TNA Using Sounds Effects for Heat?

[A Mod's Best Friend (aka Bitch)]

Call me paranoid but I have just finished watching Impact from Australia and one thing stood out to me while watching Kurt Angle's promo. The booing noise in the background didn't seem to go away the entire time he was on the mic. At first i thought the crowd was actually booing Angle and he was drawing some pretty good heat.

But as always (well most promo's), their is a quiet patch where the wrestler explains his actions. Throughout Angle's explanation, the 'booing' noise in the background didn't go away and it really stood out for me. I rewound the promo and had a close look in the background and there didn't seem to be alot of people making the noise I thought I was hearing.

Has TNA been doing this for a while and I have only just noticed?

Or am I wrong and just hearing things that aren't/are there?

I know WCW sometimes would play the Goldberg chant at their Nitro's and Thunder's went he was making his way out. Could this be something Bischoff has brought to Impact to gather more heat for certain wrestlers from the audience at home?

 

[The Crock]

Yeah, of course they pipe in boos, so does WWE. It's not anything abnormal, they just try to impact the way TV fans look at the product/wrestler. Maybe Angle wasn't getting good heat, maybe they're just trying to put him over as the top heel, but there's nothing abnormal about piping in boos. I don't think it's a Bischoff thing, it's been going on in wrestling for ages, I'm sure you just haven't noticed before.

I haven't watched Impact yet, but when I get to it I'll make sure to check out this segment because I've already heard about the manufactured boos a few times today, they might have done a lackluster job.

 

[Rayne]

It's called "canned heat", and it's one of the oldest tricks in professional wrestling. This isn't a Bischoff trick, this is a trick that goes way back to the carnival days. WWE does it, TNA/IW does it, WCW did it, ECW did it, you'd have a harder time naming a company that didn't use canned heat.

 

[It's Damn Real!]

Canned heat is required, and absolutely required in TNA when they film their episodes from the iMPACT! Zone — a place where the fans try to make themselves part of the show by doing everything they're not supposed to be doing as often as possible.

But as Rayne already noted, this is nothing new, and certainly not exclusive to TNA.

 

[Nate DaMac]

Yeah, everyone does it. Just watch an episode of Smackdown. Almost no one that show gets a reaction other than Christian or Orton, yet somehow they seem super over whenever the show airs.

I'm sure TNA does it all the time too. When you have a taped show, why not just try and perfect everything you can about it? It makes the people seem like bigger deals so I don't see a real downside.

It can kinda backfire in WWE when Smackdown guys make appearances on Raw and they get no reaction at all, but TNA doesn't have a live show so there's little to worry about.

 

[A Mod's Best Friend (aka Bitch)]

Canned heat is required, and absolutely required in TNA when they film their episodes from the iMPACT! Zone — a place where the fans try to make themselves part of the show by doing everything they're not supposed to be doing as often as possible.

But as Rayne already noted, this is nothing new, and certainly not exclusive to TNA.

Surely they don't have to make it so obvious? I mean if a viewer from home can pick this up, someone who has actually never heard of canned heat, it can come across pretty amateurish.

I do agree though, especially in the Impact zone, they need to add some sounds to make it seem interesting but they do need to tune it down a little bit at certain times. It made the promo very hard to watch.

 

[Jessie Lynn DivaGirl]

It actually makes sense. I think I've noticed that happening as well. TNA probably wants topush the heat of the heels further than it actually is for entirtainment purposes for the TV audience- including myself. They're trying to make the heels seem like regular bad guys and thus they amp up the heat on them to make it seem worse.

 

[Bobby B]

I have no problem with the concept, heck if you can't write storylines that are interesting the best thing to do is to make it sound like people are actually booing.

My main problem is that it doesn't sound remotely accurate based on the size of the crowd. Sounds like they've got booing from 4-5,000 people, sounds completely wrong. And putting it in non-stop also sounds horrible, it actually ruins some promos for me.

 

[Rasha]

Agreed with everyone who said it's a necessary thing to control crowd response, especially with a room full of morons like the Impact Zone. However, I do think it was pretty poorly done during Angle's promo.

It was painfully obvious how the crowd noise, just even in the way it sounded, did not match up with the size of that audience or the visible way they were behaving during the segment. You could see the people behind Angle were just standing there with their mouths closed. It was pretty "amatuerish" as another poster said.

Don't disagree with the use of canned heat at all, but they need to execute it better.

 

[Rising Savior]

They use it too damn much. I was watching the Jeff Jarrett promo on YouTube last night with headphones on and what was bugging me was just the constant boos in the background it got super annoying. Like everybody said here everyone does it but I think they need to cool down on it a little.

 

[trashboy]

Yeah, they've been doing that for a while.. and it's very annoying, especially if you look at the crowd and see them pretty much doing nothing but you hear boos anyway..

the same goes for sitcoms, i hate that fake laughter crap they throw in to try and make their shows more funny that they actually are.. like That 70's crap.. sorry went off on a different subject

but yeah, i hate fake crowd noise.. if the fans aren't making the real boos or whatever, then there's something seriously wrong

 

[TCBT]

I'll tell ya what: like everyone says, every organization does it at one point or another, but TNA is quite obvious about it. You can see people completely disinterested in the background but somehow there are massive amounts of boos. Even if everyone in the Impact Zone booed, it wouldn't sound so prominent.

I've been to a few Impact shows and this is how it usually works: Jeremy Borash promises throughout the show that the fans who are the loudest will go backstage and meet the wrestlers. This gets people hyped up for a little bit, but because not everyone in the Impact Zone cares about the product, some just start making noise even though it's obvious they don't follow TNA. And they usually only make noise when a wrestler comes out. And more often than not, it's obvious most "fans" in attendance don't know who the heel or the face is supposed to be.... (Although, I watch TNA regularly and I, too, don't know who the heel or the face is supposed to be!)

Because it's free to watch the show live, you can get ANYONE coming in, including those in the Universal Theme Park who have nothing else to see so they stop by and watch a free wrestling show. When wrestlers are cutting promo's, people usually stay quiet, because a lot of the people in attendance don't know who to cheer for. So if they hear Angle call Jarrett "a stupid son of a bitch," for example, people don't really do much but stare at the back of Angle's head. There sure as hell isn't anyone in the area where the cameras are located!

 

[steve6314]

Everyone uses canned heat to some degrees its just TNA canned heat is just so poor it actually detracts from the product in my eyes. The whole point of a promo like any good speech is its designed to have Lulls and then impactful moments. For example wrestler comes out takes the microphone pause while the crowd react to the anticipation of what they are going to say. Then wrestler delivers a good first line or so of promo usually a catch phase or something aimed at garnering a cheap reaction e.g its good to be ......insert name of place here. Then again the noise dies down and the wrestler begins to paint a picture of the story line to the fans ending the promo with a line intended to ellicit a pop.
TNA's canned heat is poor because the level never seems to change throughout the promo and just sounds cheap and electronic. They either need to stop using canned heat or get a better canned heat and make a little more effort in production to time it better with the ebb and flow of their promo's instead of being down right lazy

 

[Serious Mozzarella]

This is really nothing new. Canned heat was around even before the Monday Night Wars. It comes as no surprise to me (and it shouldn't for anyone else) that it's being utilized in an age where the general public has almost completely given up on professional wrestling.

 

[PlayTheGameHHH]

Yes, it was canned heat. I don't usually mind it at all, even WWE do it. What makes it bad is the fact that you can clearly see the crowd not reacting! Smackdown has a much bigger crowd so it's harder to notice the crowd reaction. It was a pathetic attempt on TNA's part.

 

[Depakote]

I just watched the Hardcore Justice PPV and the crowd was DEAD. There was little to no reactions for every single match, even Sting vs Angle. I actually wish they added an audience track because hearing crickets chirping during the main event diminishes the product.

 

[Workrate]

TNA's situation kind of sucks -- its their own fault, of course -- because they don't have the set-up or the writing to draw real reactions, but they also apparently don't have the editing and production to use their canned reactions well.

Whenever I've seen a TNA promo, it reminds me of bedroom DJs who make "mash-ups" where they take an acapella from one song, put it over an instrumental from another, and call it a day; the words never hit on the right beats, the sound is uneven, the mixing is bad. TNA does the exact same thing. The crowd is making the wrong noise at the wrong time, the volume is never level, and it clearly sounds like you're listening to two sound tracks simultaneously.

Not uncommon practice, but pitiful execution.

 

[UFOcalling]

Agreed, this is nothing new. A "canned" soundtrack (for audience reaction) has been a TV staple ever since TV was invented.

I don't remember where I heard it before, but I remember hearing about a case-study with a focus group about "canned" audience reaction. I think the study mainly focused on sitcoms, but the principle is essentially the same. During this study, they showed several focus groups tv shows. They would show these groups the same shows, although one group would a show with no laugh track...another group would watch THE EXACT SAME show, but with an added laugh track. The results? The focus groups that watched the shows with "canned" laughter thought the shows were funnier than the groups that watched the show with no audience reaction. Did I explain that correctly? LOL!

My point is that the TV audience is more likely to "mimic" what they hear the fans on TV doing. If the TV audience hears boos when a certain wrestler comes out, they'll know he's the bad guy (and vice versa, for faces). Since TNA is taped on Mondays & Tuesdays, they have plenty of time to edit the sound before it goes on TV (on Thursdays). Others have already mentioned (and done a good job of it, too) why this is necessary, so I won't explain why "canned heat" or "canned cheering" is essential to a show like Impact.

People want to agree with the majority, it's just a part of human nature. Our species has a "pack mentality", and we want to feel the same way as others. I'm sure you've done this yourself, without even consciously thinking about it: for instance, sometimes you laugh just because someone else is laughing (even if you don't know why they're laughing / you didn't hear the joke). This is a perfect example of our need to be "accepted" by our peers. There have been clinical studies about this, go look it up if you don't believe me.

I'm not opposed to "canned" heat / cheering. As others have already mentioned, it's gotta be hard to get every fan in the Impact Zone absolutely "pumped" for every match. This canned reaction is especially essential for TNA, since they don't travel with their show at all.

Remember the two episodes of Impact they did in NC earlier this year? ...at least I think they were taped in NC. Those shows seemed so much better, because the audience reaction seemed so much more genuine. I do remember hearing that the audience there cheered for Hogan (even though he was a heel at the time), but I don't remember hearing that on TV (TNA probably piped in some "boos" during editing). So, even though most of their show(s) from NC seemed like a better reaction than when they tape at the IZ, some of that might have had more to do with audio-editing.

 

[Midnite Express 2009]

Yeah, to basically piggy back on everything everyone else says, this has been done for years. Go to a live show, tape the show, and watch it back and see the difference in the sound production, especially the cheers and boos. 9xs out of 10 you'll notice a slight difference in the level of sound. I don't think it's cheap, although when looking at it from a TNA/IW point of view, it can be seen as that. But even with TNA/IW it's not that cheap because their shows are taped in a relatively small building. I haven't actually seen a show that hasn't been taped at the Impact Zone, so I'm sure they've been doing this for quite some time now. I don't know if it says anything against the wrestlers not gaining the heat they're supposed to get, or if it's just the fact that the fans don't really believe the fans. But especially on SmackDown you can hear the difference. Just is what it is I guess.

 

[Rhayth]

I don't particularly have an issue with canned reactions, but in TNA it seems its used for guys who they want over vs who is over. I'm not anti-TNA but I know there are plenty of guys who get over just fine without any audio synching. I personally feel like in TNA they use it more often for people they believe are good/bad vs who the crowd thinks is good/bad.

Which isn't always a bad thing sometimes a little push with something like canned heat could help get a guy over from the illusion that the live crowd hates him...but when you have to do it for Angle, Jarrett, Hogan, etc etc its just sad. These are things I would expect used for Gunner or Crimson more-so than Angle/Jarrett who are suppose to be able to draw heat from the crowd.

 

[wrestlingfan]

It's not that big of a stretch given the fact that they pay people to pose as fans, but WWE have done the same thing with John Cena so again no surprise.

 

[(s)AINT]

People are completely right that this has been going on forever on TV shows and wrestling obviously, its nothing new. The only odd thing here is that TNA still uses it even though they are filmed in HD now. Wait, they are filmed in HD now as well right? I don't know as I don't think Canada gets Spike HD. Regardless, its an HD channel I don't get so I can't say for sure.

Anyways, filming a show in HD makes a laugh track/canned heat completely obsolete. Because like in the "wrestlers talking" topic, everything can be seen and heard when you film in HD. Of course WWE used to do this but they don't anymore due to switching to HD. I'm sure there will be people that deny this but hear me out first. A technique that WWE uses is to turn down and turn up the sound of the crowd. Thus, the cheers and boos can seem louder whenever they want them to.

I'm not exactly sure why TNA doesn't use this technique. I realize WWE has better production and all that. No, its not a knock at TNA. Its just a fact. I just think sometimes TNA does a lot of campy things when it comes to how their show is presented, especially with post-production and camera angles.


Bottom line is "canned heat" should NOT be used anymore and the fact that someone can hear it clear as day and it irks them is proof enough.

 

[kor420]

Call me paranoid but I have just finished watching Impact from Australia and one thing stood out to me while watching Kurt Angle's promo. The booing noise in the background didn't seem to go away the entire time he was on the mic. At first i thought the crowd was actually booing Angle and he was drawing some pretty good heat.

But as always (well most promo's), their is a quiet patch where the wrestler explains his actions. Throughout Angle's explanation, the 'booing' noise in the background didn't go away and it really stood out for me. I rewound the promo and had a close look in the background and there didn't seem to be alot of people making the noise I thought I was hearing.

Has TNA been doing this for a while and I have only just noticed?

Or am I wrong and just hearing things that aren't/are there?

I know WCW sometimes would play the Goldberg chant at their Nitro's and Thunder's went he was making his way out. Could this be something Bischoff has brought to Impact to gather more heat for certain wrestlers from the audience at home?

I Have notice this in the past and lastnight, and you would try too look and see if anyone was booing. I Don't mind it tho, Because you have to member, probably 50% aren't wrestling fans, they don't no who to boo or cheer for. i don't mind it, it sounds really good coming trough my headsets and it helps sets the atmosphere.

 

[itssoeasy123]

WWE uses it all the time for Smackdown, and shows that aren't live. I have absolutely no problem with TNA doing it, it's better than only hearing the cast-members cheering while the back rows are silent beucase they have no clue what a "Mr. Anderson" is.

What I do have a problem with, is them playing the canned boo's for a whole promo, or ten minutes during a promo. I watched 2 promo's and one match on TNA (I was bored) and both of them had a sound of people "booing" but for a span of like 10 minutes. Do they really believe people think the crowd is booing for a whole promo? It's frustrating, and it makes the person talking on the microphone hard to hear.

What even more funny is you hear the fans "booing" but most of the fans are noticably not doing anything.

 

[TWJC: The Beginning]

People like to feel a part of the show. If they hear cheers and boos, it's easier to follow along with and they feel a part of the show. However, TNA's tracks are pretty awful. Almost 2 1/2 Men bad. It's terrible. It takes away from the show. It's not bad that they use it, because pretty much everyone who films an episodic TV show uses one, they just use a really crappy track.