EPT
After Tuesday's Code S games,
SKT_Rain became the third progamer to put in a complaint. Though he was able to eventually advance out of his group in second place, he suffered a 0-2 loss to CJ_herO in games where his hidden buildings were discovered.Rain commented in post match interview with inven.co.kr:
"I used proxy strategies in both my games, but honestly the soundproofing isn't that good. I heard a little bit of the crowd cheering, so I knew my proxy buildings had been discovered. However, I was forced to play as if I didn't know it had been discovered. I don't think that herO played by reacting to the sound, but it still left me feeling annoyed."
There are two situations Rain might be referring to. The first one sees herO inadvertently scout out a hidden dark shrine as his probe is sent to build a proxy pylon.
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Waxangel/GSL/rainhergif1.gif)
In the second scenario, herO's phoenix sees Rain's hidden dark shrine at the edge of its vision range as it scouts around the map. A few moments later, the phoenix doubles back to confirm what is building.
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Waxangel/GSL/rainhergif2.gif)
There doesn't seem to be any convincing reason to believe that herO used outside sounds as a tell. It's likely that he was not looking at his phoenix at the exact moment it discovered the dark shrine, but saw the spot on his minimap a few seconds later and doubled back with his phoenix to confirm what was warping in.
Even if herO didn't get an unfair advantage, Rain was put in very awkward spot. He learned that his hidden building had been scouted due to outside noise, but was forced to play dumb out of his sense of sportsmanship.
It's clear that soundproofing is a problem in the GomTV studio, and it should be fixed as soon as possible.
Here are some responses from the community:
On February 06 2014 13:16 TotalBiscuit wrote:
A few misconceptions people have about sound-proofing for SC2.
The booth is the most important part! : False. The booth is the least effective of the 3 components of the standard sound-proofing process. The in-ear headphones and over ear sound-isolating headgear are by far the most important component, to the point where tournaments have been successfully soundproofed just using these and no booths. Booths are generally constructed of little more than wood, plastic and plexiglass, none of which are particularly well known for keeping out sound. In most cases they combine this with speakers which pump in white noise and a sound-dampening curtain of heavy material towards the door. You will absolutely hear a crowd and commentators while sitting in a booth if this is your only method of sound proofing.
It is possible to soundproof a booth against a crowd! : False. Sound doesn't work that way. The vibrations can and will get through unless you plan on suspending it in mid air and isolating it from the atmosphere. Booths are primarily to isolate the player from distractions, not the noise of the crowd.
They should just use noise-cancelling headphones, like Bose! : False. Active noise-cancellation works to lower the effective volume of certain frequencies sounds. It works well against sounds which are constant, such as airplane engines or air conditioning. It works very poorly against unpredictable sounds with a high range of frequencies such as human speech (or screaming).
The correct course of action for sound-proofing involves the use of heavy-duty passive noise-cancelling headgear such as helicopter headsets which provide a tight seal against the skin. Ear protectors from work sites or firing ranges are also very effective. These should be combined with in-ears playing music, game sound or preferably both. They should not be prevented from getting a good seal against the skin by any item of clothing (such as a bandana or hat). The ear protectors do the majority of the work and the in-ears with sound actively pumping into them prevent the rest from getting to the player.
GOM for some reason refuses to use proper headphones. It's one of several extremely questionable production decisions they have made and for some reason continue to make. They are the highest level of SC2 competition in the world and the most prestigious tournament, it's about time they acted like it.
A few misconceptions people have about sound-proofing for SC2.
The booth is the most important part! : False. The booth is the least effective of the 3 components of the standard sound-proofing process. The in-ear headphones and over ear sound-isolating headgear are by far the most important component, to the point where tournaments have been successfully soundproofed just using these and no booths. Booths are generally constructed of little more than wood, plastic and plexiglass, none of which are particularly well known for keeping out sound. In most cases they combine this with speakers which pump in white noise and a sound-dampening curtain of heavy material towards the door. You will absolutely hear a crowd and commentators while sitting in a booth if this is your only method of sound proofing.
It is possible to soundproof a booth against a crowd! : False. Sound doesn't work that way. The vibrations can and will get through unless you plan on suspending it in mid air and isolating it from the atmosphere. Booths are primarily to isolate the player from distractions, not the noise of the crowd.
They should just use noise-cancelling headphones, like Bose! : False. Active noise-cancellation works to lower the effective volume of certain frequencies sounds. It works well against sounds which are constant, such as airplane engines or air conditioning. It works very poorly against unpredictable sounds with a high range of frequencies such as human speech (or screaming).
The correct course of action for sound-proofing involves the use of heavy-duty passive noise-cancelling headgear such as helicopter headsets which provide a tight seal against the skin. Ear protectors from work sites or firing ranges are also very effective. These should be combined with in-ears playing music, game sound or preferably both. They should not be prevented from getting a good seal against the skin by any item of clothing (such as a bandana or hat). The ear protectors do the majority of the work and the in-ears with sound actively pumping into them prevent the rest from getting to the player.
GOM for some reason refuses to use proper headphones. It's one of several extremely questionable production decisions they have made and for some reason continue to make. They are the highest level of SC2 competition in the world and the most prestigious tournament, it's about time they acted like it.
On February 06 2014 14:20 Liquid`Snute wrote:
Player booths need to have proper isolation and should definitely have background noise generators,
Red Bull Battle Grounds New York City did this by using in-ears combined with a headset playing white noise on top and it worked out great.
If it is desirable to use 'noise' speakers in the booth + isolation ear-thingies + in-ears, i would definitely not recommend using just any dynamic soundtrack looped on top itself. Dunno what it's like in modern GSL right now, but: My worst experience with sound booths was from Proleague in Korea. I later heard that it was the same for WCS Season 1 Global Finals that were played in KR as it was the host region.
The way of doing noise isolation in Proleague was distracting, but for the sake of concealment it worked. For those that haven't been in a Proleague booth or attended the2013 WCS Season 1 Global Finals, it kinda goes like this:
You wear in-ears, music is not allowed except for in-game music. If you choose not to listen to in-game music at a blasting loud volume, you hear this:
The WoL sound-track, orchestra theme, not just one track, but a COPY of itself with some seconds delay at the same time being played from loudspeakers behind or in the booth. This thing playing at really high volume with its crazy fanfares at 4:07. You didn't hear this track one time, but two. They had copied it and layered it on top of itself. Think of opening this youtube link twice with a short gap in between.
It was a total mess and extremely distracting, but it did work in terms of hiding what commentators were saying and blending in with game sounds. However, there were also times that despite the track being double-layered with itself, it would be awfully silent. There was a change in dynamics, which was also distracting.
YES, as a pro-gamer you have to adapt to your surroundings, sc2-followers love to say this all the time. But feel free to open up the link above in TWO tabs in ur browser with some seconds in between with loud volume and try to focus on an attention demanding task with no prior practice. If you can do this, congratulations, you could do really well there
On the non-distracting side of things, white noise is great as a background noise since it covers the entire human auditory spectrum. However, sharp sounds (think of trumpets, human voices screaming, girls screaming) and sub-bass (like TB said u can feel vibrations too) can easily pierce through a white noise carpet given enough amplitude. I think the the king of all background noises would probably be a synthesized/composed low-dynamic mix consisting of:
- white noise with very slight variations in the spectrum (think of sparkly and deeper ocean-waves, kinda like clapping),
- random sine waves in the human voice spectrum to emulate commentators in a comfortable way
- random bass/rumble, obviously not so much that its felt in a distracting way but certainly something that will mask the game bass. kinda like this but not as disturbing and in different tones. Because we shouldn't hear a mothership core popping and we shouldn't hear deep-voiced commentators saying o-ooooh 6pool.
or u could do something cool like mixing in some recordings from the audience of previous events, add some reverb to make it a bit more mushy and less distracting and blast that on a speaker
i know i probably didn't contribute anything to the situation in GSL with this post but it seems pretty sad that there are issues with something that's as simple as this. some research and dedication to the craft will solve it. proleague's way seemed more like a duct-tape than anything to me, but it was way way better than having audible casters.
maybe not everyone take this seriously but i don't see a reason for it not to be a clear, set in stone type of thing with tested minimums that you know actually work.
Player booths need to have proper isolation and should definitely have background noise generators,
Red Bull Battle Grounds New York City did this by using in-ears combined with a headset playing white noise on top and it worked out great.If it is desirable to use 'noise' speakers in the booth + isolation ear-thingies + in-ears, i would definitely not recommend using just any dynamic soundtrack looped on top itself. Dunno what it's like in modern GSL right now, but: My worst experience with sound booths was from Proleague in Korea. I later heard that it was the same for WCS Season 1 Global Finals that were played in KR as it was the host region.
The way of doing noise isolation in Proleague was distracting, but for the sake of concealment it worked. For those that haven't been in a Proleague booth or attended the
2013 WCS Season 1 Global Finals, it kinda goes like this:You wear in-ears, music is not allowed except for in-game music. If you choose not to listen to in-game music at a blasting loud volume, you hear this:
The WoL sound-track, orchestra theme, not just one track, but a COPY of itself with some seconds delay at the same time being played from loudspeakers behind or in the booth. This thing playing at really high volume with its crazy fanfares at 4:07. You didn't hear this track one time, but two. They had copied it and layered it on top of itself. Think of opening this youtube link twice with a short gap in between.
It was a total mess and extremely distracting, but it did work in terms of hiding what commentators were saying and blending in with game sounds. However, there were also times that despite the track being double-layered with itself, it would be awfully silent. There was a change in dynamics, which was also distracting.
YES, as a pro-gamer you have to adapt to your surroundings, sc2-followers love to say this all the time. But feel free to open up the link above in TWO tabs in ur browser with some seconds in between with loud volume and try to focus on an attention demanding task with no prior practice. If you can do this, congratulations, you could do really well there
On the non-distracting side of things, white noise is great as a background noise since it covers the entire human auditory spectrum. However, sharp sounds (think of trumpets, human voices screaming, girls screaming) and sub-bass (like TB said u can feel vibrations too) can easily pierce through a white noise carpet given enough amplitude. I think the the king of all background noises would probably be a synthesized/composed low-dynamic mix consisting of:
- white noise with very slight variations in the spectrum (think of sparkly and deeper ocean-waves, kinda like clapping),
- random sine waves in the human voice spectrum to emulate commentators in a comfortable way
- random bass/rumble, obviously not so much that its felt in a distracting way but certainly something that will mask the game bass. kinda like this but not as disturbing and in different tones. Because we shouldn't hear a mothership core popping and we shouldn't hear deep-voiced commentators saying o-ooooh 6pool.
or u could do something cool like mixing in some recordings from the audience of previous events, add some reverb to make it a bit more mushy and less distracting and blast that on a speaker
i know i probably didn't contribute anything to the situation in GSL with this post but it seems pretty sad that there are issues with something that's as simple as this. some research and dedication to the craft will solve it. proleague's way seemed more like a duct-tape than anything to me, but it was way way better than having audible casters.
maybe not everyone take this seriously but i don't see a reason for it not to be a clear, set in stone type of thing with tested minimums that you know actually work.
