Fake Crowd Noise on 'Empty Stadium' telecasts -- yeah why not?

[Lavender Bushranger]

Yeah what the actual fu**. How do they not have 10 guys who control a button each.
Ball, yeah, boo, gasp, random yelling, momentum cheer, disappointed ohhh.

There should be heaps of effects controlled by a team

Wouldn't it be a Ch7 thing moreso though? Given the commentary team have a clear pre-determined narrative for every game that they do, it'd be much simpler for Ch7 to add sound effects to support their shit and intelligence insulting narratives.

It'd give the utter waste of space 'boundary rider' role something to do at least, aside from jumping in with uninteresting and irrelevant garbage every 5 minutes.

 

[Coops93]

I didn't mind it as a background noise. When it got louder it got more clunky, but when it was used as white noise I think it was good.

 

[Billy ray]

Just play some low level murmuring in background. Dont try line it up with ebbs and flows.
Even better, mute commentators and just have players and bench noise

 

[Dinsdale]

Spot on. This is exactly what I wanted to address with creating https://sofacheer.com.

Unfortunately, I am struggling with the chicken and egg problem. No one wants to be the early adopter to a crowd noise website, but I need lots of people on to attract people to the product. I am open to suggestions!

thats a great idea, but I would only join when the family is out of the house, I get in trouble for barracking at the TV enough as it is!

 

[Farang83150]

Didn't mind it actually.

 

[Final Siren]

Hated it. Felt like watching the footy at a pub where there's another game on the TV in the room next door and the people there are cheering at all the wrong times.

Those virtual tarps that kept sliding around the screen a few pixels were bad, too.

 

[Back2Back2Back]

I don't feel that it works in this sport. With the NRL there's general cheering when someone breaks through, or scores a try, etc. With AFL there's cheering for that, but then we also yell BALL, we yell at the umpire for decisions, and if it was an especially shithouse call then we'll continue to boo at the next ball in or ground stoppage... we're far more interactive with a game.

So unless they have a 'Director of Noise' or something sitting on the broadcast who has these crowd noises on a soundboard and reads the game, I just think it's way too fake. They had a general murmur for most of the game and ramped it up when someone kicked on goal... but the noise was no different if they kicked a point.

 

[Mercy Seat]

So unless they have a 'Director of Noise' or something sitting on the broadcast who has these crowd noises on a soundboard and reads the game, I just think it's way too fake. They had a general murmur for most of the game and ramped it up when someone kicked on goal... but the noise was no different if they kicked a point.

When they said they'd have artificial crowd noise, this is exactly what I assumed they would do. I don't see why they can't? It's what they've done in the Bundesliga and it works really well.

 

[Final Siren]

When they said they'd have artificial crowd noise, this is exactly what I assumed they would do. I don't see why they can't? It's what they've done in the Bundesliga and it works really well.

This reminds me of everything the AFL has ever done.

"The umps can't always tell whether it's a goal or not, we should have a goal review system. A few cameras, problem solved."

Then:
"No, not like that."
"Oh God, no, why, why."
"How can we fix this broken mess."

Give up your pipe dream of a competent implementation. It will be awful forever.

 

[The Nostradamus]

Hated it. Felt like watching the footy at a pub where there's another game on the TV in the room next door and the people there are cheering at all the wrong times.

Those virtual tarps that kept sliding around the screen a few pixels were bad, too.

This made the viewing experience distracting

Just get rid of the fake noise and let us follow the game in peace

 

[deanc]

Just play some low level murmuring in background. Dont try line it up with ebbs and flows.
Even better, mute commentators and just have players and bench noise

Agree, didn't mind the crowd noise - I mean anything to drown out BT's "Boy Oh Boy, Woweee!" or Bruce's "DeGoey-DeGoey-DeGoey!, YES!, oh gee he's good, isn't he..?" or later in the round with Derrrwayne's "Dance/Drop step, or From the Paint", FFS it's AFL footy, not basketball you idiot...

 

[Billy ray]

just play something like this in the background


or this


or this

 

[estibador]

Yeah what the actual fu**. How do they not have 10 guys who control a button each.
Ball, yeah, boo, gasp, random yelling, momentum cheer, disappointed ohhh.

There should be heaps of effects controlled by a team

I don't think I would want them to go to the lengths of trying to mimic crowd reactions to everything, that would feel too contrived.

As others have said, just keep it as a low murmur white noise in the background. Just enough to remove that jarring empty echo.

 

[Back2Back2Back]

It'd probably send the wrong message if the AFL artificially booed their own umpires

 

[The 747]

I don't like it, I would much prefer silence.

Andy Maher spoke yesterday and agreed with the ABC policy...

"When someone pulls a file from the ABC archives it's important we have the moment represented for what it is … Those games were played with no crowds."

Watching a replay from the 2020 season 30 years from now would be good to look back on to see how it really was and part of history.

I agree with the ABC stance.

I don't really need fake sounds to keep me interested also. But each to their own.

I do love anything that exposes how incredibly stupid Andy Maher is. He works in radio, I wonder what he thinks all those buttons in front of him do, order his lunch?

You know that they have more that one audio file per game right? And they also have more than one camera recording from the game.....

 

[Ulahoopski]

Hated the dubbed crowd noise last night. Having no crowd noise gave us the unique opportunity to hear a lot of the actual on field talk/sounds. There will never be another opportunity to do so. I think technology should at least allow viewers to choose their own option. Like the press red thing

 

[Mercy Seat]

This reminds me of everything the AFL has ever done.

"The umps can't always tell whether it's a goal or not, we should have a goal review system. A few cameras, problem solved."

Then:
"No, not like that."
"Oh God, no, why, why."
"How can we fix this broken mess."

Give up your pipe dream of a competent implementation. It will be awful forever.

Yes, when 8 years into video review, jack higgins is taking marks in the 5th row of the ponsford and still getting it paid, then what hope does a decent crowd noise system have...?

 

[Beerfish]

I can understand how it might improve your experience.


If you're 10.

 

[Coaster2012]

Theyve upped their crowd game a little. This crowd enjoys importsnt marks too.

 

[mxett]

I quite like it. For the most part it sounds pretty well-timed with good bits of play. Occasionally you hear cheering for a stray shot at goal which is a bit distracting

 

[hcd199]

I disliked this idea from the start (attempts to 'enhance the viewing experience' that don't directly pertain to the actual game being played are almost always misconceived), but I figured I'd give it a go before being too critical.

Having now done so... no, I was right the first time. The fact it's faked is jarringly obvious, and distracts from actually focusing on the play - not just with blatant mistakes (cheering for a clear behind/after a draw) but with the unnatural ebbs and flows during general play, lack of reaction to contentious umpiring decisions, phantom whistles blowing now and again... it's all been a bit risible so far. But even if it was all effectively seamless, there's something rather pathetic about simulating a crowd that isn't there, desperately settling for an inferior imitation of the real thing rather than doing something different.

Sure, Round 1 was weird, but these are weird times. Embrace the eerie emptiness.

 

[RUNVS]

Theyve upped their crowd game a little. This crowd enjoys importsnt marks too.

The crowd is an easily pleased lot

 

[2Knights]

Fake crowd noise. Something for the blue pill folks.

 

[Pessimistic]

SA fans at Adelaide oval doing a good job of imitating the canned cheering

 

[sofacheer]

SA fans at Adelaide oval doing a good job of imitating the canned cheering

Yep, this is MUCH better. A small real crowd with mic's definitely improves the range of sounds.