The Noise of the Crowd

Brian, on our Katy Perry piece, commented this below:

I’m only 21 so I completely understand the appeal of a star like Katy Perry or Lady Gaga. While I don’t like their overall image or some of the content in their songs there is no denying that they know how to excite the music world and be the “banner act”. They record songs with beats and tempos that make you feel great and make music videos so bizarre to go along that they create the “must see/hear” buzz.

I have noticed one interesting thing that happens when I get my friends or family to watch races (usually on Youtube) of horses like Zenyatta, Rachel Alexandra or Curlin. They will usually only get excited when they can hear the crowd as the horses enter the stretch. If it’s just the announcer and the cheers of the fans have been sifted out of the recording it takes most of the excitement away for them. Speaking from experience here: It’s a whole lot more fun to scream/cheer when you aren’t the only one.

I personally could not possibly agree more. I brought a newbie to the Queen’s Plate last year. Mid lane the crowd exploded. She had been to several races before but with the crowd so energized she said immediately after “wow, that was so much fun! Look at the people!”.

As an example, I submit this. Move forward to around the mile mark pole on each video (1 minute and thirty second point on the first video & and about 1:42 in video two) listen through the finish. Which one gives you more goosebumps? I believe we should produce more of video two for all our races on television. Agree or disagree?

ESPN heavily-produced sound coverage (move to 1:30)

Track feed sound coverage (listen after the race as well: Move to 1:42)

And of course, how about this? Forward to about 1:50 (and turn the sound down a little :))

Thanks for the comment Brian!