Stunning audio disasters at the Tony's- Page 2

[madbrian]

Posted: 6/8/09 at 9:32am

"Well, at least we know it was sung live and wasn't Ashlee Simpson-ed!"

Actually, I thought the ROA segment of the opening number was lip-sync'd. Watch it back and let me know what you think.

[amoni]

Posted: 6/8/09 at 9:38am

It's funny that the only time the sound didn't go out during performances was when Liza Minelli was doing some Moose calls set to music. Now THAT was the time for the Mic not to work.

[MagicToDo82]

Posted: 6/8/09 at 9:47am

I am 99.9% that Bret Michaels from Poison lipsynced "Nothin' but a good time." It sounded way too similar to the original record, which I'm a fan of, and having watched Rock of Love Bus this past season.. his voice sounds way different then it did back in the day. Just my two cents.

But yeah - audio hurricane last night. Horrible.

[cur10call]

Posted: 6/8/09 at 10:00am

That was the worst audio I have barely heard. The sound was off throughtout the show. The warming up backstage in the opening killed me. I can't believe they couldn't do the show without all of these mistakes.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 6/8/09 at 12:50pm

I agree with everyone that the sound was just awful in every way. And thank God I'm not the only one who thought the camera work/direction was terrible. I noticed this particularly during the WEST SIDE STORY performance, it was a dancing number and the numbers of wide shots were minimal! Everybody knows that "Dance at the Gym" makes the most sense when you are watching both the Jarks and the Jets dancing at the same time, ugh! And I agree, I can't believe they cut to Dolly when the Best Score prize was announced, come on! Terrible camera/audio.
Having said that, I thought the telecast itself was fantastic, the best in years. Kept me entertained all throughout (the touring performances needed to go though).

[NDR]

Posted: 6/8/09 at 7:15pm

I was simply stunned at how bad the sound was.
I know it is a big production with little to no rehearsal time, but on/off and mute are fairly simplistic metrics when it comes to sound. I can understand the mix being off, but how hard is it to correct these things quicker? The awful Mamma Mia performance could have been mixed out (or at least downplayed) by turning down the off key singer. (It was really painful). I felt horrible for the girl who was essentially singing a solo during the Shrek performance. I don't think her part was ever meant to be heard that loudly.

Did the online broadcast sound any better? I know that sometimes online broadcasts use separate mixers. Anyone know?

[rgaywrites]

Posted: 6/8/09 at 7:27pm

NDR, they actually had a few rehearsals over the past couple weeks, which makes the atrocious sound engineering even more of a frak up. But even without rehearsal time, sound mixing is one of those things that as an industry, we pretty much have under control. The number of open mics, hearing people warming up and chatting and so on, were particularly galling for a national telecast.I've been thinking about the debacle all day. I know high school theatre programs that could have done better sound work.

[Shawk]

Posted: 6/8/09 at 7:29pm

The sound and the camera angles were pretty awful. I don't know what they were doing during the memorial section other than giving the home viewer a huge headache.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 6/8/09 at 7:30pm

The sound is always bad.
Remember when Victoria Clarke's mic went out?

[jonartdesigns]

Posted: 6/8/09 at 7:43pm

In addition to those noted I did find it irritating that during Chris Sieber's performance they kept cutting to those side angles that sorta ruined the "trick" of Farquaad.

Also, although this is more of a planning note than anything- whoever did the actual order of the opening performances was just dumb. there was no build and the "overlapping" song idea failed miserably especially for next to normal/ pal joey

[PitPro2004]

Posted: 6/8/09 at 8:00pm

I could barely watch this show last night. 10 seconds into it I started the thread about the sound issues and thought to myself "this is setting a horrible example for LIVE theater". Sad how the very best thing about theater was exactly what killed it last night. No wonder audiences today will pay $75 to see Britney lip sync!

Hafta admit that I'd probably NOT run out and see anything based on last night's travesty. Cop Rock was better than last night!

[LadyDramaturg2]

Posted: 6/8/09 at 8:12pm

^ ^ ^
ouch

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 6/8/09 at 9:28pm

Maybe I'm just dumb but I did not get the overlapping of "I'm Alive" with "Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered." Were we just supposed to think that Stockard Channing was seducing or being seduced by Aaron Tveit? Didn't get it.

[NYadgal]

Posted: 6/8/09 at 9:29pm

Dreadful direction all around.

[AndAllThatJazz22]

Posted: 6/8/09 at 9:30pm

I can be a bit snarky... but this time I'm being dead serious. The audio was SO bad, I'm not kidding... I could hear a woman having and orgasm during Hair's performance. In case you don't believe me, turn your computer sound WAY up and listen closely from 2:19 to 2:24. No joke.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1GzYCsoVv4

P.S.
Sorry if my spelling is bad. The computer I'm using doesn't have spell check.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 6/8/09 at 9:36pm

That's not a woman having an orgasm that's Gavin Creel.

[Byron Abens]

Posted: 6/8/09 at 9:41pm

I'm willing to forgive the problems with Titus's mic during "Sit Down." You can never foretell when a wireless mic is going to go, you just do your sound check and pray that nothing changes between then and the actual performance. However, the atrocious mixing was indeed inexcusable. Local 1 sure did not make a good case as to why they are the highest paid stage hands in the nation.

[Marianne2]

Posted: 6/8/09 at 9:56pm

I didn't get any of the song mixing in the opening. It was weird.

As I have mentioned, I definitely have worked with more professional student crews before. Most of what happened last night could have been avoided or fixed right away.

My dad says that he thought he saw some crew member walk on stage and run back when they realized they could be seen. I missed that.

[Byron Abens]

Posted: 6/8/09 at 10:02pm

The crew member bringing Titus the hand held mic was very visible. Based on the poor direction going on with the camera work, there was no way we were not going to see that. Now, if a competent director had been in the control booth we would have seen a cut away to a camera that was not a full stage shot. I'll only blame so much on the crew, there were powers-that-be above them who were equally responsible for some of the mess that was going on last night.

[AndAllThatJazz22]

Posted: 6/8/09 at 10:04pm

We all know that this is the Broadway God's revenge. He was angry about ROA's nomination for best musical.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 6/8/09 at 10:15pm

My dad says that he thought he saw some crew member walk on stage and run back when they realized they could be seen. I missed that.

That was right when they cut to the close up of Alice Ripley before she started her acceptance speech.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8Kcj0FSP7g

[allofmylife]

Posted: 6/9/09 at 12:56am

Wow. That really does sound like a woman having an orgasm. Trust me, I've heard them close up.

And the "Who's Through" number was shot just as horribly last year (or was it the one from the Oscars? I remember someone singing and not being able to read the names....) It's the one thing that should be done respectfully, not made into another musical number ("Cue the dead guys....")

[Raspberry]

Posted: 6/10/09 at 8:46am

"That's not a woman having an orgasm, that's Gavin Creel."

I wish this was said more often in life... might be a new potential slogan for the "Hair" publicity team to consider?

[AndAllThatJazz22]

Posted: 6/10/09 at 10:46am

^Ooh!! that's a great idea! I'm going to make that my avatar later!

[Plum]

Posted: 6/10/09 at 11:11am

allofmylife, it was the Oscars "In Memoriam" that was filmed stupidly while Queen Latifah sang.