Saturday Night Live anniversary sound
Marking five decades of late-night Saturday Night Live TV show, SNL50: The Homecoming Concert was staged audiences at the Radio City Music Hall theater in New York City.
Joel Singer, co-founder of M3, and his team, were responsible for sound for this historic event: ‘This was a massive production, not only in terms of the artist line-up but also from a technical perspective. We had to accommodate a vast number of sources and deliver an impeccable mix. Lawo consoles were central to making that happen,’ he says.
A friend recently told me a true story that highlights the ‘outsideʼ view of live sound.
Recorded for release on the EMI Classics label, Bruckner’s 9th Symphony and Quattro Pezzi Sacri by Verdi made an exciting live programme. The recording saw Sir Antonio Pappano conducting the Orchestra and Chorus of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia at Rome’s spectacular Parco della Musica.
The attitude to audio taken by TV advertisers and gamers could not be more contrasting, more telling – or more damning.
While geographically expansive, the world of pro audio is modestly populated. In any specific sector, the key players comprise a small but extremely mobile club. It’s a ‘people business’ – perfectly suited to a trade show’s ability to bring people together.
Stepping in where magazines and manufacturers’ own channels of communication have failed, Technicians Crew Pass is a new social website expressly aimed at Australian audio and A/V technicians.
It’s been nearly 40 years since Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ introduced Bruce Springsteen to the record-buying public (and laid the groundwork for Manfred Mann’s ‘Blinded by the Light’ chart success.
‘It is inherent in the nature of this business to hoard equipment’ – this business being equipment rental and the speaker being Chris Headlam. Specifically, high-end theatre equipment rental, as dispatched by Headlam’s London-based Orbital Sound operation.
I could almost hear the gentle shuffle of feet and slow intake of breath while courage was gathered. A long pause. Then the news. A fellow audio journalist and good friend has been told that he needs hearing aids. It's a confession...
There’s something offensive about TV ads. They run roughshod over our viewing and undermine the work of the many people it takes to make a feature film or television feature.
Obsessions and collections made a good start to my blogging on Fast-and-Wide. Dipping into the history of the ill-fated Birotron keyboard exposed the joys, absurdities and contradictions that a passion for recording and equipment almost necessarily invites.
Grammy winner Imogen Heap recently staged a live show that was as close to completely ‘green’ as possible.
