World Cup Special: What makes sports sound great:

For starters, two classics from Vox and 99% Invisible give you the story on why sports sound better in the living room, and on how sports sound is designed.

You'll also get the inside-story behind the sound for legendary game franchises such as FIFA and Madden NFL, the science behind stadium sound, the sound of tennis, basketball, boxing, hockey, skiing, UFC and American Football + an interview with the Patrick Baltzell, responsible for the sound of the past 19 Super Bowls. And finally, discover the most popular sound effects libraries when it comes to sports.

 
“We don’t often think about audio when we watch sports on TV, but it’s a huge part of the experience. We spoke with several A1 audio engineers who mix the sounds of sports to learn more about what it takes to capture the crack of the bat and the swish of the net.

From the cadence of the quarterback to the sounds of skates on ice, audio mixers are tasked with getting microphones close enough to the action to gather the sounds but still out of the way of the players and the fans.

Once the microphones are set up, they handle the stressful task of live mixing all the audio for the broadcast, so that we can hear the announcers and the sounds of the game, despite thousands of screaming fans and the PA system blaring music.

In the end, if they do the job right, you’ll forget they exist.”

“The experience of “live” events can be highly produced, very different from the experience of being there. Is this enhanced sound so very different from that of a film or a video game? We meet a Hollywood sound effects specialist and a video game sound designer to find out what they do to create a sense of authenticity and excitement. Are they raising our expectations of how “real” sport should sound?”

• Football / Soccer: Viviana Caro on the Sound Design for FIFA 18

• American Football: Creating the sound of sports for Madden NFL 18 Longshot

• Ultimate Fighting: Creating the sound design for EA Sports UFC 2

• Basketball: Why are basketball games so squeaky? Consider the spiny lobster

• Boxing: Recording the brutal reality of the boxing ring

• Tennis: From the quiet of Wimbledon, the loud groan of the crowd

• Hockey: Recording the sounds of hockey – by René Coronado

• Hockey: NHLers love the unique, vibrant sounds of the game of hockey

• Downhill Skiing: Capturing the sounds of skiing for SNOW

• The Sound Of Sports: Peregrine Andrews on the sound of sports: What is real?

• Super Bowl: How Patrick Baltzell designed the audio for the past 19 Super Bowls

• Football / Soccer: Jean-Edouard Miclot, on recording soccer crowd reactions at a stadium

• Recording: Mic’d up: How we hear sounds from the field

• Stadium Sound: Wired for sound: The science behind stadium audio systems

• Stadium Sound: How do you give stadiums atmosphere?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUzixas2KG0
Go behind the scenes as the Solid Audioworks team shares the sound story behind Madden NFL 17 (from the Madden NFL 18 Longshot sound story)
 

Sports aren’t just loud in the stadium. Here’s what it sounded like when Claus Wahlers captured the neighborhood reactions to a football/soccer game between Brazil and Croatia in Moema, São Paulo:

Need the sound of an UFC-style bare-knuckle boxing fight? This layer-by-layer feature on the punch sounds from Fight Club might give you some sonic inspiration:

What does Wimbledon sound like? For this great initiative, Foley artist Louise Brown and sound designer Rick Blything worked with a group of young people from Wandsworth Vision Support Service to recreate the sounds of Wimbledon:
https://vimeo.com/132304781