It’s been a strange time for your average football fan and after the restart, with all the Premier League matches available on a variety of different platforms, we were offered the chance to follow our beloved clubs even if we couldn’t be there in the stands.
Whilst fans have been able to view live matches on their TV sets since the 40’s and 50’s – albeit with limited options – watching a match at home played in a stadium without fans would be a different proposition altogether.
Broadcasters were left with the challenge of creating a viewing experience that would engage fans as much as your televised match might have done before the pandemic struck.
One of the key methods of bringing the atmosphere back to the games was to complement the football with simulated crowd noise. However, putting this into practice without it being a jarring experience for the viewership would be the key battle faced.
We sat down with Sky and Dolby who expanded on how they have developed their viewing experience and how they have implemented the supplementary crowd noise.
Dolby and Sky
Dolby’s Atmos technology is used on many of Sky’s products including Sky Cinema, Sky Originals, Boxing, Darts, Rugby, and of course Football.
Dolby Atmos’s goal is to provide a more immersive sound experience, not just through typical surround sound, but also offer the additional dimension of height giving the viewer a feeling that they are truly enveloped by what they are seeing, and hearing. Which is why it became important for Dolby to work with Sky on bringing football back.
Without the crowds, the viewer’s immersion in the game could wane – but with crowd noise added and sound being played through the Dolby Atmos technology, a better experience could be had by all watching.
How would they implement such an ambitious idea? Initial suggestions where real fans would watch and record themselves singing and calling for their teams was proposed. However, it would have made it impossible to prevent abusive taunts and bad language, alternatives were devised.
Bringing the noise
Sky Sports have for years have partnered with EA Games, one of the reasons behind this collaboration had been to provide EA Games with the crowd noises of Britain’s football matches, which would then be used in their FIFA games.
EA would take the sounds supplied by Sky, refine and curate them into various chants and general crowd loops (as well as removing unwanted sounds such as ball kicks and profanity) and use it to give gamers a better experience.
Thankfully this gave Sky the opportunity to take EA’s database and use it to mix in sounds of crowds over the visuals of live matches.
Using Ableton’s music production package, Sky literally has a member of staff DJing the game as it goes on at their studios.
They mix in the crowd loops, add the sounds of fans building in anticipation when momentum gathers, cheers when they score, and groans when they miss, as well as boo’s, hisses, and whistles.
It hasn’t been perfect from the get-go, having an individual see over the game has allowed for the odd hiccup where a cheer may have been played instead of groan when a chance had been missed for example, it is expected that taking the opportunity to provide a new offering would incur teething issues though.
As the technology has continued however the timing and overall realism provided has improved as more and more people have taken the option to view games with the crowd sounds as opposed to without.
Watching matches without the added support of the crowd wasn’t without its perks, however, calls from players and staff have been audible and viewers have gained an insight the would otherwise not have had, the danger is that despite knowing the stakes there is still the sense that you are watching a training match.
From the moment the idea came to fruition, Sky Sports were on a tight deadline to get the proposition of overlaying the commentary and pitch noise with a crowd-mix up and running. They managed to do so within the space of a month for Premier League games, and 2 weeks for EFL games.
We’ve been forced to come up with new ideas, innovations, and experiences during these trying times, and it’s a fact that football, in general, has suffered. If broadcasters can continue to develop the viewing experience when the new season returns (without fans) we should be in safe hands as Sky Sports and other broadcasters continue to offer games for all the teams we support and innovations to their production.
