The Sound of Sports: why buffalo are so important for broadcasting horse races

Presented by Roman Mars, a man with a voice designed for presenting, a name that would make a great set up for a science fiction novel and a set of credits that are always worth listening to the end, 99% Invisible is a great design podcast.

It interprets ‘design’ very widely, with shows on subjects as varied as how to make safety signs for nuclear dumps that will still be understandable in tens of thousands of years or the political significance of how the box covers for CDs were designed.

They’ve recently rebroadcast a brilliant show, originally made for the BBC, all about sound engineers in sports and how much they add to the viewer or listener’s enjoyment with their skilful recording and mixing of sounds.

The show includes a good discussion of the controversial use of sampling – that is, using stock sounds previously recorded elsewhere to enhance a supposed live recording, such as for broadcasts of horses racing, when it’s often really the sound of buffalo used to simulate the sound of horses galloping.

Listen out too for the reason why when the national anthems are sung before rugby matches, the sound engineers usually give only a touch of the audio from the players. Their singing – as heard raw in the podcast – really isn’t what you want to hear.

The episode, The Sounds of Sports, is available to listen to online or download here.