Baxter is best-known for his work at the Olympic Games, tackling the timbre of dozens of disciplines to captivate global audiences, winning multiple Emmy Awards.
He is the man who first gave you the sound of arrows fizzing through the air in archery, thanks to his brainwave of microphones between the archer and the target.
More recently, his was the idea to place microphones beneath the wooden velodrome surface, to intercept the rumbling of Olympic track cyclists in action.
Baxter’s job is to find the defining sounds of a given sport, and bring them to your TV in the finest detail.
He believes that while most people think they are watching TV, how they listen defines their experience.
“The details really bring people in,” he explains.
“TV is consumed in a casual way. Rarely do you sit with full focus on the screen — you’re usually there with your family, or your friends, and you’re talking.
“It’s the sound that brings you back into the show. The detail pulls the audience back in.
“The thing I like most about equestrian is that detail in the coverage. The little, bitty micro-sounds of the horses and the riders.
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Baxter, too, is looking ahead.
“Wireless microphones on anything that moves, in any competition whatsoever, is the future,” he declares.
He sounds only half-joking when he adds: “We’re the ones paying for this. We’re the ones who’ve got to put our foot down to these spoiled athletes and say, ‘You know what? You’ve got to make it a show, you’ve got to earn your money.’
“We’ve been asking to put microphones onto the athletes, and the horses. We’ve not been successful yet, but I think, pretty soon, we will be.”
On the horses?
“Absolutely. Absolutely.”
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