The18 has made its opinion on fake crowd noise extremely clear and there's no need to reiterate how we feel. Instead, the goal this time is to take a closer look at how the Champions League fake crowd noise functions. This article will look at where the sounds come from, who controls them and other frequently asked questions revolving around the spooky invisible fans jeering footballers.
Answering Questions About Champions League Fake Crowd Noise
1. Who Controls And Picks The Noises?
The various crowd noises that TV audiences hear during matches are typically pumped through the broadcast via an outside studio. Fans are at the mercy of sound engineers and an operator with a soundboard choosing the precise sounds depending on who is playing and what is happening in the match.
In a New York Times report on the Bundesliga’s use of crowd noise, the soundboard can contain over a dozen different audios for specific situations. Whistles and boos will be at the ready if the referee makes a questionable call and the nervous rise in volume as a team builds a quick counterattack are all at the soundboard's disposal.
This leads to the next question of where exactly did the studio and soundboard get these sounds?
2. Where Are The Sounds From?
For upcoming Champions League and Europa League matches, Sky Sports Deutschland has been given the controls for artificial crowd noise. Sky was in charge of creating the atmosphere for Bundesliga matches before.
SportBusiness said that Sky will be using audio recordings from previous matches with fans of the clubs involved. For the Champions League semifinals, audio of past matches involving fans for Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germian, RB Leipzig and Lyon will be used.
This isn’t the only strategy that has been used by broadcasts. Sky Sports used crowd samples from the FIFA video game for the Premier League. The EA Sports archive for chants, songs and noise included 1,300 unique samples and equaled out to over 13 hours of audio.
3. How Exactly Does It Work?
As mentioned before, sound engineers and a board operator will be in control of choosing the noise to make an artificial football atmosphere. For the Champions League, Sky said the job will be split between some on-sight production at the stadium and in the studio outside of Munich.
There is the risk of human error when pumping in the fake crowd noise. Football fans have been vocal in their disapproval of the noise overpowering the players communicating on the field and sometimes even drowning out the commentators.
Even worse is when the incorrect sounds are played. I personally have watched multiple games where a player’s shot hits the side-netting and the operator accidentally queues the audio to cheer as if a goal was scored. Also, no one can forget the crowd cheers as Arsenal goalkeeper Bernd Leno suffered a game-ending injury.
*Leno on the ground with a possible ACL injury*
The fake crowd noise: pic.twitter.com/DvDb1zU4ez— AFCDavid (@AFCDavid1) June 20, 2020
4. Do The Players Hear The Noise In The Stadium?
To put it simply, no.
The sounds fans hear while watching at home are specifically tailored to the broadcast. This is actually one of the bigger talking points as a large group of football fans prefers no crowd noise so they can listen to players on the field. With no real fans in attendance, communication between players and coaches can be hear loud and clear, including new vocabulary for the children.
ESPN is one of the few broadcasts that chose not to include fake crowd noise. Other stations like NBC aired games with the option to watch without any extra fanfare.
As for CBS All Access airing the Champions League and Europa League, there isn’t an option to turn off fake crowd noise.
