Inspiration

When you watch sport on TV, the sounds you hear are curated and, in many cases, completely fake and added (sometimes live) to improve the experience. As with films, the live sound of an event can be hard to capture or has other background noise that doesn’t fit well with the audience’s expectation of the event, and the programme makers don’t like to disappoint.

Here are some examples:

Curation
During tennis matches the volume of various sounds are increased or reduced to build tension or excitement, using the various separate microphones placed throughout the court (the sounds of the crowds, the hitting of the balls).

Fake sounds
When you watch horse racing, what you actually hear is a recording of stampeding wildebeest (apparently that’s the standard one to use).
For the Oxford/Cambridge boat race, the sound of rowers on the river is recorded before the event and then played in place of the real sound, otherwise all you would hear is the helicopters flying above filming the event.

Whatever your favourite sport is, the chances are you aren’t hearing what is really happening live.