# Superbowl 2011 Halftime Show



## dpasdernick (Feb 7, 2011)

Personally I thought it was a train wreck. The typical, "let's put everything in there so we appeal to all" just ended up making it a mash of incoherent garbage...

The Black Eyed peas should have changed their name to the "Canned Peas". The mix was bad, especially considering there were no live musicians aside from Slash who looked so out of place... No amount of LED lights can save a mess like that... 

Hard for me to even consider this music. 

MHO


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## Ashermusic (Feb 7, 2011)

The only saving grace for me was Usher. He is a talented cat.


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## dcoscina (Feb 7, 2011)

Next year they are going with John Williams and Yo Yo Ma in a piano/cello duet for the national anthem. The half time show is Hans Zimmer and Tina Guo. Should be rad.


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## Ashermusic (Feb 7, 2011)

madbulk @ Mon Feb 07 said:


> How is it NOT going to be a train wreck? Usher is a performer. Slash is even a performer. I really don't know what the BEP's could have brought to this apart from a fireworks show to raise it up. They don't sing or dance all that well.
> 
> But I will say this... if you're in a room with a big system and a BEP tune comes on, that thing hits hard. It stands out.



Exactly. BEP make terrific records but the simple truth is that as live singers and dancers, they are just not all that good.


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## Patrick de Caumette (Feb 7, 2011)

I was glad that we were not served rockers in their sixties this time around, but this was a horrible, non-musical mess...


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## Ashermusic (Feb 7, 2011)

Patrick de Caumette @ Mon Feb 07 said:


> I was glad that we were not served rockers in their sixties this time around, but this was a horrible, non-musical mess...



HEYYYY what's wrong with rockers in their 60's ????? =o


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## reddognoyz (Feb 7, 2011)

Well thank god the Black eyed Peas didn't resort to auto-tune of anything like that..........

At least they kept it real. I wonder why they didn't highlight any of the band members though??


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## RiffWraith (Feb 7, 2011)

Trainwreck is probably the best way to describe it.


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## wst3 (Feb 7, 2011)

Ashermusic @ Mon Feb 07 said:


> Patrick de Caumette @ Mon Feb 07 said:
> 
> 
> > I was glad that we were not served rockers in their sixties this time around, but this was a horrible, non-musical mess...
> ...



I was wondering the same thing...


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## stonzthro (Feb 7, 2011)

My wife watched it online last night and asked me "who researches the demographics for this show?" - after thinking about the Who, a BRITISH band, playing last year I realized I have no answer...

Weird.


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## dpasdernick (Feb 7, 2011)

stonzthro @ Mon Feb 07 said:


> My wife watched it online last night and asked me "who researches the demographics for this show?" - after thinking about the Who, a BRITISH band, playing last year I realized I have no answer...
> 
> Weird.



I can guess who researched the demographics... a commitee that's who. A team of people trying to cover every base, lure in everybody (and not leave anybody out) and as always it fails. I'm actaully suprised they didn't throw in Taylor Swift to grab the country peeps.

As they say "A camel is a horse designed by a commitee" I live this everyday in my design job. 

And I'll take real rockers in their 60's any day of the week over this... Puh-leeeze.

Darren

PS And I'm pretty sure I remember autotune all over the 1st song.


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## Mike Greene (Feb 7, 2011)

I kinda liked it. Visually I thought it was a success.

But the mix was awful. Not only did the sound guy miss cues and not insert vocoder and other effects where he was supposed to, but how could he not notice the instrumental tracks were way too low compared to the vocals???

But if you cranked it loud enough, I thought it was pretty aiight.

I think the Super Bowl committee is in a tough situation. They can't keep wheeling out dinosaur rockers because (a) they're running out of relevant ones, (b) they often sound horrible (the Who was one of the worst things I've ever heard,) and (c) they don't want to become the 2011 equivalent of the Lawrence Welk Show. (Scary to think about, but I'm actually older now than my parents were when I'd tease them for watching that show.) Kids are their future audience, so they do have to throw them a bone every so often. Better the Black Eyed Peas than Kanye West.

FWIW my wife wanted to know what time halftime would be so she she could watch the Black Eyed Peas. She's not exactly a hip hop fan, but for whatever reason, the hype worked on her.


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## Mike Greene (Feb 7, 2011)

You know who they should get?

Sly Stone. No one's heard from the guy in decades, so it would truly be the "big event" everyone hopes for. He could do his 8 minute set, then go back into hiding. It would be classic.


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## chimuelo (Feb 7, 2011)

Only on occassion do they have a great show.
Remember Gwen and Sting...? That was excellent.
She can actually sing well too. 
Cindy Lauper had the same kind of cute-sie woot-sie aura due to her music, but if you ever heard her with We Are The World recordings that gal could wail......

Then who could forget the lazy sexy Shania Twain choking to her lip synced JoeBob jive.
I actually think unless you have years of experience performing, or classical training your comprhension under pressure is questionable.
Shania Twain hardly did shows compared to those before her at the Grand Ole Opry.

The politically correct NFL only needs to hire experienced " performers " instead of sexy video ho's.
And there was nothing live about the FAT THIGHED FLEAS..............other than thier pathetically out of tune and bad metered " vocalizing ".

Then the idea of missing a cue on National TV is inexcusable.
But I wouldn't doubt if Fergie in her Captain Kirk outfit forget her lyrics and just turkeyed her way through it.
Afterall, Christina A. forget her countrys' National Anthem lyrics, but that could be from our ultra politically correct public education system that seems to land more folks in jail than in College.......


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## NYC Composer (Feb 7, 2011)

Mike Greene @ Mon Feb 07 said:


> You know who they should get?
> 
> Sly Stone. No one's heard from the guy in decades, so it would truly be the "big event" everyone hopes for. He could do his 8 minute set, then go back into hiding. It would be classic.



Sly Stone was SUCH an amazing musician-and he's not even part of the conversation now, which is just a terrible shame. So many great, groundbreaking funk/r&b/pop songs.
His arrangement of "Que Sera, Sera" is unbelievably funky-and in 6/8!

I played a Xmas show at The Ritz in NYC back in the 80's. The next night, Prince had a show there and he (Sly) was supposed to be featured on the bill. I dunno if he showed-he so rarely did those days. That was the last I heard of him. A real pity.


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## NYC Composer (Feb 7, 2011)

Re B.E.P.-great tunes. Nice Tron lighting theme.


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## Thonex (Feb 7, 2011)

I thought the sound guy messed up a lot... the BEP can't be blamed for that... I'm guessing.

I thought the BEP were pretty good... my kids like them so I have a soft spot for them... plus she's hot!.

I too liked the choreography and human light show. 

Cheers,

Andrew K


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## spectrum (Feb 7, 2011)

Wow....I'm kind of stunned that any of you guys liked it!

Doesn't it bother you that there were no musicians onstage?

C'mon....that was one of the lamest, saddest SB half-time shows ever....compared to U2 and Paul McCartney?

I think our standards are dropping pretty quick when even musicians don't notice the lack of musicians onstage in a popular band....no? :roll: :D


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## Hannes_F (Feb 7, 2011)

Whatt iz a Supa Boll?

(hides behind chair leg)

Seriously, any links to those performances? Everybody in forums is talking about that, so it seems to be an imperative education content.


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## Hannes_F (Feb 7, 2011)

Found it on youtube

O

M

G

:shock:


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## NYC Composer (Feb 7, 2011)

spectrum @ Mon Feb 07 said:


> Wow....I'm kind of stunned that any of you guys liked it!
> 
> Doesn't it bother you that there were no musicians onstage?
> 
> ...



You mean Slash was a simulacrum??

(actually, that would explain a few things.)


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## Patrick de Caumette (Feb 7, 2011)

wst3 @ Mon Feb 07 said:


> Ashermusic @ Mon Feb 07 said:
> 
> 
> > Patrick de Caumette @ Mon Feb 07 said:
> ...



Well... don't take it personally.
You probably still rock, but I find it hard to watch, since we did get to hear those guys back in the days where rock had a revolutionary, rebelious edge.
To see the Who or the Stones massacre their own songs and be oblivious to the fact that they lost it is pretty pathetic.

I'm with Eric re: BEP.
This is a great example of how low our current musical culture is.
So many people currently in the charts can't sing or play.
I guess it's gotta get really low for people to start noticing it.
We're getting close! :mrgreen: 
If these pseudo artists where spending half of the time they spend partying trying to improve upon they musical skills, they'd get to be at least average.


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## chimuelo (Feb 7, 2011)

Totally agree w/ Brotha' Man Spectrum...

I actually thought Chrissie Hynde and Faith Hill were going to do the SuperBowl, I misunderstood. Boy was I let down..the game was great though.

I was excited as I thought they would be performing, and not because of those 2 cackling Hens, but the incredible Keyboardist and Pedal Steel player.
I saw them on the Crossroads videos and that's how you play a B3.
Then the Pedal Steel Guitarist just made me stop practicing my licks on Wavelores Pedal Steel for an entire 2 days. 

So when I saw the Star Trek crew instead of the Crossroads Chaos guys, you can't imagine my disappointment.

And since its all pre recorded tracks, how in the Hell can someone miss a cue on a mic, when the performance was already mastered to 2 track....??
What do you have 8 channels that are hot.....?
And you can't hear the dropout, and where the Hell is the manager at.
He should be standing over the FOH, instead of packing his beak and chasing trim.

Thank God in Nashville and Vegas people demand to hear real musicians, unless its a Cirque show or some automated monotnous orgy of audio.
Those guys are called Playback Automation Engineers...................
We call them A.P.E.'s..........


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## Hannes_F (Feb 7, 2011)

Patrick de Caumette @ Tue Feb 08 said:


> This is a great example of how low our current musical culture is.
> So many people currently in the charts can't sing or play.
> I guess it's gotta get really low for people to start noticing it.
> We're getting close! :mrgreen:
> If these pseudo artists where spending half of the time they spend partying trying to improve upon they musical skills, they'd get to be at least average.



If only. Their solution will be to have a full playback next time, that's it.


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## wst3 (Feb 7, 2011)

[quote="Patrick de Caumette]
Well... don't take it personally.
You probably still rock, but I find it hard to watch, since we did get to hear those guys back in the days where rock had a revolutionary, rebelious edge.
To see the Who or the Stones massacre their own songs and be oblivious to the fact that they lost it is pretty pathetic.[/quote]

You have a point - I'll just caution you to keep an open mind! And you probably picked two of the more extreme examples - they were game changers in their youth, and now they are the elder statesmen. Scary!

Back in the late 1980s (I think) I caught a show with BS&T that was so incredibly horrible I wanted to leave... oh wait... I did leave!

Flash forward about 10 years, I was at a festival, Herbie Mann, Aaron Neville, Tower of Power, and Blood Sweat & Tears. I was there with a friend who opened for the whole thing, so we had a blast. After the TOP set I told my friends I wanted to leave... they asked why, I explained that BS&T just wasn't what they once were, and I didn't want to be disappointed again. I was vetoed. So there I am, sitting in the front row, arms crossed, miserable... and they blew the roof off! The entire band was spot on, (ok, with Mr. Kooper it'd would have been even better, but the guy playing a real B3 did better than OK). I was so glad my friends made me stay.

Point being that yes, it can be really hard to see bands that we watched in the 60s and 70s play today. Some haven't figured out that they are not the same 'kids' they once were, but there are still a few acts out there that have adjusted their shows so that they still rock. CSN&Y would be a great example... well, at least they were still on top of their game in 2000, when I last saw them.

just sayin...


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## Mike Greene (Feb 7, 2011)

spectrum @ Mon Feb 07 said:


> Doesn't it bother you that there were no musicians onstage?


Considering that the sound mixer couldn't seem to handle 4 singers and a stereo backing track, I can only imagine his panic if he had to add live musicians! :mrgreen:


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## dpasdernick (Feb 7, 2011)

Patrick de Caumette @ Mon Feb 07 said:


> wst3 @ Mon Feb 07 said:
> 
> 
> > Ashermusic @ Mon Feb 07 said:
> ...




Patrick,

I understand your point about 60 year old dudes slogging through their oldies but... at least they wrote the songs and can still play them. There is a certain honesty with guys like the Stones and the Who. They lived the life and are still around to play a great catalog of music even if they are a tad brittle. I forgive them for the age thing. We'll all be lucky to get there.

Eric's point about there not being a single musician on stage (aside from Slash) resonates. Pop music is just not about music. That's why Beyonce and Brittney get away with lip syncing. Today's youth just don't care. Shake your bum and wardrobe malfunction puh-leeze... Auto-tune, pre-packaged loops, mp3 quality, etc.

We musicians are probably looking at it the wrong way. I think obviously it's about the spectacle.

Maybe next year they should just forget about the music and have gladiators and man eating lions...


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## NYC Composer (Feb 7, 2011)

dpasdernick @ Mon Feb 07 said:


> Maybe next year they should just forget about the music and have gladiators and man eating lions...



Can I help plan the menu?


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## chimuelo (Feb 7, 2011)

Actually ya'll should see the Lingerie football gals play.
I heard they were here in Vegas and saw some highlights from the game.....'
These gals hit hard and you could probably crack an egg on thier butts...they are in shape and lean.

LA beat Philly but there's a gal from Bucks County, PA. that was something to look at and she not only is a fitness model, but can put foot to ass for her squad, very impressive.

Why waste millions on salaries of such pathetic productions when for a fraction of the cost we have some folks who would look better and actually earn their pay.
Then we could just use the mastered BEP tracks as background since that's all it's worth..

Oh FWIW, I see and work with some of the has beens as they come and play Vegas every week. Usually kick off their tours here too.
I recently saw Ted Nugent and the Amboy Dukes, and he was excellent back then and excellent now.
I really appreciate the fact he doesn't have 60 year groupies wearing Spandex like the NAMM rockers bring with them.

I can barely eat Sushi after walking through the drum and guitar guantlets at NAMM...


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## Dave Connor (Feb 7, 2011)

Aside from the dreadful mix, I really felt like _okay how about some music now?_ I think the reason Usher came off with a certain success was the choreography because you could latch on to something cohesive. But that tune of his has little to recommend in the music department.

I give it all and F+


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## NYC Composer (Feb 7, 2011)

Maybe this is inconsequential, but I wonder how many of the people who have responded negatively are under 30 :::not raising hand:::


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## Dave Connor (Feb 7, 2011)

I think the Black Eyed Peas have done very good stuff but the thread is about the halftime show and that was quite another story. (whatever age one is.)


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## Ashermusic (Feb 7, 2011)

NYC Composer @ Mon Feb 07 said:


> Maybe this is inconsequential, but I wonder how many of the people who have responded negatively are under 30 :::not raising hand:::



Irrelevant. They make good records, as I said.

Live, they were not so good.


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## NYC Composer (Feb 7, 2011)

Dave Connor @ Mon Feb 07 said:


> I think the Black Eyed Peas have done very good stuff but the thread is about the halftime show and that was quite another story. (whatever age one is.)



True, but that doesn't necessarily negate the question.


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## NYC Composer (Feb 7, 2011)

Ashermusic @ Tue Feb 08 said:


> NYC Composer @ Mon Feb 07 said:
> 
> 
> > Maybe this is inconsequential, but I wonder how many of the people who have responded negatively are under 30 :::not raising hand:::
> ...



Irrelevants are grey and have trunks. Bad dum bum.

Anyway, who asked you, Mister Smarty Depends?


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## wesbender (Feb 7, 2011)

NYC Composer @ Mon Feb 07 said:


> Maybe this is inconsequential, but I wonder how many of the people who have responded negatively are under 30 :::not raising hand:::



I'm well under 30 and that was by and large the worst half-time show I've ever seen.

Terrible music, terrible performers, terrible show in general.

Not much else can be said...


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## NYC Composer (Feb 7, 2011)

Did you see the Who or the Stones? Both were gruesome.


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## Ashermusic (Feb 7, 2011)

NYC Composer @ Mon Feb 07 said:


> Ashermusic @ Tue Feb 08 said:
> 
> 
> > NYC Composer @ Mon Feb 07 said:
> ...



ROTFL!


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## NYC Composer (Feb 7, 2011)

:wink:


Ashermusic @ Tue Feb 08 said:


> NYC Composer @ Mon Feb 07 said:
> 
> 
> > Ashermusic @ Tue Feb 08 said:
> ...



:wink:


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## wesbender (Feb 7, 2011)

NYC Composer @ Tue Feb 08 said:


> Did you see the Who or the Stones? Both were gruesome.



Yeah, those were both pretty cringe-worthy, but still don't hold a candle to sunday's crap-fest.

At least they were playing their own instruments, not to mention that the music itself was a whole lot better.


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## NYC Composer (Feb 7, 2011)

wesbender @ Tue Feb 08 said:


> NYC Composer @ Tue Feb 08 said:
> 
> 
> > Did you see the Who or the Stones? Both were gruesome.
> ...



Gosh, I dunno. I am big fans of both, but the Stones were awful and The Who were absolutely embarrassingly awful. At least BEP had nice lights( though I hated it, lest there be any doubt.

I didn't love Springsteen's show, but it was ok. Petty was pretty good. Prince f'ckin KILLED, in my view. I don't like his music as much as any of the previously mentioned, but that cat can flat out DO it live.


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## wesbender (Feb 8, 2011)

NYC Composer @ Tue Feb 08 said:


> Gosh, I dunno. I am big fans of both, but the Stones were awful and The Who were absolutely embarrassingly awful. At least BEP had nice lights( though I hated it, lest there be any doubt.
> 
> I didn't love Springsteen's show, but it was ok. Petty was pretty good. Prince f'ckin KILLED, in my view. I don't like his music as much as any of the previously mentioned, but that cat can flat out DO it live.



Yeah, maybe I'm just a crotchety old man stuck inside a 23 year old body, but I found absolutely nothing even remotely interesting about the BEP show. Terrible music + a few thousand dancing people in Tron outfits just doesn't do it for me.

I agree that Prince was awesome though. Best half-time show I've seen in a long time.


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## spectrum (Feb 8, 2011)

Yeah...Prince rocked!! Totally live and in the Rain too!

My buddy Morris Hayes was playing keys at that gig (including his NEKO Computer keyboards) in the rain and he said that everything was falling apart and totally ruined after the show, but they went on totally live and STILL KILLED!!


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## NYC Composer (Feb 8, 2011)

PRINCE! every time I hear his rock guitar playing it re-reminds me what a nice player he is-showy and tasteful and great tone and great moves, and his voice is dead on, pitch-wise. I was listenin' and testifyin', I swear.

I SO want him to drag Sly back and do another one. That would tear the roof off the suckah.


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## robh (Feb 8, 2011)

reddognoyz @ Mon Feb 07 said:


> Well thank god the Black eyed Peas didn't resort to auto-tune of anything like that..........
> 
> At least they kept it real. I wonder why they didn't highlight any of the band members though??


I heard Auto-tune on the very first song. But I'm guessing that was part of the "sound."

Rob


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## shadoe42 (Feb 8, 2011)

yea that vocoded /auto-tuned voice is used for effect....a lot......

that show was just horrible. 4 people um..singing? in what sounded like 4 different keys with the backing track in a 5th. Then Slash came out doing what Slash does and sounding pretty good...then she opened her mouth again singing in what sounded like the wrong key... 

the Usher portion was watchable at least. And as has been mentioned the pretty lights.

I am not a huge fan of the BEP but as has been said they do make good records. But just goes to show what you can do with good gear and enough time to correct.


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## Ashermusic (Feb 8, 2011)

Prince is an amazing talent who definitely brings it live.


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## madbulk (Feb 8, 2011)

Yeah, you can't get on them for using Auto Tune at the SB. It's on the record. 
The question is whether it autotuned faithfully. 
And you can't blame Fergie for her mic not being turned up.

But the bar isn't low. There have been some pretty great SB performances... McCartney was tremendous. Michael Jackson was a long time ago, but I'll never forget that one. Prince was great. They're usually surprisingly good.

The Who ... well... what do you want? Sooner or later Roger was gonna begin to look mortal.


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## Mike Connelly (Feb 9, 2011)

Isn't saying the SB halftime show was a trainwreck like saying water is wet?

Prince is the only exception I can think of.


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## booboo (Feb 9, 2011)

reddognoyz @ Mon Feb 07 said:


> Well thank god the Black eyed Peas didn't resort to auto-tune of anything like that..........



Watch it again. Auto-Tune was STRAPPED on all their channels. You could here is struggling VERY clearly. When they're 'rapping' (MAZEL TOV!"), you can HEAR AutoTune trying to figure out what to do....

Listen to the line, "Live it Up" at 0:23.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrWA3CRV ... re=related


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## Reegs (Feb 9, 2011)

From an engineering perspective, I was really shocked. It was as though they hadn't done a sound check. 

Based on the scale of the show, I would assume money was no object and the sound was running through a Digi Venue system (or something similar). No pompous attitude intended, but if I was responsible for the sound check, I would have recorded it as a reference. I'd mix the rough tracks ahead of time, check for the mono, stereo, and 5.1 mixes (caring mostly about stereo). I'd save the fader/plugin settings for each part of the act as scenes, and recall them as needed during the show. 

Also that whole marching band segment was lost because they weren't miked (clips or boundaries) or it was way too low. Every once and a while you got some bleed of the truò u   ÉOk u   ÉP_ u   ÉP™ u   ÉQ u   ÉQ4 u   É[email protected] u   ÉQ] u   ÉSÃ u   ÉT u   ÉUD u   ÉUò u   ÉV u   ÉVC u   É[â u   É[î u   É\R u   É\c u   É]½ u   É^— u   É^¾ u   É^Õ u   É`l u   É`¯ u   ÉaS u   Éa§ u   Éb u   ÉbY u   Éb´ u   ÉbÃ u   É[email protected] u   Édh u   Ée- u   Ée‡ u   Ée¶ u   Éeã u   ÉgM u   Ég† u   ÉgÍ u   Égê u   Éh u   Éh u   Éh„ u   Éhõ u   Éij u   Éi~ u   Éj] u   Éjq u   Éjì u   ÉkÉ u   Ékó u   Éló u   ÉnÐ u   Éný u   Éo9 u   ÉoB u   Éq u   Éq u   Ér‚ u   Érë u   É[email protected] u   Évµ u   ÉvÆ u   Éw u   Éw” u   ÉwÛ u   ÉzÈ u   É{D u   É{ì u   É|º u   É u   É0 u   É• u   É¯ u   Éƒ u   Éƒ- u   Éƒi u   Éƒ| u   É„ƒ u   É„ u   É„µ u   É„Ö u   É†d u   É†i u   É†ž u   É†¤ u


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