Meet the man who creates the ‘fake crowd’ sounds at Rogers Arena hockey games

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — The NHL regular season is back in business but it’s not business as usual with hockey fans still unable to attend games in person.

They’re watching from home, which means their energy, the cheers, and maybe the occasional jeer, are also absent from the arena.

Those sounds to mimic the 18,000 voices in Rogers Area are the work of Steven Van Vooght.

“So I’m the synthetic crowd engineer at Rogers Arena, so I’m simple terms, I’m the fake crowd this year,” Van Vooght explains.

That means, thanks to Van Vooght, when we watch the broadcast, we actually hear cheering when the Vancouver Canucks score.

He also makes sure the big hits and big plays are represented correctly with crowd reaction — even though there’s nobody in the seats.

Van Vooght says it started last year when the NHL resumed play in a bubble format but people liked it, so it’s continued this year with teams playing back in their home arenas.

“Well, we obviously miss the fans so my job is to try and make it as realistic as possible, imitating 18,000 fans in the building every night.”

Van Vooght didn’t have much time to prepare for the new season, and he had to learn quite a lot on the fly.

“It was a quick turnaround. I started training two days before home opener.”

On top of his work with the Canucks, he says skills from being a DJ may have also have helped him save the day.

“If anything it makes me a little more comfortable with the equipment I’m using. I’m six games in now and I’m getting comfortable knowing my patterns and techniques”

Van Vooght says it will be incredibly satisfying when crowds return to their seats and he can retire from controlling the high-tech crowd.