Grammy's Horrible Sound

[djdrake13]

oh well I learn something new everyday. I always though that interference could be constant sometimes... kinda like a loud noise floor. I've had that happen to me, and when I got closer to the transmitter it went away. I've also gotten the spikes of interference too. Sucks. I hate wireless for that reason.. we'll be on shoots and then whoops hold everything, i've got some intereference. sucks

[nacho459]

All things considered I thought it sounded pretty good. I have a friend who works for ATK and does all sorts of live music shows, they may have even done the show last night. The stories he tells me about what goes on with those multi stage shows and how much stuff is getting moved and changed out on the fly on all the different stages blows my mind. I'm surprised they pull the show off as smooth as they do. I once had the chance to go into the live TV sound industry and turned it down. I get stressed out doing regular live gigs, I can't imagine doing what those guys do.

[Wilkesin]

Never thought i would say this, but Melissa Etheridge was the highlight, and i think sounded the best. She played with some fire!

[soundguy]

it really depends on your wireless system. If you are using VHF, then the noise you are talking about it common. If you are using UHF diversity, its *generally* just a blast of noise and not really the kind of sound that you can hear shit over. If you are on a digital wireless system, most of them drop completely and will either be a block of noise or mute. The only real radio kinda noise that you'd associate with FM transmitter kind of noise Ive only encoutered with VHF systems, but thats just my experience, certainly anything is possible. the nasty shit I heard last nigth in the limited time I watched was clothing noise representative of a sound crew getting slammed rushing to get people up on live tv. thankless situation. My favorite part was quentin tarantino overloading the mic before green day, what a parody of himself he's become. Autotune on the greenday singer's mic or my imagination?

dave

[djdrake13]

I didn't see them perform but I did see him sing on the "across the universe" song. I thought he was one of the better ones, except his mic was quiet for the first few words. I thought Scott Weiland was the best singer.. is that cause he's with the band??

[scarygroover]

scott weiland did do good although it sounded like he was imitating Bowie's version of across the universe off of young americans. I knew he was a bowie fan but he really laid into that style.

[dynomike]

Never thought i would say this, but Melissa Etheridge was the highlight, and i think sounded the best. She played with some fire!

Agreed! That was really awesome and totally took me by surprise.

I'm with the others.. that Tsunami tribute was a disgrace. I laughed out loud when I saw Steven Tyler with his shakers, grinning like a monkey... his singing went pretty well though, comparatively. I want that Steven tyler with shakers pic as my avatar.

Mike

[nutone]

dave, i've worked with the greenday guys in the studio a few times and have done some live recordings, spent some time at foh etc... positively NO vocal tuning live. billie has outstanding pitch. but he also has one of those voices (as ive noticed a couple times when recording him) that can sound tuned at moments because of the way he slides notes... very frustrating when you know you didnt tune something but sounds like it has been...!

[X-ian]

What happened to vocalists who can sing? I actually wish there was some autotune on last night. J-lo sucked and the Southern Rock tribute nearly made me gag. Neither of those two Young Country Fuckers could stay on pitch. I must admit though Alicia Keys can sing. But the highlight of the night for me was Jack White blasting country radio for not playing Van Lear Rose. I was also pleased to se there were no boy bands and no Christina Aguilera or Brittany Spears. So Things are a little better. Now if someone would do away with that crappy Los Lonely Boys Band. They are like the new Hootie and the Blowfish. ARGH?.. corporate music sucks so bad it hurts. Oh another good thing Wilco got a Grammy for best alternative rock album, but did they show it, NO.

[soundguy]

damn, if the guy from greenday sounds liek that naturally, thats the ultimate irony for sure. I thought it sounded corrected blasting out of a small tv in a bar. wierd.

dave

[cvanwinkle]

I'm not into GD's music, but I thought it was a good live performance. I didn't hear any auto tuning. Everyone at Warner today is celebrating.

I was amazed at the sound of Alicia Keys's performance, not just her but the mix of the entire ensemble.

I am bummed that you don't see the jazz or tech or production awards (among others). But I have to remind myself that the "show" or broadcast has become more of a concert than an awards ceremony. This just stems from the reality of that is what will get them sponsors.

I doubt that there was anything VHF at the gig, considering the sound companies and the mixers working at the gig, I'm sure it is all true diversity UHF systems (would have to be out of necessity... too many mics).

Performances aside, the opening act was a technical nightmare. Props to all the stage crew and all involved to pull that one off. If I were production manager and someone came to me with a proposal for that opening act, I would've said it wasn't possible.

Anyone catch the 5.1 mix?

-C

[cvanwinkle]

Selected quotes from Yahoo:

"After two years on an upswing, Grammy ratings sunk to their lowest level since 1995, according to Nielsen Media Research. "

"People at CBS and elsewhere in the industry were somewhat perplexed by the numbers on Monday, given that the show was jam-packed with performances and star power."

[space_ryerson]

I happened to tune to it for the all-star singing of Across the Universe. It was supposed to be an all-star benefit for Tsunami relief (you could buy the song via iTunes right after the performance). I'd give money to not have to hear that ever again.

3/4's of them were off key. I kept thinking that the monitoring must have been non-existent.

I'm glad I didn't see much more of it.

Was is just me, or did they change the line in the end of the song to be 'something's going to my world'?

[zekmoe]

Actually, on the HD broadcast it sounded pretty good, except for the slightly too high in the mix vocals. I tuned in to the regular analog broadcast for old times sake (It's 2005 people, get a real tv) and noticed a completely different mix and sound. I quickly jumped back to the HD channel to preserve my eyes and ears.
I thought that many of the performances were sub standard, out of tune or just not clicking. Alicia Keys? I almost puked at her stomach churning emoting of evey syllable for 10 seconds. I wanted to reach thru the set and slap her and say "Spit it out already"! Does anyone outside of old ladies find this musical or entertaining? Listening to her warble is the equivilant of watching Yngwie shred for an hour. The end result is....uh...ok....and???? Music, please. 30 seconds of Franz Ferdinand packed more that 3 minutes of Pepto-Keys.
Bob, remembers music.