OPINION


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Can You Hear Me at the Back?


READ MY LIPS Red Hot Chili Peppers’ bassist Flea has defended not playing live during their Super Bowl half-time show. Flea responded to reports that his and guitarist Josh Klinghoffer’s instruments were not plugged in while they played Give It Away during the NFL’s biggest game. On the band’s website he said they were told a backing track would be pre-recorded when they agreed to the show. “I understand the NFL’s stance on this,” he said. “Given they only have a few minutes to set up the stage, there are a zillion things that could go wrong and ruin the sound for the folks watching in the stadium and the TV viewers.” When the band joined Bruno Mars on stage during the show, singer Anthony Kiedis’ vocal was live but Flea, Klinghoffer, and drummer Chad Smith played along with the backing track. In his online statement, Flea added that the band didn’t feel the need to plug in their instruments because: “We thought it better to not pretend”. There’s nothing new here.


Acts have mimed on TV shows since the 1960s, and


18 March 2014


there was a time when bands lip-synching to their hits on Top of The Pops was the stuff of national debate. Julianne Regan, singer with 1980s group All About Eve, famously mimed the wrong words on the show when she was unable to properly hear her band’s live backing track. New Order only agreed to perform Blue Monday if they could play it live – a rare event in the early 1980s. However, it was not seen as one of their better performances and the song subsequently slipped down the chart. Britney Spears’ current Las


Vegas shows feature much heavily-criticised lip-syncing, while Michael Jackson, among many, had it down to a fine art – if he was singing live while performing those amazing dance routines, I’m a banana.


CUTTING IT The annual Music Producers Guild Awards took place at the Park Plaza Riverbank Hotel in London recently with the top award for Producer of the Year going to Flood (Mark Ellis) and Alan Moulder for their work on Foals’ album Holy Fire. As recipients of this accolade Flood and Moulder also automatically won the 2014 BRIT Award for Best Producer. The Special Recognition


Award that went to Sean Davies was also richly deserved. Renowned as an audio consultant, Sean is at the heart of the UK and European disc cutting business thanks to his extensive knowledge of cutting techniques, lacquers,


and the ins and outs of the equipment needed to cut a vinyl record. He first became interested in audio at the age of 13 when he began repairing broken radios and cutting discs at home. His hobby developed into a career when he was offered a job at IBC Studios. Davies’ reputation as an expert soon spread, securing him other key technical positions until he founded his own company, SW Davies, which specialises in maintaining high-quality disc-cutting lathes and supporting cutting facilities around the world. Ray Staff of the MPG’s


Mastering Group said: “He is a truly unique man in our industry.”


On the subject of mastering, disc cutting and associated skills, Barry Grint’s Alchemy has re-emerged in Brook Green, west London, after spells atop Centre Point in the West End and in the City. We wish him and Ray Staff well in their new venture.


OLYMPIAN EFFORT While many had reservations concerning the quality of commentary at The Winter Olympics in Sochi, there can be no doubt that broadcast coverage of such events, like the participating athletes, continues to reach new highs. Worth looking back... At the 1924 Olympics in


Paris, radio reports were transmitted for the first time. Exclusive film rights were awarded to a French company, which led to an American threat to withdraw from the games when the US team was


Red Hot Chili Peppers’ bassist Flea has defended not playing live at the band’s Super Bowl half-time show


Audio Media consulting editor Jim Evans rounds up the events that have caught his eye this month.


told that they could not make their own film of a rugby semi-final against Romania. After negotiations, the Americans were allowed to film the match for educational and archive purposes. The 1936 Olympics are best


remembered for Adolf Hitler’s failed attempt to use them to prove his theories of Aryan racial superiority. As it turned out, the hero of the Games was African-American sprinter and long jumper Jesse Owens, who won four gold medals. On the media front, the 1936 Games were the first to be broadcast on television. Twenty-five television viewing rooms were set up in the Greater Berlin area allowing the locals to follow the Games for free. Television broadcasts were


made by the Deutsche Reichspost (German Post Office) using two different television systems that were run in parallel 375-line all electronic (including a telecine chain) and 180-line electronic and intermediate film. Equipment included Telefunken iconoscope cameras from RCA and Fernseh electronic cameras. We’ve come a long way. For the Sochi Olympics, the technology manifest is mind- boggling in comparison to those of years past. And the Games – once again – have provided an excellent showcase for our industry and broadcasters.


German public broadcasters


ARD and ZDF chose Fairlight audio post-production systems for their coverage of the games


in HD while Calrec reports that NBC purchased two 64- fader Artemis Shine consoles and augmented its arsenal by renting a further 40-fader and two 24-fader Artemis Beam consoles for its coverage. Calrec has been supporting NBC Olympics with on-site engineers since the Atlanta Olympics in 1996. Riedel Communications’ MediorNet fibre-based network supported the transport of HD video and audio signals, data, and Riedel Artist intercom signals throughout the Games in Sochi. A Riedel Mass Cast deployment including 14 transmitters and thousands of receivers and earpieces provided support during the opening and closing ceremonies.


AND FINALLY We’ve all heard the jokes about how many of a particular calling it takes to change a light bulb, but how many media personnel does it take to cover a major international event? The BBC has come in for


some richly deserved stick on this front after more than 120 BBC staff were despatched to cover the funeral of Nelson Mandela, with correspondents wandering around Soweto and interviewing anyone who was not quick enough to get out of the way. ITV sent a team of 10. And then there’s Glastonbury – let’s send (among 300 other staff) John Humphries to interview Mick Jagger. The Last Time? Sadly not.


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