{"id":49986,"date":"2021-02-12T15:31:32","date_gmt":"2021-02-12T15:31:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/?p=49986"},"modified":"2021-02-20T12:08:17","modified_gmt":"2021-02-20T12:08:17","slug":"who-controls-fake-crowd-noise-for-the-six-nations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2021\/02\/12\/who-controls-fake-crowd-noise-for-the-six-nations\/","title":{"rendered":"Who controls fake crowd noise for the Six Nations?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

How do they make an empty Principality Stadium sound like a sold-out spectacular?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

AFTER a five-day armistice, the debate will reignite in households across the UK as people tune in to watch the Six Nations this weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A debate older than lockdown itself, more divisive than England v Wales and more controversial than Nigel Owens\u2019 twitter account: Crowd noise – on or off? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Artificial crowd noise at the Six Nations is produced by taking recordings from corresponding fixtures in previous years and creating a library of sound effects. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAtmosphere is one of the major attractions of a Six Nations game. The tournament is by its nature very tribal and the crowd is part of the spectacle,\u201d said Matthew Griffiths, senior match producer for BBC Six Nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During round one of the Six Nations last year, 20 microphones spread across the Principality Stadium captured the sound of 68,782 (blissfully ignorant) Welsh and Italian fans. An onsite sound technician balanced this noise against the sound of the players and referee before instantaneously transmitting it to viewers at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the absence of fans this year, the job now falls upon this technician to choose what noises to play and when.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey have a huge mixing desk in front of them with lots of different faders and inputs into it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve got to use their judgement to decide when to up the noise,\u201d said Mr Griffiths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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