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Defective Mic?


Philip Perkins

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lol

2 hours ago, Philip Perkins said:

I asked what the problem was, if there was one, with DT's mic.  When a soundie gets national criticism by a famous person who feels their performance was damaged by the sound rig, I want to know what happened so I can avoid making the same mistake, if there was a mistake.  This thread was not intended to have any political content at all, so those of either stripe who feel the need to vent vs the candidate they don't like should start their own threads.   If an director you didn't like complained about some aspect of your recording, you'd still deal with it as a professional, even though you didn't like them personally, right?

I agree and I will try to keep my political views out of this thread. However, Mr. Trump is just making excuses.. and that is not a political view, it is my opinion as a professional sound mixer. There was nothing wrong with his microphone. None of the two debaters had ear monitors, they both heard their voice the same, and we all heard them both perfectly. We heard him sniffing because he was sniffing like crazy thats why. 

Edited by AnuarYahya
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13 hours ago, Philip Perkins said:

...  If a director you didn't like complained about some aspect of your recording, you'd still deal with it as a professional, even though you didn't like them personally, right?

Very good point and I agree with keeping politics out of this but it is hard to do in this case because DT's absolutely nonsensical excuses, blaming a non-existing technical problem for his performance deficiencies. Imagine the director in your example using you, the soundie as an excuse for having made a lousy movie with a poorly written script and bad actors. That's what we're dealing with here IMHO.

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Imagine the director in your example using you, the soundie as an excuse for having made a lousy movie with a poorly written script and bad actors. That's what we're dealing with here IMHO.

On small scale, I did once work with a director who kept saying he heard digital interference and he wanted another take. When I told that that had only been in his headphones and my recordings were clean he smiled at me and said "I know, but I want another take".
They had problems on that shoot with long days so he was looking for a scapegoat.
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So the Commission on Presidential Debates (established and run by the Democratic and Republican parties, btw) issued this brief statement today:

=====

Statement about first debate

Sep 30, 2016

Regarding the first debate, there were issues regarding Donald Trump's audio that affected the sound level in the debate hall.

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Here's the URL for those of you who want to confirm:

http://www.debates.org/index.php?mact=News,cntnt01,detail,0&cntnt01articleid=69&cntnt01origid=27&cntnt01detailtemplate=newspage&cntnt01returnid=80

But check it: Newspapers and others are already misinterpreting that hazy (and rather CYA) statement from the CPD. For example, The New York Post, has this headline: Debate commission confirms Trump’s mic was faulty

The statement doesn't say the mic was faulty. It doesn't say what the issues were. Doesn't it seem that the problem may have stemmed from trying to control unpredictable levels as Trump periodically ate the mic?

Screen Shot 2016-09-30 at 12.58.41 PM.png

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Quite the cryptic statement from the commission. Going back to listening to the debate one can clearly hear the wash from the PA when DT is speaking, proving beyond a doubt that he was amplified in the venue. The crowd reactions to his banter proves this. I’m not comfortable stating that he was as loud in the house as Hillary since an amplified female voice excites the room differently as an amplified male voice, creating a different tonality in the leakage we can hear in the mics, possibly making the female voice' leakage appear louder. But these events aren't mixed by rookies.  I worked on a nationally televised issues convention (not even close to the same level of production as these debates) and the people in charge of Soundreinforcement had quite the resumes, the guy who did the sound design also designed  the sound staging for Superbowls, etc, the live sound mixer (there was no FOH, only an onstage set seating 700 audience, wired with 144 Q&A mics, etc) had just come off the road mixing monitors for the Stones, etc.) I’m sure the FOH guy working this ultra high profile eventwould have switched to a back up if he had problems. 

 

For some insights on these productions see this:

http://www.infocomm.org/cps/rde/xchg/infocomm/hs.xsl/36157.htm

 

Maybe DT was unhappy about the fact that, unlike at his rallys the mic didn’t get louder and boomier as he ate it and starts shouting. Then there is the whole snorting/ sniffling thing that started this mess.

 

Since DT has shown his willingness to ascribe ulterior motives regarding the incident (“on purpose?”) it seems fair to speculate why, after days went by, the commission decides to throw the FOH sound guy under the bus which is not cool IMO. Could it be because of a thread of lawsuit or no-show for the next round?

 FWIW, I'm not posting because of politics but because it irritates me that the commission is throwing an undoubtedly highly accomplished audio professional under the bus.....for what?

Anyway, we need to hear from an eye (ear) witness from inside the venue.

 

Unfortunately I haven’t found much besides this:

http://fohonline.com/news/15443-presidential-debate-s-bad-mic-theory-debunked.html

 

Quote

“Each candidate was miked with three mics — two on each podium, and a wireless lavalier as a backup, which was never used,” noted FRONT of HOUSE editor George Petersen. “On numerous occasions during Trump's presentation, I could clearly hear his supporters within the venue cheer in response, so the ‘no feed to the house’ theory doesn't hold up,” he added.

“Listening to the broadcast at home, switching between a Fox and a CNN feed, I heard no dropouts at all,” Petersen continued. “There were a few times when I could discern a limiter kicking in to prevent distortion, but only on those occasions when Mr. Trump was yelling into the mic, and even there, the level was only reduced by a few decibels. He also complained about ‘crackling’ in the sound, although again, I could discern none of that during the telecast.”

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