Artificial crowd noise

Artificial crowd noise is pre-recorded audio that simulates the live sounds of spectators, particularly during sporting events.

Sports teams have used artificial crowd noise to simulate stadium sounds during practices to acclimate themselves to conditions they would face in actual games, and some have accused teams of using artificial crowd noise on top of in-person crowds to distract opposing teams.

Regular use of such audio grew during the COVID-19 pandemic, which required many sporting events to be played with no spectators due to restrictions on gatherings or use of facilities. This audio is usually mixed to correspond with in-game events.

Uses

Some American football teams, particularly within the NFL, have used white noise or artificial crowd noise during practices to acclimate players to stadium conditions of actual games. It may also be mixed with music played at a similar volume to make it harder to tune out the increased sound.[1][2][3][4]

There have been accusations on several occasions, including the Indianapolis Colts in 2007,[5] that teams have intentionally sweetened their in-person attendance with artificial crowd noise in an effort to distract the visiting team (with the Colts, in particular, accused of doing so to make it harder for the New England Patriots to call their plays).[6] In the case of the former, the NFL exonerated the Colts and ruled that this had not actually occurred.[5]

In May 2013 during a Zürich Derby football match, fans of both clubs protested against heightened security measures by not entering the stadium until 10 minutes after kickoff. Swiss broadcaster SRF added artificial crowd noise to its highlights of the match, and later apologized for having manipulated the footage.[7]

Events being played behind closed doors
External video
video icon Champions league final 2020 with no live spectators and artificial crowd noise, YouTube video

The COVID-19 pandemic prompted teams to play many sporting events behind closed doors with no spectators to maintain player safety and reduce large gatherings that can spread Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).[8][9][10]

Artificial crowd noise has often been used to preserve a degree of normalcy (via a suspension of disbelief), especially during events where a lack of crowd may be considered unusual to viewers and/or players.[11][12][13][14][15] Audio used for this purpose is often compiled from stock of previous games (in some cases, originally compiled for use in a sports video game).[15] The crowd noise may also include audio associated with the sport or home team, such as specific chants, and in the case of football in South Africa, the sounds of vuvuzelas.[15]

There have been varying approaches to the practice, including whether the sounds are played over a venue's audio systems or only for television viewers, and whether the audio is synchronized in real-time to correspond with in-game events.[13][16][15] It is usually mixed by an audio engineer on-site, but some events have also employed mobile apps that allow viewers to influence the sounds by voting on reactions.[17][18] The Philadelphia Union employed a member of their supporters' group to provide input to the sound engineers.[19] For the 2020 US Open, IBM trained its Watson artificial intelligence system to cue crowd noise automatically, using footage from past editions of the tournament to determine appropriate reactions to in-game events.[20][21] In some cases, artificial crowd noise has been paired with the use of augmented reality to fill in empty stands with CGI "spectators" (as used during La Liga and trialled by U.S. broadcaster Fox Sports),[22][23] or the use of virtual audiences that are displayed on video boards within the venue.[24]

The practice has been met with mixed reception from viewers and sportswriters, usually dependent on the quality of the execution.[25][13] One football writer argued that artificial crowds were "disingenuous" and created a disconnect with accounts of games noting the lack of spectators, and felt that viewers were missing out on the ability to hear on-field communications between players, arguing that "if a game that generally produces one of the most fierce atmospheres in the world is being played in front of a silent backdrop, that's as much a part of the story as the result."[26]

See also

References
  1. "NFL teams ditching white noise, cranking up music at practice". Las Vegas Review-Journal. 9 October 2014. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
  2. "Vic Fangio bans music at Broncos training camp". NFL.com. Archived from the original on 12 November 2020. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
  3. Snyder, Mark. "Penn State crowd: Sound effect or just white noise?". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
  4. Sonnone, Brendan (15 October 2013). "FSU braces for hostile Clemson crowd at Death Valley". OrlandoSentinel.com. Archived from the original on 3 February 2022. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  5. Battista, Judy (6 November 2007). "Loud and Cleared: N.F.L. Says Colts Didn't Pump in Noise". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
  6. "Al Michaels: Twins used fake crowd noise during '87 Series". TwinCities.com. 3 February 2015. Archived from the original on 15 August 2016. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
  7. "Swiss TV apologizes for fake crowd noise at deserted derby". Reuters. 15 May 2013. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  8. "Can sport survive the covid-19 pandemic without spectators?". The Economist. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  9. "Sports behind closed doors". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  10. "Coronavirus: Competitive sport to return behind closed doors from Monday". Sky News. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  11. Carter, Bill (23 July 2020). "Opinion: Why the sports world needs fake crowd noise — and late-night comedy doesn't". CNN. Archived from the original on 24 July 2020. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
  12. Barron, David (18 April 2020). "For games without fans, should TV add canned cheers?". HoustonChronicle.com. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
  13. "Regarding that fake crowd noise at sports events, some are doing it better". Boston.com. Archived from the original on 10 August 2020. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
  14. Peters, Jay (10 September 2020). "NFL games will have artificial crowd noise specific to each stadium". The Verge. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
  15. "Can artificial crowd noise match the thrill of packed stadiums?". The World from PRX. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
  16. "Baseball Stadiums May Be Empty, But You Can Still Hear The Crowds". NPR. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
  17. Polacek, Scott. "MLB Will Allow Fans to Use App to Influence Crowd Noise from Home During Games". Bleacher Report. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
  18. "Cheering for your team in quarantine? There's an app for that". ESPN. 4 June 2020. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
  19. Hernandez, Kristian (16 June 2021). "On the Pitch: Philadelphia Union Enjoy First Full Season With HDR Videoboard at Subaru Park". Sports Video Group. Archived from the original on 16 June 2021. Retrieved 20 June 2021.
  20. Kaplan, Daniel. "How IBM's Watson, Alec Baldwin will help the U.S. Open sound and look familiar". The Athletic. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  21. Miller, Stuart (31 August 2020). "U.S. Open Players Face a New Foe: Silence". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  22. Byford, Sam (12 June 2020). "Spanish soccer returns with computer-generated crowds, and it actually works". The Verge. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  23. Gartenberg, Chaim (25 July 2020). "How Fox Sports will use virtual fans created in Unreal Engine to fill empty stadiums in MLB broadcasts". The Verge. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  24. Medina, Mark (24 July 2020). "NBA to feature 'virtual fans' at arenas for season restart". USA Today. Archived from the original on 24 September 2020. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  25. Keh, Andrew (16 June 2020). "We Hope Your Cheers for This Article Are for Real". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
  26. Creditor, Avi. "The Disingenuousness of Fake Crowd Noise on Soccer Broadcasts". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
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