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Sound Reinforcement - Forums for Live Sound Professionals - Your Displayed Name Must Be Your Real Full Name To Post In The Live Sound Forums => LAB: The Classic Live Audio Board => Topic started by: Mac Kerr on February 06, 2011, 08:23:25 PM

Title: SuperBowl
Post by: Mac Kerr on February 06, 2011, 08:23:25 PM
Wow, that halftime show was pretty lame. Who knew it could go downhill from the opening?

Mac
Title: Re: SuperBowl
Post by: Trevor Ludwig on February 06, 2011, 08:25:42 PM
The mix was awful. I'm hoping it was just my tv and it sounded better in 5.1...
I miss the halftime show with the Boss.
Title: Re: SuperBowl
Post by: Greg Hershey on February 06, 2011, 08:26:20 PM
Almost found it unlistenable.
Title: Re: SuperBowl
Post by: Bob Stone on February 06, 2011, 08:27:52 PM
It was absolutely terrible...the 5.1 mix had static/crackling in the surround channels to boot. The lights on the "V" were broken...and it was boring.
Title: Re: SuperBowl
Post by: Luke Landis on February 06, 2011, 08:31:28 PM
No, it sucked. 4/5 vocals, 1 guitar, and a backing track. Should have been easy if you actually know who sings what parts.
Title: Re: SuperBowl
Post by: Luke Landis on February 06, 2011, 08:32:43 PM
Anyone know the breakdown for this show? Was it broadcast fault, FOH if there even is one?
Title: Re: SuperBowl
Post by: Trevor Ludwig on February 06, 2011, 08:35:01 PM
yeah, i'd be curious to know how it sounded from the statium.  I'm assuming there's a broadcast mixer and a FOH for the stadium.
Who was contracted for the show this year?  Doesn't PRG usually get those or is that for gear/lights only?

tl
Title: Re: SuperBowl
Post by: Gary Green on February 06, 2011, 08:35:08 PM
Karaoke Halftime show
Title: Re: SuperBowl
Post by: Tony Ly on February 06, 2011, 08:36:52 PM
Karaoke Halftime show

At least with karaoke, the background music is consistant...
Title: Re: SuperBowl
Post by: Trevor Ludwig on February 06, 2011, 08:42:30 PM
Karaoke Halftime show

Nice.
Title: Re: SuperBowl
Post by: Mac Kerr on February 06, 2011, 08:44:14 PM
The mix was awful. I'm hoping it was just my tv and it sounded better in 5.1...
I miss the halftime show with the Boss.

The mix didn't suck any more than the whole concept. Who the fuck thought up those cardboard box heads? It was an embarrassment.

Mac
Title: Re: SuperBowl
Post by: Ricky Lighthall on February 06, 2011, 08:45:31 PM
Hey,at least the Autotune sounded halfway decently dialed in.
Title: Re: SuperBowl
Post by: Eric Dodson on February 06, 2011, 09:04:38 PM
Flash and Trash, I guess since the music doesn't matter, but only flashy costumes......
Next year we look forward to Lady Gaga........

Back to my nap...
Cheers.
Eric Dodson
Title: Re: SuperBowl
Post by: Adam Ellsworth on February 06, 2011, 09:06:42 PM
yeah, i'd be curious to know how it sounded from the stadium.

There's a couple times you can hear missing parts (like Fergie) from the house PA back through other open mics, so it might have been better onsite. Looked like some instruments were also mic'd but never heard, at least in the broadcast mix.
Title: Re: SuperBowl
Post by: JasonCole on February 06, 2011, 09:20:30 PM
I've complained about the TV sound at the SuperBowl half time for years.  Last good one was U2 in 2002.  Tonight's show was absolutely terrible.  There is no excuse, none, for it to be that bad with 4 vocals and a track.  How can you not even turn on a mic?  I know volunteer audio guys at my church that can do a better job, much less, most of the guys around here that do it full time.  I bet Robert Scovill would do it for free if they would just ask.  I know I would.
Title: Re: SuperBowl
Post by: Gary Green on February 06, 2011, 09:26:55 PM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Super_Bowl_halftime_shows
  In case you are wondering who when and and other misc....
Title: Re: SuperBowl
Post by: Gary Welker on February 06, 2011, 09:39:39 PM
Maybe the TV mixer forgot that it was going to be live instead of Memorex.  It is unacceptable to not have the mic on when you are in the big chair doing the big time.  I think that it is time for the producers to get a different tv mix guy. 
Title: Re: SuperBowl
Post by: Trevor Ludwig on February 06, 2011, 09:53:47 PM
I think that it is time for the producers to get a different tv mix guy.

No kidding.  I don't think I have nearly enough experience to do the 'Big Time' Mixing gigs, but man, I really do believe I could do better than that.  I'm pretty humble usually, and am more than willing to give someone the benefit of the doubt, but missing mutes is really unacceptable.
Title: Re: SuperBowl
Post by: Paul Walters on February 06, 2011, 10:24:39 PM
I knew there'd be a thread on this topic as soon as I got back. Everyone in the room was like "Paul, you're needed at the Super Bowl!" as soon as it happened. The room I was in was loud so I couldn't hear the house mix through the other mics, but it seems that there was a very simple setup in regards to mics 'n such.
Title: Re: SuperBowl
Post by: Jonathan Gaines on February 06, 2011, 10:29:35 PM
It was beyond Horrible!!!!

I knew I was going to be in for a bad ride when the show started with a missed mute..... then it was all downhill.

Glad I finally was able to hear the final few notes from Slash, out of his whole part of the show.

Sometimes Will-i-am and Fergie sounded like they were shouting Karaoke at the local pub.


With the budget they are given, and the caliber of engineers out there that have the chops for this, there is NO excuse!
Title: Re: SuperBowl
Post by: Jonathan 'JP' Peirce on February 06, 2011, 11:34:52 PM
The mix didn't suck any more than the GAME.

Mac

Corrected.  :o
Title: Re: SuperBowl
Post by: Tim Mitchell on February 07, 2011, 02:38:52 AM
The You Tube Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEjsNKmdXpg
Title: Re: SuperBowl
Post by: Bob Leonard on February 07, 2011, 02:50:12 AM
The entire mix was a discrace from the missing vocals to the almost non existing instrumentation. Even better was word love spelled with half of the "V" missing.
Title: Re: SuperBowl
Post by: Jasen Jacobsen on February 07, 2011, 07:14:43 AM
I find it funny how many people in this thread have only one post.  :o
Either the count got reset from the old board, or they signed up just to complain about the Super Bowl. I know I fall in the latter category. What an embarrassment!  :-[
If I were a pro sound guy, I'd think doing the Super Bowl half-time show would be a pretty big feather in my cap and something I'd want done right. But that thing was so bad I'd try to slink out of the broadcast trailer hoping nobody remembered me. Maybe the TV audio falls to the FOX TV people and they don't have a clue? Do the TV guys not show up for any practices?

From where I was, it sounded mono (no 5.1 except maybe some stadium sounds), and raw mic feeds - no f/x that I could detect.

FWIW, I run a 48 channel record board at my church and I'd be turning in my sound guy card if I screwed up that bad.

- Jasen.
Title: Re: SuperBowl
Post by: Gary Welker on February 07, 2011, 07:51:51 AM
I find it funny how many people in this thread have only one post.  :o
Either the count got reset from the old board, or they signed up just to complain about the Super Bowl. I know I fall in the latter category. What an embarrassment!  :-[
If I were a pro sound guy, I'd think doing the Super Bowl half-time show would be a pretty big feather in my cap and something I'd want done right. But that thing was so bad I'd try to slink out of the broadcast trailer hoping nobody remembered me. Maybe the TV audio falls to the FOX TV people and they don't have a clue? Do the TV guys not show up for any practices?

Post count was reset with the new format.  There is a dedicated mix truck along with a dedicated mix engineer for the audio.  It is not Fox TV doing it nor is it the BEP audio guy. He may be in the truck advising the tv mix guy. According to articles from the past, there are several rehearsals and everybody is there.
Title: Re: SuperBowl
Post by: Mike Dixon on February 07, 2011, 09:06:58 AM
The mix was bad, but when have you ever heard the BEP and they sounded good anyway?  NOT being able to hear them may have been better than them being too loud in the mix.
Title: Re: SuperBowl
Post by: Tucker Dragoo on February 07, 2011, 10:29:35 AM
While totally understanding that it would not be the "perfect mix" why don't they run a matrix off of the live board? Its always the same... the SuperBowl Tonys ect. always missed mutes and a bad mixes...

if they want to be able to blend better then give the broadcast guy the VOX mix with FX on one channel BG trax on another...

I don't know... it just frustrates me to see the biggest broadcast shows suck so badly.

Tucker
Title: Re: SuperBowl
Post by: Bennett Prescott on February 07, 2011, 10:48:17 AM
I bet Robert Scovill would do it for free if they would just ask.  I know I would.
Are you fucking nuts? No he wouldn't. No normal person wants that gig. That is why we have broadcast audio people, maybe one of whom posts here, who know how to do their homework and set up for a high pressure gig like that... a gig that is totally different from traditional live work.
Title: Re: SuperBowl
Post by: Jasen Jacobsen on February 07, 2011, 10:51:52 AM
The optimistic side of me hopes there is an epic story of last minute equipment failure, repatching & heroic efforts to get ANY sound out.

- Jasen.
Title: Re: SuperBowl
Post by: Tucker Dragoo on February 07, 2011, 11:05:54 AM
While I hope that is the case it seems that this result is quite common when broadcast engineers, who are quite good at what they do from day to day, are asked to mix a national band.

Tucker Dragoo
Title: Re: SuperBowl
Post by: [email protected] on February 07, 2011, 11:45:05 AM
From where I was, it sounded mono (no 5.1 except maybe some stadium sounds), and raw mic feeds - no f/x that I could detect.

Whoa this must be the future because auto tune doesn't count as an effect anymore. I guess I'll throw one on at my next medical conference.

I'd love to see the engineer willing to work in the wireless hell of the superbowl for free, maybe we just did?
Title: Re: SuperBowl
Post by: Jason Joseph on February 07, 2011, 11:59:22 AM
I dont have any words..  ???
Title: Re: SuperBowl
Post by: Jasen Jacobsen on February 07, 2011, 12:04:33 PM
Whoa this must be the future because auto tune doesn't count as an effect anymore. I guess I'll throw one on at my next medical conference.
The vast majority of the audio I heard didn't sound auto tuned, but I haven't worked with it. I'm thinking specifically of Fergie's vocals; sounded like a straight mic feed to me.

- Jasen.
Title: Re: SuperBowl
Post by: Jonathan Novick on February 07, 2011, 12:19:22 PM
I'd love to see the engineer willing to work in the wireless hell of the superbowl for free, maybe we just did?
I was told there were over 4000 requests for wireless at the game. Ouch!
Title: Re: SuperBowl
Post by: [email protected] on February 07, 2011, 12:45:07 PM
I agree there Jasen, she was raspy and raw to be sure... wonder why they didn't can her voice too.



♫ I got a feeling that tonight's gonna be a bad bad show♫
Title: Re: SuperBowl
Post by: Brad Weber on February 07, 2011, 01:01:53 PM
I was told there were over 4000 requests for wireless at the game. Ouch!
RF coordination for one less than 15 minute performance at one venue with one broadcaster would seem likely to be easier than an Olympics with dozens of international broadcasters, multiple venues and events like the opening and closing ceremonies.
Title: Re: SuperBowl
Post by: Scott Hibbard on February 07, 2011, 01:09:44 PM
Guys,

I'm going to take a little different angle on this and avoid focusing on the audio/production.

What I'd like to focus on is the artist chosen for the event.  Simply stated, I think the NFL producers have lost touch with their fans. I have no facts to support this claim, but I'll bet BEP's performance did very little to motivate, energize or entertain the crowd (in person or on TV).  I think the NFL lost site of the fact this was a football game..

I understand the NFL has been trying to "broaden its appeal" (i.e. team jerseys for women etc.(, and that's great!  However, I would suggest if the average NFL fan was polled, BEP would likely not be on their wish list for halftime entertainment.  For the record, this isn't a dig on BEP; I just think their music/show is less appropriate than many other choices the NFL could have had for this event.

Note to NFL: Go back to the basics.  Forget the neon dancers and backtracks galore.  Hire Ann and Nancy Wilson (aka Heart) live (no tracks) doing Barracuda, Crazy on You, Magic Man and maybe a song off their 2010 album Red Velvet Car. 

ScottH


Title: Re: SuperBowl
Post by: JasonCole on February 07, 2011, 01:15:01 PM
I've said it almost every year, I don't care how much pressure, how difficult the situation is, there are people that deal in that kind world on a regular basis who can handle it.  Find them and pay them.  There is NO EXCUSE for missing a mic cue when you have 4 singers and a track running.  It just seems like every year there is some significant gaff on the broadcast side.  I'm not talking about the performance here.  I actually like BEP.  I think they can do some fun and entertaining music.  Its not my primary choice, but I like it for what it is.  This is about the technical aspects of the show and the artistic side of the mix itself.
I've done a good bit of broadcast audio in my career and yes, it can be very stressful and I have made mistakes as well.  However, this is the biggest live production show every year in terms of the number of people that see it.  Get people that can handle it.  Get 2 people for that matter.
Go back to 2002 and listen to the U2 show.  That's about as good as its going to get in that situation, but at least we do have some level of excellence that is a known possibility.
Title: Re: SuperBowl
Post by: Trevor Ludwig on February 07, 2011, 04:10:32 PM
While totally understanding that it would not be the "perfect mix" why don't they run a matrix off of the live board? Its always the same... the SuperBowl Tonys ect. always missed mutes and a bad mixes...

if they want to be able to blend better then give the broadcast guy the VOX mix with FX on one channel BG trax on another...

I don't know... it just frustrates me to see the biggest broadcast shows suck so badly.

Tucker

Broadcast and live are COMPLETELY different ballgames.  It's much easier to make a simple mistake in broadcast and have it be extremely noticeable, and also reviewed, and scrutinized over and over again.  Live is more forgiving because there is more going on around you, and a little blip may be lost in the confusion, crowd noise and other happenings.  A live mix will vary based on crowd level, interaction, and general feel of the "room".  Broadcast has to be near flawless to even be considered acceptable.

That being said, i'm not making an excuse for the mix.  When there is that much money involved, and that high of a production budget, there is no excuse for what happened, even catastrophic equipment failure and a superhuman patch job.  Hell I did lights and sound for a small fashion show this weekend and had contingency plans for everything from equipment failure to power outages.  I may have unreasonably high expectations, but being a fan and a consumer, I helped pay for it, and I expect to be entertained, not embarrassed.
Title: Re: SuperBowl
Post by: William R. Conturo on February 07, 2011, 04:24:10 PM
    I was hoping this discussion would pop up.

    I watched it on TV in HD, just stereo.  The second I started paying attention to it I realized that I probably still have a future in live sound.  If an engineer that can't whip up anything better than the mix that played through my living room's sound system last night, can get a job mixing the audio broadcast for the Super Bowl, I have total confidence I will be alright on my live sound journey up the ladder.
    I didn't catch the missed cue at the beginning because of the 20 loud ass people packed into my living room, but soon after it started and things quited down, I got a phone call from good friend of mine's dad, asking if I was mixing because that morning at one of the churches I do the live mix at that he also attends, I had missed a cue by a hair. I replied quickly, "keep listening and then let me know what you think", shortly after he says something along the lines of "so you coming over to have beer?" I guess he knew then, that I was certainly not the one in Dallas attempting (or not) to mix this suck fest of a half time show being watched by 111 million people.

I am convinced that a live feed from the live PA mix with a real sound engineer at the wheel and some finalized processing and added verb would have sounded better than what was heard. It would have been simpler too.

But it is all the same as the Steelers not winning and there not being riots all around my house (which there wasn't, major disappointment), shit happens.. on to the next one.

Peace!

Title: Re: SuperBowl
Post by: Reggie Kendrick on February 07, 2011, 07:50:23 PM
I've complained about the TV sound at the SuperBowl half time for years.  Last good one was U2 in 2002...
I thought Prince's performance was great.
Title: Re: SuperBowl
Post by: Alex Sostarich on February 07, 2011, 09:02:36 PM
Doesn’t ATK AudioTek (www.atkcorp.com ) handle the live audio and PRG doing lighting/staging etc?  I am pretty sure I saw the ground stacked Vertec carts that ATK has.  I could be mistaken though.  The question I have is who was doing the broadcast truck mix.  From what I could hear in my 5.1 at home the stadium mix seemed to be fine.  The broadcast mix seemed completely dry with little to no compression.  Whoever did hit the auto-tune in somewhat the right places for the sounds that require it (it’s an effect here guys).  Over all the production mix was pretty bad.  I know ATK has been doing the Superbowl and Grammys for years but it’s always someone else doing the broadcast mix.   
Title: Re: SuperBowl
Post by: Airton Pereira on February 07, 2011, 09:40:57 PM
I didn´think it was thats bad. Maybe because I was watching mono 5000 km from there. The mute at the beginning and the low volume Slash guitar was killer, though.
Title: Re: SuperBowl
Post by: Irving A. Hammond Jr. on February 07, 2011, 09:48:33 PM
 I saw the performance in 5.1 at a decent volume. First of all the announcers and crowd noise and etcetera was mixed pretty good compared to regular season games which announcers are usually buried by crowd noise. I usually just switch to stereo when that happens.

As for when the BEP came out it went downhill. The vocals seemed like they had no compression whatsoever, except when they were using the auto tune. You could also hear when a vocal or something was to low then someone drastically all of sudden bringing a fader up. The tracks sounded seriously squashed in relation to the vocals.

It reminded me of no compression on vocals with inexperienced singer.

Maybe the guy mixing thought that this was a good day to start experimenting with expanders

Again on slash it seemed loud enough in the beginning of his solo then it sounded like he got off then they lowered him
Title: Re: SuperBowl
Post by: JasonCole on February 07, 2011, 10:45:39 PM
Quote
I thought Prince's performance was great.

The Prince one was also terrible.  His performance was great, the audio was awful.  All you could hear was his guitar and vocal.  Rest of the band sounded like they were across the street at my neighbors house inside.

I will retract a bit, the Tom Petty one was pretty good.
Title: Re: SuperBowl
Post by: Trevor Ludwig on February 08, 2011, 12:55:54 PM
I know ATK has been doing the Superbowl and Grammys for years but it’s always someone else doing the broadcast mix.   

Don't bring the Grammys into this too.  The last two years I watched that I felt physically ill.  However there was a moment two years ago where they mic'd a 5 gallon white bucket....i still want to know how that happened... that sounded good.

It almost sounded to me like the backing tracks were somehow sidechained to the vocal bus, squashing it and effectively killing it.  but yeah, the vocals were all over the place.  too quiet, then too loud, and all too dry.

Petty was pretty good, Springsteen put on a descent show, but I don't recall the audio being something to write home about, nor does it stand out as being god awful.
Title: Re: SuperBowl
Post by: John Heinz on February 08, 2011, 03:53:10 PM
I'm sure the who and how will come out as to what happened soon enough. My opinion on what I heard was, it may very well had been the house mix, run down 2 channels to the truck. The fact that autotune was an integral part of the music structure required the mixer to be fairly intimate with the tracks. The compression on the vocals was too loose, more PA style than TV style. The lack of reverb or delay, which we know is in the songs. Missing the mic cue, because your sitting a couple of hundred feet away.These characteristics are less noticed in a live setting with screaming fans versus sitting is an isolated TV truck where it is more obvoius. I think the bottom line is, someone said "it's only 6 mics and a CD playback" and took a shortcut. Of course I'm most likely 100% wrong.
Title: Re: SuperBowl
Post by: Mac Kerr on February 08, 2011, 06:29:09 PM
Of course I'm most likely 100% wrong.

Yeah, most likely.

There has been a whole truck dedicated to music mix on every SuperBowl in recent memory.

There is about a zero percent chance it was a stereo mix from the PA mixer. SB is a TV show, not a live show, despite the people in the stands.

Mac
Title: Re: SuperBowl
Post by: Brian Larson on February 08, 2011, 11:01:38 PM
That was completely unacceptable. I am totally confident saying that making a low budget bar-band sound good is a lot more difficult than getting a decent mix for a multimillion dollar production consisting of less than ten channels.

The lighting was a hell of a lot more complicated, but I thought it looked great.
Title: Re: SuperBowl excesses
Post by: Mac Kerr on February 08, 2011, 11:11:05 PM
That was completely unacceptable. I am totally confident saying that making a low budget bar-band sound good is a lot more difficult than getting a decent mix for a multimillion dollar production consisting of less than ten channels.

It was unacceptable, but unless you have actually been in the truck for an event like SuperBowl you have no way of knowing which is harder. If you think there were only 10 channels you clearly have not been in that truck. There was almost certainly more than 10 channels of track, maybe as many as 20 or 30. There were at least a dozen audience mics. There were probably multiple FX returns for each vocal mic. Nothing exceeds like excess.

Mac
Title: Re: SuperBowl excesses
Post by: Gary Welker on February 08, 2011, 11:43:02 PM
It was unacceptable, but unless you have actually been in the truck for an event like SuperBowl you have no way of knowing which is harder. If you think there were only 10 channels you clearly have not been in that truck. There was almost certainly more than 10 channels of track, maybe as many as 20 or 30. There were at least a dozen audience mics. There were probably multiple FX returns for each vocal mic. Nothing exceeds like excess.

Mac

Plus the truck was mixing 5.1 surround.  More than likely the inputs were at least 30 if not more.  It definitely wasn't a stereo send from the PA, although he probably had that on the desk too.  I am wondering if he was getting a good mix in the truck and then the 5.1 processors that he had to send his mix to might have been some of the issues too.  I would hope that there was somebody actually monitoring the broadcast mix over the air but who knows? 
Title: Re: SuperBowl excesses
Post by: Rory Maguire on February 09, 2011, 03:34:04 AM
It was unacceptable, but unless you have actually been in the truck for an event like SuperBowl you have no way of knowing which is harder. If you think there were only 10 channels you clearly have not been in that truck. There was almost certainly more than 10 channels of track, maybe as many as 20 or 30. There were at least a dozen audience mics. There were probably multiple FX returns for each vocal mic. Nothing exceeds like excess.

Mac


This is very true, and granted I have never been in a situation with quite the audience or pressure, so I can't compare it to anything I've done before... (I've come close, More inputs, less audience...) But there are certainly people out there who are up for the job.

I'm not saying the console op wasn't, and there's almost certainly something else at play this year (I hope...!) But it does almost seem like he/she spent the set juggling 12 channels of ambiance while neglecting the 'money' channels. Call me old fashioned, but I would see the lead vox vs trax mix to be a little more of a priority to me.

Not being totally serious there, but I think my point is clear enough.

We can talk and speculate about what may have happened all day long, and I will be interested to hear when someone has some hard facts (i.e was the console op, or was in the room with he/she...). I think we all agree that this didn't go according to plan, and all the money in the world can't prevent things from going wrong!

What's the saying... We aren't paid good money for things to go right, we are paid to make sure when they go wrong, we are ready and on top of them!
Title: Re: SuperBowl
Post by: Tim Woodworth on February 09, 2011, 11:58:08 PM
Alex is correct.  ATK AudioTek was the provider for the event from my understanding. And I think alot of the team that was there for the SB is also the team they use for the Grammys. I know that what we heard was NOT the house mix. You could hear Fergie's mic in the house, through the ambient mics, when it wasn't on in the broadcast mix. It sounded to me like there was some form of catastrophic failure right before the show that there was no time to correct. I have been told that they use redundantancy at every level of signal flow, to prevent something like what I think may have happened. It sounded to me like all gain structure, compression settings, efx. and just the overall mix had been lost, and the engineer was in the complete panic of starting over with millions of people listening.
The way that the mix progressed during their show is why I think this is what happened. First.. all of the vocals weren't on, then once they were all on, their gain, compression and FX were not correct. During all of this the tracks were really low, which is what most would do if they were starting over...focus on the vocals first and leave the tracks low, and I am sure the BEPs had a ton of tracks, so there just wasn't time to get them correct and into the mix, so to play it safe...just keep the tracks low and focus on the vocals.
I hope we get the details soon, and I will be surprised if it was a personal issue, and not an equipment issue. That being said if some piece of gear did indeed fail....we may never know the truth. It would be pretty damaging to any manufacturer to be known for that failure.
Title: Re: SuperBowl
Post by: Brad Galvin on February 10, 2011, 12:08:50 AM
I got some interesting information regarding the whole halftime situation late last night that I am curious to see if anyone can confirm. I heard that the international feed sounded significantly better than the domestic feed. Can anyone outside of the US confirm that the halftime show sounded okay? I don't understand why this would be the case, but that's what I was told.

I don't want to get into who I heard this from because I don't want them to get into any trouble, or risk losing a very large account, but suffice it to say the position this guy is in would put them in a good position to really know how things sounded before they reached anyone's television.

Beyond all that stuff, who really cares? It sounded terrible; it set the bar really low. There are a myriad of reasons for why it ended up the way it did. It would be nice if the person mixing would say something, but then again, we've all had really bad days, some of us just have them at times when millions of people aren't in the audience.
Title: Re: SuperBowl
Post by: Matt Francis on February 10, 2011, 04:57:33 AM
From where I was sat (Bristol - UK), watching the BBC coverage, the show didn't sound great and seemed to have exactly the same problems described in this thread. No idea how broadcast works, so no further comments from me.
Title: Re: SuperBowl
Post by: James Feenstra on February 10, 2011, 07:34:40 PM
The lighting was a hell of a lot more complicated, but I thought it looked great.
yeah I always lo\e it when that happens  ::) ;)
Title: Re: SuperBowl
Post by: Gareth Hunt on February 12, 2011, 10:37:29 AM
Disastrous.

But don't we say this every year?
Title: Re: SuperBowl
Post by: Bennett Prescott on February 12, 2011, 11:31:34 AM
It would be nice if the person mixing would say something, but then again, we've all had really bad days, some of us just have them at times when millions of people aren't in the audience.
Yeah, I bet that's a high priority for them. "Man, I think I'll take some time off to see if I can't lose both my arms in this wheat thresher, for fun!".
Title: Re: SuperBowl
Post by: Ivan Beaver on February 12, 2011, 11:39:16 AM
Disastrous.

But don't we say this every year?
But this year was especially bad.  Yeah no two people are going to agree on a mix, but I think we ALL can agree that it was pretty bad-especially for the level it is supposed to be on.

I would assume they did rehersals and they recorded the rehersals and let the performers listen to them (just to double check if it was OK for them-sound wise).

Come on- Tracks and a couple of vocal mics-how much would have changed between rehersal and performance?  This wasn't their first gig ya know.
Title: Re: SuperBowl
Post by: alan hamilton on February 13, 2011, 09:09:02 PM
You could hear Fergie's mic in the house, through the ambient mics, when it wasn't on in the broadcast mix.

Was that what it was or was there a recorded vocal track running a few dB under the live tracks to be used in case of emergency and/or doubling?
Title: Re: SuperBowl
Post by: Andy Hamm on February 14, 2011, 05:46:14 PM
I watched the Superbowl Halftime show, and to me it sounded like compressors squeezing the hell out of all the vocals but that one guy that was sticking out like a soar thumb. Quieter passeges seamed to be getting through, but there seemed to be some hard ass clamping as soon as anyone started to put anything on the mic. You could hear monitors and FOH out of the unsquashed guys mic.

Honestly I was expecting to hear someone ripping out insert cables after the first 30 seconds or so, but it just went on and on....
Title: Re: SuperBowl
Post by: Doug Fowler on February 14, 2011, 05:57:37 PM
Tourtech, please go to your profile and put your full name in the "Name" field.

Thank you for your cooperation.