It starts with a low rumble – fans shifting in their seats, thousands of voices blending into a chant. A quarterback barks out his cadence. Pads collide, a referee’s whistle cuts through the air and the marching band launches into a fight song that rattles the bleachers.

This is football. But it is not happening in a stadium. It is unfolding at EA SPORTS, where the audio engineering teams for EA SPORTS™ Madden NFL and College Football work year-round to make virtual game days sound every bit as real as the ones on the field.

“We want the audio quality of our game to ensure every player's experience feels cohesive, immersive and gratifying, no matter the outcome,” said Tommie Hicks, EA SPORTS American Football Feature Producer.

The game day experience begins not only with the roar of the crowd as the home team takes the field, but also with the voices of iconic broadcasters who keep fans connected to the game. Bringing those voices into Madden NFL and College Football is a core part of the audio team’s work.

Hicks manages the commentary process for Madden NFL from start to finish, coordinating with internal scriptwriters to plan different scenarios that could unfold within the game. He also books broadcast talent and schedules recording sessions with fan-favorite NFL announcers such as Mike Tirico, Greg Olsen, Kate Scott, Scott Hanson and Charles Davis and college football analyst Brock Huard.

Mike Tirico, Greg Olsen, Kate Scott and Brock Huard participate in remote commentary recording sessions with Hicks.

“My day-to-day involves high levels of coordination and working with the full team of audio artists to make sure all the commentary we capture gets into the game,” Hicks said.

The importance of broadcast voices in EA SPORTS football titles traces back to John Madden himself. Madden is not only the namesake of the NFL franchise, but also one of the most recognizable and trusted coaches and commentators in football history. His legacy continues to shape how the audio team approaches commentary, ensuring the presence of announcers remains central to the game-day feel.

Over the last few years, access to new technology has created additional options for capturing in-game commentary for both EA SPORTS Madden NFL and College Football. Remote recording has transformed the process, allowing audio artists to equip announcers with standardized recording setups in their homes or local studios. What began as a necessity during the COVID-19 pandemic quickly unveiled an advantage: consistent sound quality, no travel delays and greater flexibility.

“With mobile rigs and remote recording, we can now get more audio content without having to fly people from across the country to Orlando for every session. It enables us to include even more details our fans are asking for,” Hicks said.

Commentary is just one piece of the audio puzzle. For Ryan Nawrath, Senior Audio Director for EA SPORTS American Football,  every game title begins with silence –  a blank canvas waiting to be filled. While developing College Football 26, the team layered in hundreds of thousands of audio files, all while many of the same audio artists simultaneously worked on Madden NFL 26, with the two games racing toward release dates just about a month apart.

Some game sounds are captured true to life, recorded from microphones placed in strategic locations at college and NFL stadiums across the country. Through a partnership with ESPN, EA SPORTS installs recording devices in their broadcast trucks to capture audio from multiple games each week, which is then sent back to the studio for processing. Other sounds are engineered in Orlando, where the audio team taps into their creativity and technical expertise to craft the sounds of game day.

When EA SPORTS announced it would be reviving its College Football franchise, the audio team knew they faced a tall task, especially when it came to capturing the chants and crowd energy that make College Football so special.

Take the University of Michigan, for example. Fans are known for screaming the lyrics to The Killers’ “Mr. Brightside” during home games, typically near the end of the third quarter. To authentically capture that moment in the College Football game, Nawrath and his team put out a call to colleagues at EA Orlando:

“Who can come to the top of the parking garage for an hour to sing Mr. Brightside?”

EA employees sing “Mr. Brightside” during a rooftop recording session at the EA Orlando studio.

“Our [EA]crowd is one of the biggest unsung heroes in our games,” Nawrath said. “For almost every fight song or chant in College Football, we record groups of EA employees who volunteer their time singing or screaming for us, and then we use that as our source recording. Then, we run it through a third-party audio plugin to process it, so it sounds like 70,000 people are in a football stadium.”

For College Football, marching bands add another defining element to the stadium experience. Through partnerships with various artists, the audio team secures the rights to re-record songs as marching band arrangements, which are then used repeatedly throughout the game, just like fans would hear at a real College Football stadium.

An orchestra records The Weeknd's "Blinding Lights" for College Football 26.

Foley sessions – recording sessions in which sound effects are created and recorded in a studio to replicate real-life sounds – also add an additional layer of authenticity. Think theatre, but football edition. 

Hired actors wearing pads and helmets, many of whom are former football players, join EA SPORTS in the studio to simulate the sounds of a real collision. Other sessions focus on player chatter, play calls and even sideline energy or banter.

Together all these layered elements transform silence into the full soundscape of game day. They ensure that when players step onto the virtual field the stadium feels alive and unmistakably tied to the sport they love.

Last but certainly not least, there is the music. Before the opening kickoff or after a game-winning drive, the soundtrack elevates every big moment in Madden NFL and College Football. Both Hicks and Nawrath work closely with EA Music – a global division of EA that oversees music supervision, original scores and the inclusion of music in marketing, partnerships and events – to curate in-game soundtracks that feel like a locker-room playlist and in-stadium hype mix rolled into one.

Developing these soundtracks requires not only a love of music, but an intricate understanding of the athletes’ tastes and brand. For Hicks, this is one of his favorite parts of working on Madden NFL. 

“We consider what’s going to resonate not only with the players who are the face of the league, but with their following and with their fans,” said Hicks. “That’s where we start from a creative aspect. We always want something that’s energetic, yet familiar.”

The result in Madden NFL 26 is a dynamic, engaging soundtrack featuring a genre-spanning range of artists such as Twenty-One Pilots, Luke Combs, Lizzo, Green Day and Weezer. 

For College Football, EA SPORTS has teamed up with legendary rock band Metallica for the For Whom the Band Tolls! Competition, challenging marching bands at every collegiate level to deliver the most thrilling and unique performances of Metallica’s music.

Bands receive access to a library of marching band arrangements, and Metallica members personally select the winners. Top performers receive musical equipment for their school programs, and the first-place Division 1 College winner gets to record a Metallica song and the EA SPORTS College Football Theme Song, with their recordings featured in the game.

When you  play College Football 26, listen carefully for the all-new version of the game’s “Campus Clash Theme” performed by the Auburn University Marching Band, winners of the 2025 competition.

Neither Hicks nor Nawrath imagined they would end up shaping the sounds of some of the world’s most popular football games. Hicks, born and raised near Orlando, started his career in recording studios, working with Grammy-nominated artists in Orlando, Miami, Atlanta and Los Angeles and is a former voting member of the Recording AcademyⓇ . Nawrath joined EA in the quality assurance team before working his way up to his current role.

“If 13-year-old me knew what I was doing for a living, he would be stunned. I’m really living my dream,” Nawrath said.

Ryan Nawrath behind the scenes during live recording sessions for College Football 26.

Yet today, they lead the teams responsible for building the soundscape of EA SPORTS Madden NFL and College Football. Both see audio as the defining factor that makes the games come alive. “It’s the little things,” Hicks said. “The details that make players stop and say, ‘Did you hear that? That feels real.’ That’s what sets us apart.”

The next time you play Madden NFL or College Football, listen closely. Behind every in-game analysis from a commentator, every crunch of pads, every chant and every song, there is a team of EA SPORTS audio artists who are building game day from silence.

EA continues to grow its teams in Orlando and beyond. Explore opportunities at EA Careers and join the team bringing American Football to life.