, it's simple, highlight the section then reverse. It'll keep the same song but keep in mind it might be noticeable so pre-view your selection before you use it in public.

	Game Production This is something that came up during a hockey game and a longer-than-expected conversation started. When playing an organ song or crowd prompt, don't simply fade out. It totally destroys the effect of having an actual organ there and it sounds cool when you end it at the right spot. Imagine hearing "Addams Family" then having it fade out during the clap part of the song. How about the "We Will Rock You" claps and hear it fade out. It sounds better to have the song end right after that third clap. On most computer sound systems, there is a key for an automatic stop-without fade, use that. If there isn't, then turn the volume down on the mixer real quick. This is effective in hockey as well as other sports.

	Game Production When putting sounds onto a computer for playback, the best option to use is .mp3 and to put them in mono. The reason being, this will save you space on your hard drive as .mp3's are about 1/10th the size of a normal .wav file and most sound systems are in mono anyway. Why waste the space on your hard drive with a stereo sound and only get half of what you need.

	Sound Set-up Sometimes people don't realize that the best place for speakers is high up but not high as can be. When setting up speakers in a seating area, make sure they are at most 10-feet above the highest seat. When over a basketball court or ice rink, make sure they are closest to the fans. Some rinks have set-ups where the benches get a lot of music, but there aren't any fans in the benches. This can lead to come complications between pleasing the fans and making sure you aren't a nuisance to the benches.

	Game Production Give your team some identity by picking a welcome song. A welcome song is one that should be recognizable as well as popular so fans can easily identify it. The welcome song welcomes the team back to the ice, field or court and is best noted by college fight songs when the football team returns to the field. People hear the song and begin to recognize the team is back and it's almost time to start the game again. Very, very few pro teams do this but should. It's a little bit of easy customer service.

	Announcing Always, and I mean always, speak clearly into a microphone. A sound system, or even one speaker, is not the same as your mouth. Unless you are directly in front of a small audience, nobody can see your lips move so they can't guess at what you are saying. Play your favorite song on a stereo and turn up the volume. You know the words because you know the song. Now, take a current rock song you haven't heard before and do the same thing. You wont be able to understand what the artist is saying, this is the same principle.

	Game Production When working a sporting event, remember the music is for the fans and not the players. In a Detroit Free Press article, Detroit Red Wings defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom said, "We're really not very aware of the music when we're on the ice. But the music gets the crowd going. And when the crowd is loud, it really helps us. It's like an extra push, extra energy." Playing music the players want to hear does nothing for them and if they are even listening to it, they aren't paying attention to the game.

	DJ Contract If you have a party coming up and want to make sure everyone will have a good time, make sure you organize some ideas of music to be played and when you want it played. For a dinner party, make sure the DJ has some light music. If it's a holiday party where you want a lot of dancing, make sure the DJ has holiday music and good dance music. The way you do this, is let the DJ know before he/she arrives because once the DJ is there, it's very hard to get the right songs.

	Event Production Know your audience. This is very important because if you don't pay attention to who is in the stands, you might be doing your best. If the fans seem to be more into funk, don't play contemporary. If they are into the oldies, don't play new releases. This seems to be simple but one NBA arena doesn't pay attention to who their fans are and plays music that better suits the players.

	Sports Sounds A neat feature just notices on Sports Sounds! To manually raise and lower the volume to all you to fade out while announcing, use the "Page-Up" and "Page-Down" keys. To mute, press "End" and to raise the volume all the way up, press "Home". Thanks to a big fuzzy elephant for finding this one.

	Sports Sounds Keep all of your hotkeys on a screen you wont be using much. This frees space on your main screens to allow you use more and differing sounds.

	Sound System When hooking up several different sound units (CD player, tape player, mini disc, etc), use the same length of cable from your components to the mixer. This will make cord management easier as you can purchase tubes to put the cords in or strap them together using zip ties. You will also get like sound quality and little delay. If you are using three and six foot lengths, it shouldn't matter. When you get into longer lengths, you will notice a slight difference in the "arrival" of the sound to the mixer and eventually on to the sound system. One of my clients consulted me on their sound system set-up which had a 50' RCA cable and a 3' RCA cable because that's all they had. It was quickly rectified.

	Event Production When planning your event, make sure your emcee and all performers know exactly what's going on. A SportsAnnouncing.com member e-mailed me about a Pep Rally they went to in which the emcee would just turn to the band and say, "Let's hear a song". The band wasn't ready and it made it really confusing. This happened with the cheerleaders as well. Poor planning can really hurt what should be a great event.

	DJ Contract Come to an agreement on a play list at least one week prior to the event. This will allow the DJ ample time to prepare and make your event the best it can be.

	Sports Sounds Sports Sounds allows you to save many different screen settings based on different sports but here's something that may save you time. Think ahead and figure out which bits/songs might work for multiple sports and assign those to hotkeys for easy accessibility. Then, put those on their own screen to clear up more room for more bits.

	Sound System Never shout into a microphone. It is sometimes ok to raise your voice into a microphone but never shout. It is more irritating to hear someone scream that it is to hear them talk in real life. On the mic is no different.

	DJ Contracts When setting up for your event, plan in advance. Get with all people who you think would need to know anything about your event and make sure they know what they need to and a little more. This prevents "passing the buck" and ensures the event will run smoothly.