back to article Wimbledon grunters turned down by viewers

If you've avoided the bustle of public strikes by putting your feet up in front of the telly, you'll undoubtedly spend your day surrounded by grunts of a different kind. Wimbledon is in full swing and the ladies are in action again today, battling it out for the trophy of who can yell the loudest. Now viewers can adjust the …

COMMENTS

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Won't turn down the grunts without turning down the crowd

    What's annoying is that you only get two sound sources to mix - the court and the commentary.

    To get this useful, you really want to be able to still hear the crowd noise, and hear the ball striking the racquet, but just miss out the screeches (particularly of certain players, like Azarenka).

    I guess that the only way to do that would be to mic the player directly (a headset or something) and then subtract that from the rest of the noise.

    1. The Jon

      Pigeon Street

      Is it just me, or does Azarenka sound like a synth-tom?

  2. Shades

    Colour me underwhelmed!

    An app showcasing the ability to crossfade between two different audio sources; the court mics and the commentary. How did I ever live before this?

  3. Rinsey
    Megaphone

    Please...

    Do this for the footy. Not having to put up with the semi-literate, incoherent platitudes from the buffoons employed to talk over matches, whilst still getting the atmosphere from the crowd etc. would be out of this world.

    1. Bassey

      Re: Please do this for the footy

      It's been done and available for many years. Red button on the BBC offers it and certainly Sky used to have different audio options. BBC offer TV, Radio or "no commentary" options with the crowd noise and pitch mics still active.

      As for the women's tennis I haven't watched a match in years. During the 90s when Sampras, Kraicjek and Ivanisevic ruined men's tennis as a spectacle women's tennis was fabulous. Since Seles, the Williams sisters, Kournikova et al started the grunting I just vote with the off switch.

      Tennis is a professional sport which means it has to be entertaining enough for people to pay to watch it. If everyone refuses to watch grunters then the tournaments will have no option but to rule against grunting or risk losing sponsors.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Childcatcher

    Nothing worse than...

    Unwanted participant grunting! If only porn sites would introduce similar functionality...

    1. Mark 65

      @AC

      Who would you have providing the commentary though? David Attenborough?

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Participant?

      The noises are dubbed, innit?

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    Its just a compressor! for newbs :)

    (cracks open Wavelab 7.0)

  6. Ralphe Neill
    Unhappy

    They're missing the point!

    The powers-that-be should be cracking down on the grunting instead of leaving it to people to reduce the annoyance factor.

    Much of the grunting is designed to mask the sound of the ball hitting the racquet . The sound can give vital information to an opponent and masking it could be seen as a form of cheating!

    1. Disco-Legend-Zeke
      Pint

      I Always Thought...

      ...that the grunting had to do with increasing oxygen transfer in the lungs. Much like playing music increases airflow in marijuana stomata.

      I recall back in my professional killer days we were trained to yell when making an attack.

  7. Steve Evans

    Hmmm...

    I thought this sounded like a good idea, although it would be nice to have the ball noises whilst gagging Sharapova. Unfortunately as it's the radio feed, the commentators talk way too much.

    Looks like I'm stuck with the TV coverage audio feed for now. Please, someone put Billy Jean King on a separate audio feed!

  8. Doug Glass
    Go

    Nothing Like Vocal Woman

    What's the big deal? I love hearing a hot woman grunt and squeal. Aren't most of the objections coming from women? Figures.

    I also have more important things to be concerned about than the vocalizations of a bunch of tennis snob cuties in a short skirts squealing as they lift a leg and work that arm. But hey, it could be worse. It could be NASCAR and 300-600 miles of screaming left turns.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Coat

      Must etc

      I walked into our staff room where the big telly is. Lots of female grunting going on I was sort of expecting something a little different. It appeared that a tennis match had broken out instead.

      and anyone noticed just how many womens tennis players names end in 'ova' these days?

      So like Tennis is now the National sport of Russia/ Eastern Europe?

      1. Jedit Silver badge
        FAIL

        Navratilova

        Moron.

  9. Chad H.
    WTF?

    Shurely

    People would be turning down the commentry and turning up the court.....

  10. David Gosnell

    Resynthesis

    Mic the crowds, offer optional commentary, and resynthesise the ball noises from motion tracking. Or just knock the shriekers out of the tournament, that seemed to work...

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Joke

    Mash commentary

    http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/sport/sport-headlines/sharapova-grunt-awarded-world-heritage-status-201106223978/

    http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/weekend/review/reader-offer-201106253996/

    Nuff said - especially the first one. Though shall not interfere via technical means with the primary reason a lot of people watch Wimbledon.

  12. Inachu
    Devil

    NO WAY!!!!!!

    I need to reverse engineer this so that it will only give the sounds of female grunts.

    Yeah it wakes me up.

  13. Tom 7

    And on music radio too please

    the ability to remove the sub-human ramblings of an otherwise unemployable simian from the stream might actually make me listen again.

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    use the force ...

    .... to solve this one.

    Linespeople armed with paintball guns and authorised to fire at grunters would either reduce the grunting to a mild whimper after the first few serves, or eliminate it entirely.

    Plus think of the spectacle when an unrepentant grunter chose to serve and grunt, and then had to play a rally while avoiding the paint splatters.

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Pint

    They only make these noises when...

    According to a discussion on the wireless earlier in the week, the players in question don't make the noises in question when they're playing practice matches.

    Discuss.

    Is it Pimms o'clock yet?

    1. David Gosnell

      Furthermore...

      I noticed that Azarenka's usually very long drawn out shriek conveniently stops the moment she puts the ball into the net. Outward sign of exertion, or distraction strategy? Go figure.

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    TV's don't need 3D, they need adjustable audio filters

    Default filters required for:

    - Tennis Grunt

    - Vuvuzela Drone

    - Whoo-Yeah-Screaming (as per every 'talent' and dance show)

    - Davina McCall

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