Baseball's Fake Audience - Your Thoughts

Paul F

Veteran
I watched some of the Yankees/Nationals game. They had what I thought was decent sound sweetening for the game. It wasn't like a laugh track where the sounds were real cheers or applause. The sounds were anything but real. They had a constant noise to represent the crowd background talk and then filled that will pseudo crowds sounds that I can't describe. It was nothing close to real sounds. It worked for me. It filled in the silence. They didn't try to pretend they were replacing the audience with a 'laugh track'.
 
If this is the future, we'll all adapt and get used to it.

My true personal test will be with how my emotions handle the NFL.

I think the announcers will be more important than ever for all sports.
 
I watched a portion of a game the other night. What was really weird was the cardboard cutout fans. Really? Why not composite some real fans? Maybe folks wouldn't understand the lack of masks and distance.....

With regards to the fan noise, or lack thereof, it makes you realize the truth in the axiom that good video is 55% audio. Or whatever percentage you prefer seeing as this is the audio section.
 
I watched a portion of a game the other night. What was really weird was the cardboard cutout fans. ....

The cutouts is an initiative that some clubs offered to their fans. For a fee, they could send in a photo and get a cutout made and set in the seats.
 
The cutouts is an initiative that some clubs offered to their fans. For a fee, they could send in a photo and get a cutout made and set in the seats.

We did a live stream event for the San Francisco Giants the other day, the coaches, managers and players all weighed in on the cardboard, sounds and lack of fans, they miss the fans but they are
glad to be playing at all was the impression we were left with.
 
Or it makes you realize that people only get excited about sports when they think other people are

????. That makes no sense at all. Everyone gets more excited about everything when they are with a crowd. How about a rock concert where you're the only one in the audience. How about wedding reception with just the bride and groom and the parents. Consider an auction with two bidders in attendance. How about a riot with three people? How about the buzz you feel in NYC streets.
 
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I was just being a jerk because I'm not a big sports fan. Of course people get a buzz from communal activity. I should have kept my dumb mouth shut.

That being said, I'll double down. I remember all the ladies applauding for Legolas the first time he showed his mug in one of the LOTR movies I saw in the theater. That was a fun communal experience. But I still like seeing movies with a quiet audience (usually I like that more). Or home alone
 
Don't attach my protestations to me being a sports fan. Nor does that mean I down voted you two. I do find sports entertaining here and there. But I can't recall when I last sat through an entire game. I just can't get enthusiastic watching mega millionaires play a game.
 
There's been a significant change in the sound from the first game and two days later. The crowd is now real sounding and they have added crowd reactions to the action. It's much more realistic than the first night. It works.
 
Do you know if they pumped the sound effects into the stadium PA for the benefit of the teams? I got the impression they did.

I was producing all of the talent calling in and out, putting them in and out of our green room, talking to the remote producers, as well as mixing sound for the live stream so I was a bit pre-occupied but I recall they kind of good naturedly laughed about the sound effects. I think they put it into the stadium,
but I wouldn't swear to it. You know when you are in the heat of the moment, intently listening for sound levels, muting and unmuting mics (five person panel) and you HEAR, what they are saying but you're not paying close attention
to WHAT they are saying? ;-)
 
Yes, I know it very well. I directed live broadcast for many years with unscripted shows. Having 10 time slots for 10 guests half of which don't show up at their allotted time or not at all and the AD and the producer chatting with each other about what is next and the floor manager asking what the fudge and me calling shots and having 15 seconds left of the segment and not knowing where I am going next, there is a lot of time I had no idea what the talent was saying and really didn't care.
 
Baseball bores me to tears, but I did flip over for a few minutes of a game tonight just to check-out the sound and if you didn't see the empty stands, the crowd noise sounded like it was live. And yes, they did have "reactionary" sound when there was a home run.
 
Yes, I know it very well. I directed live broadcast for many years with unscripted shows. Having 10 time slots for 10 guests half of which don't show up at their allotted time or not at all and the AD and the producer chatting with each other about what is next and the floor manager asking what the fudge and me calling shots and having 15 seconds left of the segment and not knowing where I am going next, there is a lot of time I had no idea what the talent was saying and really didn't care.

Kind of funny that I was in a TV production class in college a long time ago, did all of the positions, floor manager, AD, director, TD, tape op, master control, camera op, and at the end of it, I told myself, "I'm going into filmmaking, live TV is too damn stressful, too much pressure. I would never want to work in live TV."
Ironically, in 2020, I am mostly producing live TV except its for the Internet. Live Streaming is super stressful and actually quite difficult to do well and just like broadcast live TV, there are a boatload of things that are 100% out of your control that can make your show crash & burn.
 
Long time Yankees fan here. The crowd noises were pretty good last night for Yankees V Nats. Although, a few clueless moments when Yanks hit a HR and the Nats fans cheered or booed when their own pitcher checked the runner at 1st (a tradition reserved for the opposing team)
 
Long time Yankees fan here. The crowd noises were pretty good last night for Yankees V Nats. Although, a few clueless moments when Yanks hit a HR and the Nats fans cheered or booed when their own pitcher checked the runner at 1st (a tradition reserved for the opposing team)

Which brings up the question, is the crowd noise being controlled by the home team or by production? And there can be multiple productions/feeds(home, away, national) going on, depending on the game

And I know we're talking about sports broadcasts, not "news", but from an integrity stand-point, I'd think the home team should control the "crowd noise", especially the reactionary sound, not the national broadcast.
 
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