Rolling Stones Superbowl Sound By ABC Was Attrocious

[Worf101]

as I do on the weekends, you'd know that the sound for that show was about as good as you could expect for a LIVE PERFORMANCE! Most halftime shows lip synch. Whitney's famous Star Spangled Banner was a lip synch. 99% of halftime shows are L.S'd. The Stones, god bless em, did it live. When you put all that sound in a massive enclosed structure it's not gonna sound like a CD any way. If it were a Stones concert, sound crew would've been there weeks or days ahead of time. The sound system would've been optimized for music reproduction and performance NOT Football. The halftime show is an afterthought NOT the main focus so it's not surprising that with those shortcomings and limitations that the show sounded like ass.

Da Worfster

[shokhead]

RS have been overdone for 20 years.

[EdwardGein]

They managed to get Crystal Clear Sound for Paul McCartney & U2 live amongst others, so they should have managed to do the same for the Stones. Whether or not the Stones performance was good or not is irrelevant for me, I couldn't hear them properly to evaluate this.

[Woochifer]

They managed to get Crystal Clear Sound for Paul McCartney & U2 live amongst others, so they should have managed to do the same for the Stones. Whether or not the Stones performance was good or not is irrelevant for me, I couldn't hear them properly to evaluate this.

Worf and Terrence got it right. The RS halftime show was a live performance, and one that had to be setup in the middle of a football field in less than 10 minutes. In a normal stadium concert (like the Rolling Stones show last year in San Francisco), the stage and sound rigging are setup about a day in advance with plenty of time to do sound checks. Obviously, you don't get that luxury during a Super Bowl.

My recollection was that a lot of the background music with McCartney and U2 sounded pre-recorded, and that's been the norm with Super Bowls since they went to the overblown stage productions starting with the wretched "Up With People" halftime shows that had completely canned music. If a show's pre-recorded, then the sound quality and timing/length can be controlled in a studio environment with multiple takes.

If you want better audio quality and live-not-prerecorded performances, then maybe the Super Bowl should get back to its roots and just let marching bands provide the halftime entertainment. No need for elaborate choreographed and prerecorded productions or amplification. Just 400 musicians on the field making a lot of noise. That's how it was for nine of the first eleven Super Bowls.

http://www.superbowl.com/features/en...time-honorroll

[Eric Z]

i had a co-worker who was at the game and he said they sounded great (and he was in the nose bleed seats). he tivo'd the game and watched it this morning and said it was abc who screwed things up- they even talked about the sound on some sports shows.

[Woochifer]

i had a co-worker who was at the game and he said they sounded great (and he was in the nose bleed seats). he tivo'd the game and watched it this morning and said it was abc who screwed things up- they even talked about the sound on some sports shows.

Has anyone had a chance to compare the HD 5.1 sound feed with the analog stereo feed? I remember that the two-channel analog feed sounded really bad on a few of ESPN's HD simulcasts (and presumably the same crew worked on ABC's production last night).

[drseid]

Has anyone had a chance to compare the HD 5.1 sound feed with the analog stereo feed? I remember that the two-channel analog feed sounded really bad on a few of ESPN's HD simulcasts (and presumably the same crew worked on ABC's production last night).

I can't speak for the 2 channel, but the HD 5.1 feed was the one I heard.

I understand the comments by some about the difficulties in setting up a live performance on the fly, but this was definitely a *very* bad audio job by ABC (I don't think any live performance could possibly be setup this poorly). While I don't really like the Stones and I did not care for their performance no matter how good the sonics were, *no one* deserved the audio butcher job ABC did.

---Dave

[EdwardGein]

First off, they didn't just improvise and record them cold turkey. ABC must have set their equipment up at least 24 hours ahead of time and ran through sound checks till they got the balance & sound right. For example, when I did record producing a decade ago, I only did one live album but we were set up many hours ahead of the performance and levels were tested, etc., till we had the proper balance way in advance. It's not like ABC just set their mikes up etc. at the start of the game. And we're talking million dollar equipment here. I really hope the idiot in charge of this loses their job. There is absolutely no exuse for this.

[Woochifer]

I can't speak for the 2 channel, but the HD 5.1 feed was the one I heard.

I understand the comments by some about the difficulties in setting up a live performance on the fly, but this was definitely a *very* bad audio job by ABC (I don't think any live performance could possibly be setup this poorly). While I don't really like the Stones and I did not care for their performance no matter how good the sonics were, *no one* deserved the audio butcher job ABC did.

---Dave

Hmmm, I think that might be a big part of the discussion, because I heard the audio in analog two-channel and it did not sound noticeably bad. It wasn't great, but it didn't sound any worse than other stadium shows that have gone out live over broadcast TV, especially one using a rig that has to be assembled and disassembled in only a few minutes. I guess that's why (aside from marching bands) almost all football halftime shows use canned music and a minimum of actual live performance.

[Digiti]

I am not an RS fan but I felt the sound was atrocious. There was no depth or presence in the sound on Mick's voice or the band in general. It sounded like an old mono recording very poorly recorded. At the very least I have to give Mick credit for singing live and not lip-synching to a recording. Last year's McCartney concert was superb in comparison. Heads should roll for this; to use a very bad expression in today's world. Incidentally I was listening to the DD 5.1 feed.

[SlumpBuster]

http://www.superbowl.com/features/en...time-honorroll

See SB XXVII. "Micheal Jackson and 3500 local children." It really could be alot worse than Mick Jager spilling his colostomy bag all over stage.

[Woochifer]

See SB XXVII. "Micheal Jackson and 3500 local children." It really could be alot worse than Mick Jager spilling his colostomy bag all over stage.

Yup, that halftime show made me cringe, especially since one of the provisions in MJ's contract was that the announcements all had to refer to him as the "King of Pop"! But, it could be a LOT worse since it doesn't sound like you're old enough to remember when "Up With People" did the SB halftime shows ... yeek!

At the rate things are going with these bloated overblown halftime productions, give me the Florida A&M marching band every freakin' year!

[Worf101]

Yup, that halftime show made me cringe, especially since one of the provisions in MJ's contract was that the announcements all had to refer to him as the "King of Pop"! But, it could be a LOT worse since it doesn't sound like you're old enough to remember when "Up With People" did the SB halftime shows ... yeek!

At the rate things are going with these bloated overblown halftime productions, give me the Florida A&M marching band every freakin' year!

God, man my blood sugar's headed for Mars, stop mentioning this White Bread pap will you??!!! No strike that, that last crack was an insult to white bread everywhere. Sigh.... the living embodiment of "Just Say No". I really didn't mind the bad songs, or the cheesey choreography, or the costumes from 50's movie musicals, no all that I could take. It's those fake-assed smiles they kept plastered on their mugs that killed me. The "Steopford Wives" vacuousness of their schtick..... god... I must be losing my mind writing about this crap.

Da "What the hell am I thinking about" Worfster

[Eric Z]

My last $.02:

I think the problem is they turned the Superbowl into concerts with a football thrown in there somewhere. The 5 hours of pregame, terrible national anthem, and extra long halftime show is way way way too much. What ever happened to the national anthem with one person (or maybe a few others) and a microphone? None of this huge event crap that noone cares about anyway.

The networks are just trying to gobble up more viewers who aren't interested in the actual game.

I really don't know why people get excited about the game- unless you're from Seattle or Pittsburg.

[Woochifer]

God, man my blood sugar's headed for Mars, stop mentioning this White Bread pap will you??!!! No strike that, that last crack was an insult to white bread everywhere. Sigh.... the living embodiment of "Just Say No". I really didn't mind the bad songs, or the cheesey choreography, or the costumes from 50's movie musicals, no all that I could take. It's those fake-assed smiles they kept plastered on their mugs that killed me. The "Steopford Wives" vacuousness of their schtick..... god... I must be losing my mind writing about this crap.

Da "What the hell am I thinking about" Worfster

Worf -

You came out of your coma with all gunzablazin'. With that post, you totally outdid yourself -- I'm friggin' speechless!

Living embodiment of "just say no" -- that's a line for the ages! All I could think of as a comparison for Up With People was a Disneyland parade gone wrong and multiplied in scale like a petri dish in a frat house bathroom!

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

as I do on the weekends, you'd know that the sound for that show was about as good as you could expect for a LIVE PERFORMANCE! Most halftime shows lip synch. Whitney's famous Star Spangled Banner was a lip synch. 99% of halftime shows are L.S'd. The Stones, god bless em, did it live. When you put all that sound in a massive enclosed structure it's not gonna sound like a CD any way. If it were a Stones concert, sound crew would've been there weeks or days ahead of time. The sound system would've been optimized for music reproduction and performance NOT Football. The halftime show is an afterthought NOT the main focus so it's not surprising that with those shortcomings and limitations that the show sounded like ass.

Da Worfster

Thank you very much Worf. I do not think people really understand just how difficult it is to setup a stage in ten second, and then get all of the levels perfect. Doing this for a concert takes days, not minutes.

Unless this was exclusively a live performance, your expectations should be realistically lowered. I do not think anyone is fathoming the difficuly in pulling this thing off is.

Worf, thanks for the SNAP! back to reality.

Side note; I am not defending ABC as an employee, I am defending the knowledge of difficulty and emphasis.

[Eric Z]

I have to admit, Jaggar can still get around quite well for his old age- even though a couple times I thought he was going to tumble over.

There's doing something right as one of the (if not, the) most successful band in history.

[Worf101]

Thank you very much Worf. I do not think people really understand just how difficult it is to setup a stage in ten second, and then get all of the levels perfect. Doing this for a concert takes days, not minutes.

Unless this was exclusively a live performance, your expectations should be realistically lowered. I do not think anyone is fathoming the difficuly in pulling this thing off is.

Worf, thanks for the SNAP! back to reality.

Side note; I am not defending ABC as an employee, I am defending the knowledge of difficulty and emphasis.

I knew if I didn't give em the low down, you would. LOL, now you know I can't lay "da snaps" on anyone round here... they'd ban me. I could never say "Da Rolling Stones was so old they looked like Albino California Raisins". Can't say stuff like that I'd get tossed.

Da "What'd you say bout my mamma" Worfster

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

I knew if I didn't give em the low down, you would. LOL, now you know I can't lay "da snaps" on anyone round here... they'd ban me. I could never say "Da Rolling Stones was so old they looked like Albino California Raisins". Can't say stuff like that I'd get tossed.

Da "What'd you say bout my mamma" Worfster

I dint say nothin bout yo mamma. If you lay down the snaps, you won't get banned. If I lay down the snaps, I would be so banned that I would have to find a new country to live in.

I heard it through the grapevine that you were right about them looking like albino raisins. I was told that eventually they all will have scaffolding ericted around their mugshots for major reconstruction. The was said to cost Polands entire operating budget for 2006.

ABC sound technicians also had to wrap sound deaden material around each persons joints. The said all of those rattlin old bones was getting into the mix.

[GMichael]

I heard it through the grapevine that you were right about them looking like albino raisins. I was told that eventually they all will have scaffolding ericted around their mugshots for major reconstruction. The was said to cost Polands entire operating budget for 2006.

ABC sound technicians also had to wrap sound deaden material around each persons joints. The said all of those rattlin old bones was getting into the mix.

What can you expect from a bunch of 60+ year old, former drug addicted, rocked their butts off for decades, white men to look like? Just be happy that the wind didn't pick up so that all their extra skin started a flappin' in the breeze.

[Woochifer]

I dint say nothin bout yo mamma. If you lay down the snaps, you won't get banned. If I lay down the snaps, I would be so banned that I would have to find a new country to live in.

I heard it through the grapevine that you were right about them looking like albino raisins. I was told that eventually they all will have scaffolding ericted around their mugshots for major reconstruction. The was said to cost Polands entire operating budget for 2006.

ABC sound technicians also had to wrap sound deaden material around each persons joints. The said all of those rattlin old bones was getting into the mix.

Wow! And to think, the only observation I had was the usual "Keith looks like death warmed over" and "Is Ron still in the band?" schtick.

Step away from the hate-o-rade, that stuff is no good for ya! They have to have some kind of build up, don't ya think???

Hey, if the Florida A&M marching band was good enough for Broadway Joe in SB III, no reason to think we can't bring that kind of halftime entertainment back to the game! When you got people watching the Super Bowl just for the commercials or the halftime entertainment, then something's wrong with that picture!

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

Wow! And to think, the only observation I had was the usual "Keith looks like death warmed over" and "Is Ron still in the band?" schtick.



Hey, if the Florida A&M marching band was good enough for Broadway Joe in SB III, no reason to think we can't bring that kind of halftime entertainment back to the game! When you got people watching the Super Bowl just for the commercials or the halftime entertainment, then something's wrong with that picture!

I am all for the marching band during halftime. I did so many halftime shows in my day that I puked green grass for years. The last halftime show I did with the Renegades, we got a standing ovation from the crowd that lasted 3 minutes. That was longer than the home team got!

I really do think it is time for the NFL to returns to its roots regarding halftime. It is just too commercial to be enjoyable. I do like the commercials though. Sometimes they are more entertaining than the game itself.

[Worf101]

I dint say nothin bout yo mamma. If you lay down the snaps, you won't get banned. If I lay down the snaps, I would be so banned that I would have to find a new country to live in.

I heard it through the grapevine that you were right about them looking like albino raisins. I was told that eventually they all will have scaffolding ericted around their mugshots for major reconstruction. The was said to cost Polands entire operating budget for 2006.

ABC sound technicians also had to wrap sound deaden material around each persons joints. The said all of those rattlin old bones was getting into the mix.

My man says you could hide a roll of nickles in Mich Jagger's face.
Word is, Keith Richards was cast in "Day of the Living Dead" but didn't need no make up.
Hair Club for men told Ron Wood that he could be tne new spokeman and resident mop top.
Charlie Watts.. that M.F. is just plain cool!!!

Da Worfster

[topspeed]

as I do on the weekends, you'd know that the sound for that show was about as good as you could expect for a LIVE PERFORMANCE! Most halftime shows lip synch. Whitney's famous Star Spangled Banner was a lip synch. 99% of halftime shows are L.S'd. The Stones, god bless em, did it live. When you put all that sound in a massive enclosed structure it's not gonna sound like a CD any way. If it were a Stones concert, sound crew would've been there weeks or days ahead of time. The sound system would've been optimized for music reproduction and performance NOT Football. The halftime show is an afterthought NOT the main focus so it's not surprising that with those shortcomings and limitations that the show sounded like ass.

Da Worfster

Gotta agree 100%!

You nailed it Worfster. How good are you guys expecting it to be when they have minutes, not hours, to roll out a stage and get the band and fans on the field? It's a miracle that all the pickups worked! I'm no fan of the Stones, but you can't really compare this to U2's Vertigo concert where they had months of prep time knowing they were recording the Chicago concert (btw, the Vertigo concert is one of the best sounding, best looking concert recordings I've seen).

Considering how many respondents have noted their dislike of the Stones, I'm surprised the opinions on sound have been so fervent. I don't like 'em that much so honestly, I could care less how they sound.

[Resident Loser]

as I do on the weekends, you'd know that the sound for that show was about as good as you could expect for a LIVE PERFORMANCE! Most halftime shows lip synch. Whitney's famous Star Spangled Banner was a lip synch. 99% of halftime shows are L.S'd. The Stones, god bless em, did it live. When you put all that sound in a massive enclosed structure it's not gonna sound like a CD any way. If it were a Stones concert, sound crew would've been there weeks or days ahead of time. The sound system would've been optimized for music reproduction and performance NOT Football. The halftime show is an afterthought NOT the main focus so it's not surprising that with those shortcomings and limitations that the show sounded like ass.

Da Worfster

Mick is still dancin' around like a lunatic AND actually singing! Most of these pop-of-the-moment, little prima donna's can't do that...even when standing still.

Minimalist, straight-ahead RnR...two guitars, bass and keyboard...and Charlie Watts...still that same bemused expression, bashing away on the most basic of kits...it doesn't get any better.

Audiophile concerns? Sound quality?...when the entire audience was standing on the arm-rests at MSG in 1970-whatever, do you think there was concern for sound quality? Say whaaa? ..It ain't McCartney-pop, it ain't DSOTM with lasers and video screens in ancient ruins...it was three-friggin' songs at halftime...The only thing I cared less about was the football. I know it's only rock and roll...

jimHJJ(...but I liked it...)