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Democratic Debate Mic Issues


LoganSound

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I'm a DC-based A1 for a lot of talking head events so I couldn't help but over analyze last night's technical difficulties:

https://mobile.reuters.com/video/2019/06/27/technical-issue-interrupts-democratic-de?videoId=567374862&videoChannel=117849

Structurally I'm confident the NBC truck was outside with ISO mic feeds, and from the sound of it the problem was isolated to the house. House mixers have been an issue for numerous debates in the 2015 cycle frequently resulting in subtle feedback. This was a missed cue to drop the previous moderators mics in the house, but I have been running through scenarios in my head of why it was so difficult to do:

The 3 previous moderators had moved to a spot deeper in the house to throw to Chuck and Rachel up front, this could have achieved by passing them into another group that feeds different matrices, preventing feedback from them in the house... Perhaps it was mistakenly a pre-fader mix they put them in?

A+ for Chuck Todd having the composure to assess the situation and throw to a commercial, that was the best possible outcome at the time.

 

Besides that there were numerous up cuts from the NBC truck mixer while we heard debate participants' reverb through the house. I am assuming the venue was using automix on the podiums or lavs, but in my mind there is no excuse for an up cut when the director clearly knows where the question is going - the camera had the shot. At the same time there was lots of off- camera sound, presumably through the broadcast mix, I hear coughing, something like velcro or a zipper, IFB talk back...

 

Will be interested to see how they rebound from this tonight.

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I think your assumption of ISO mic feeds to the truck is correct. It appears that the PA sound mixer either was not paying attention (very unlikely!!!) or that he was fighting technical issues with his console or they put him somewhere where he couldn't see anything other than what a monitor shows him. My money is on console problems and/ or line-of-sight issues. Digital consoles are great until they decide to crash, lock up, loose tactile control or whatnot, during or right before showtime, been there, done that.

What I found much more baffling were the up-cuts, missed cues and unbearable amount of extraneous noise you mentioned, how does that happen during a debate mostly moving at glacial speed??? I don't think it was auto mix, using automixing would explain the unwanted sounds getting in (Dugan and others like it don't differentiate between wanted and unwanted/ unintentional audio) but there'd be no upcuts/ missed cues. My benefit of the doubt goes to technical equipment issues because I believe that these events hire top-notch talent but man, that was hard to watch.

I remember working a national issues convention hosted by PBS during the '96 campaign and it was the most professional , high quality event I've ever seen to date. They hired the audio consultant that does events like the Superbowl, they designed a PA specific to the venue, ShowCo brought in a monitor engineer who just came off the road with the Stones to run Sound-reinforcement from  a platform high above the audience and talent, mixing on a beautiful Harrisson console, they had 144 Q&A mics on auto-mixers throughout the audience, the truck side of things was a rather simple affair, using an all analog Mountain Mobile Truck. The more these events move into the digital domain the more problems there seem to be, at least that's my impression. The ability to make simple things immensely complex sometimes comes back to bite you.

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Unfortunately "good enough for government work" may cost Tim Delaney dearly as he seemed perpetually cut off in the broadcast mix, if not by the moderators.

I do appreciate the civility of both the moderators and participants to not roll over on the crew though. I think we all know someone else who has been less than gracious with his AV staff:

Has anyone else dreamed of being the guy at that moment? Unplugging all the cables from the board and walking out of the building?

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