Oops! I'm only human.
Okay, we all watched or heard about the Superbowl XLV halftime show. I have to say, I was amazed at the level (or lack thereof) of quality in the audio production. There were some obvious oversights and some not so obvious. Whether or not you like Black Eyed Peas, Slash or Usher, or any of the music performed, is not the point. I've seen a live Black Eyed Peas concert from 10 feet off the stage. I was really impressed then. What I hope to accomplish in this post is to offer some plausible explanations for the less than stellar audio production of said halftime show.
Let's begin by describing what I found to be the most egregious mistakes. When the group began singing, it was obvious that Fergie's microphone was not on. Will I Am's microphone was too loud. As the songs progressed, the mix did not improve much. Furthermore, the music track was too low.
At least we know they weren't lip syncing!
Having said all that, let's take a look at some possible explanations for how a multimillion dollar production, viewed by hundreds of millions around the world, could allow such errors.
1. Lack of rehearsal - Dallas was hit pretty hard by a snow storm days before the Superbowl. Ice was sliding off Cowboys Stadium the day before the big game. I know there were plenty of preproduction meetings. But, there wasn't much time to rehearse and fine tune everything. However, the sound we heard broadcast could have been much better - even by amateur standards. In addition, with today's technology, it is possible to take a "snapshot" of the mixing board during rehearsal. That snapshot would contain levels, effects and any channels that needed to be turned on/off. It sounded to me like someone was asleep at the wheel.
2. Lack of redundancy - Equipment failure happens. Those of us who have ever done any live event have our fair share of horror stories. I have a few of my own centered around equipment failure. It happens in the studio too. Albeit, a lot less frequently. More often than not, most of these mistakes are preventable through redundancy.
Avid's Venue console was designed by professionals, like Robert Scovill (Rush, Tom Petty, Sting), who've had more than their fair share of horror stories. They intentionally designed redundancy into the boards. Each section of Venue has two power supplies in case one fails. There are redundant cabling. If the computer crashes (which it rarely does), you can still run sound while it reboots.
With a production like the Superbowl, I imagine they have failsafes in place. At least that's what I would assume.
3. An emergency - Whether medical, accidental, or restroom. emergencies happen. Again, I refer to to point #2. If Mixing Engineer A is in the hospital from some bad sushi he ate the night before, there should be Mixing Engineer B standing by to fill in.
4. Inferior equipment - Each audio geek knows that we make judgement calls based on what we hear. If the monitors are bad and the room has acoustic deficiencies, we may think something sounds great when in fact, it sounds truly horrific. Again, I'd like to point out that the Superbowl is a big deal with big budgets. I would assume, they weren't mixing the live feed to the world on a pair of computer speakers in the backseat of a minivan.
On a tangent, if the production company was trying to justify upgrading some equipment to their superiors, they might have blown the mix on purpose, and made the case the upgrade would have made the mix perfect. Knowing that my name would be associated with a production would prevent me from actually following through on this kind of conspiracy. I doubt anyone would stoop to such a level.
5. ESO/ID10T error - Simple human error. Most likely the cause. All it takes is one little oversight and panic sets in. It's possible. ESO/ID10T errors happen all the time. At the level of the Superbowl, ESO is less common. ESO (Equipment Superior to Operator) usually happens with inexperienced people. ID10T (a silly way of expressing the word "idiot") errors can happen to anyone. We're only human after all.
There is no use in rehashing what happened during the halftime show, except to learn from it. If any of you come across an article explaining what happened, please share.
None of us are perfect. As I said before, we all make mistakes. We're human. We have to learn how to get over those mistakes, learn from them and move on. We can't go back and fix it.
Rock. Roll. Repeat.
Let's begin by describing what I found to be the most egregious mistakes. When the group began singing, it was obvious that Fergie's microphone was not on. Will I Am's microphone was too loud. As the songs progressed, the mix did not improve much. Furthermore, the music track was too low.
At least we know they weren't lip syncing!
Having said all that, let's take a look at some possible explanations for how a multimillion dollar production, viewed by hundreds of millions around the world, could allow such errors.
1. Lack of rehearsal - Dallas was hit pretty hard by a snow storm days before the Superbowl. Ice was sliding off Cowboys Stadium the day before the big game. I know there were plenty of preproduction meetings. But, there wasn't much time to rehearse and fine tune everything. However, the sound we heard broadcast could have been much better - even by amateur standards. In addition, with today's technology, it is possible to take a "snapshot" of the mixing board during rehearsal. That snapshot would contain levels, effects and any channels that needed to be turned on/off. It sounded to me like someone was asleep at the wheel.
2. Lack of redundancy - Equipment failure happens. Those of us who have ever done any live event have our fair share of horror stories. I have a few of my own centered around equipment failure. It happens in the studio too. Albeit, a lot less frequently. More often than not, most of these mistakes are preventable through redundancy.
Avid's Venue console was designed by professionals, like Robert Scovill (Rush, Tom Petty, Sting), who've had more than their fair share of horror stories. They intentionally designed redundancy into the boards. Each section of Venue has two power supplies in case one fails. There are redundant cabling. If the computer crashes (which it rarely does), you can still run sound while it reboots.
With a production like the Superbowl, I imagine they have failsafes in place. At least that's what I would assume.
3. An emergency - Whether medical, accidental, or restroom. emergencies happen. Again, I refer to to point #2. If Mixing Engineer A is in the hospital from some bad sushi he ate the night before, there should be Mixing Engineer B standing by to fill in.
4. Inferior equipment - Each audio geek knows that we make judgement calls based on what we hear. If the monitors are bad and the room has acoustic deficiencies, we may think something sounds great when in fact, it sounds truly horrific. Again, I'd like to point out that the Superbowl is a big deal with big budgets. I would assume, they weren't mixing the live feed to the world on a pair of computer speakers in the backseat of a minivan.
On a tangent, if the production company was trying to justify upgrading some equipment to their superiors, they might have blown the mix on purpose, and made the case the upgrade would have made the mix perfect. Knowing that my name would be associated with a production would prevent me from actually following through on this kind of conspiracy. I doubt anyone would stoop to such a level.
5. ESO/ID10T error - Simple human error. Most likely the cause. All it takes is one little oversight and panic sets in. It's possible. ESO/ID10T errors happen all the time. At the level of the Superbowl, ESO is less common. ESO (Equipment Superior to Operator) usually happens with inexperienced people. ID10T (a silly way of expressing the word "idiot") errors can happen to anyone. We're only human after all.
There is no use in rehashing what happened during the halftime show, except to learn from it. If any of you come across an article explaining what happened, please share.
None of us are perfect. As I said before, we all make mistakes. We're human. We have to learn how to get over those mistakes, learn from them and move on. We can't go back and fix it.
Rock. Roll. Repeat.
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