IPL 2020: Three months of research in a Mumbai studio went into bringing alive the empty stands

IPL 2020: Even as this year IPL’s season is being played in front of the empty stands, the near perfect ambience of a crowded stadium which ebbs and rises as the game progresses, has left the seasoned cricket watchers awestruck. The battery of technicians and sound experts that spent over three months in research and preparation has now started getting calls from sports organisers from all over the world who want to know how exactly the IPL organisers managed to achieve the feat, according to an Indian Express report.

Behind this magic is a sound studio in Mumbai where a hefty sound bank has been compiled that electrifies the mood of the audience watching the match on their television screens. The sound bank has also included the peculiar ambient sounds associated with some of India’s most famous stadiums that used to reverberate every year with IPL matches including from Wankhede stadium in Mumbai, Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru and Chepauk stadium in Chennai.

Giving a peek into what went into the preparation of the sound track, Star India’s head (Sports) Sanjog Gupta told the Indian Express that the team studied and analysed the soundtracks of over 100 IPL matches starting from the year 2018. In order to avoid the element of monotony from creeping in the sound track, the team paid special attention to the specific sounds that are associated with a specific cricket team of the tournament, Gupta said.

In order to avoid the ambience track sounding similar to a computer cricket game, the team ensured that actions by different players result in different ambient tracks that gave the real feel of a stadium. Gupta explained that the sound of audience applause on a six hit by seasoned campaigners like MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli or Rohit Sharma should be different from that expressed when a new player hits the same boundary.

Similarly, there is a contrast between the shock expressed when a catch is dropped from that when a player misses a hit, Gupta said. In addition to the audience and cricket experts who have applauded the background score of the tournament, cricket players who are part of the tournament have also come forward to appreciate the hard work of the organisers.

Soon after the recent CSK vs MI match, CSK player and Australian batsman Shane Watson said that the ambience was as close to normal as possible. He also said the soundtrack created the atmosphere beyond his expectations.