Real Broadcast, Fake Soundtrack

Photo Credit: theatlantic.com

According to Alexis Madrigal, Senior Editor at The Atlantic, “Massive sporting extravaganza like the Olympics requires massive media production. The television broadcasts from the Olympics aren’t merely an act of capturing reality, but an act of creation. TV sporting events are something we make, and they have a tension at their core: On the one hand, we want to feel as if we watched from the stands, but on the other, we want a fidelity and intimacy that is better than any in-person spectating could be…For the London Olympics, Baxter deploy[ed] 350 mixers, 600 sound technicians, and 4,000 microphones at the London Olympics. Using all the modern sound technology they can get their hands on, they shap[ed] your experience to sound like a lucid dream, a movie, of the real thing.”