Soothing the savage breast, &c.
I caught most of the last half of The Sing-Off last night. I was glad to have some TiVo time built up, because I fast-forwarded through everything that wasn't actual singing or Ben Folds being music geeky (and ridiculously hot as such). Is that a compliment to a show, if you can only stand half of it? I suppose it must be, from me anyway, since I'm someone who's never seen a single minute of American Idol.
On a music tack, the main thing that made me wince was the lack of balance between the mics in some of the groups' performances. I'm guessing that they've got all the mics set at the same volume, and it's the responsibility of the groups to create the correct mix vocally. Which, of course, is what you have to do in concert, except usually there aren't individual mics except for soloists. And you're not singing to both a large crowd in person (who will hear everything within the acoustics of the space) and a TV audience (who will not).
I was glad they didn't give the pity vote to the group from Omaha, since their performance was the weakest of the four. Some beautiful, strong singers there, though - with another song and arrangement they could have kicked everybody's ass.
On a music tack, the main thing that made me wince was the lack of balance between the mics in some of the groups' performances. I'm guessing that they've got all the mics set at the same volume, and it's the responsibility of the groups to create the correct mix vocally. Which, of course, is what you have to do in concert, except usually there aren't individual mics except for soloists. And you're not singing to both a large crowd in person (who will hear everything within the acoustics of the space) and a TV audience (who will not).
I was glad they didn't give the pity vote to the group from Omaha, since their performance was the weakest of the four. Some beautiful, strong singers there, though - with another song and arrangement they could have kicked everybody's ass.