It looked as though the Glastonbury Stage management and the Security guys weren't too pleased when Amy decided to come down from the stage to meet the audience! Something that intrigued me was - just how long was her microphone cable? Couldn't a radio mic have been rushed out to her - or would that have made it impossible to pull her back if necessary?!!
JG
Full Version: How long was Amy Winehouse's Mic cable?
One of the problem with radio mics is just that - they don't have cables to "pull them back with" and they cost a lot more to replace when they disappear into the crowd.
PA companies rarely supply radio mics these days as, like the previous poster mentions, they have a tendancy to get thrown into the audience, hurled into the pit or generally mistreated. If the engineer/band specifically ask for one then they normally have to bring their own. I'm just back from doing a band at Glastonbury today and we provided our own Sennheiser Evolution G2 handhelds which remained unscathed!!
With regard to Amy's mic lead, it may just be a case that she doesn't want a radio. A lot of vocalists like a cabled mic. Copper wire sounds far better than radio waves and the cable can act as a prop. (Swinging the mic around etc). Bizarrely as it sounds a a few vocalists enjoy getting tangled up in cables and wrapping them round wedges as it "looks rock 'n' roll" !!
LWG
With regard to Amy's mic lead, it may just be a case that she doesn't want a radio. A lot of vocalists like a cabled mic. Copper wire sounds far better than radio waves and the cable can act as a prop. (Swinging the mic around etc). Bizarrely as it sounds a a few vocalists enjoy getting tangled up in cables and wrapping them round wedges as it "looks rock 'n' roll" !!
LWG
I agree with the cable statement.
I myself prefer a cabled mic, its just what you get used to.
When singing without the guitar I like to loop it and hold it with my empty hand, it just gives me something to hold, my empty hand feels lost, afraid and alone with nothing to hold! (although I can't afford to swing it around!)
John Denim.
I myself prefer a cabled mic, its just what you get used to.
When singing without the guitar I like to loop it and hold it with my empty hand, it just gives me something to hold, my empty hand feels lost, afraid and alone with nothing to hold! (although I can't afford to swing it around!)
John Denim.
QUOTE (Lord Whittaker-Gold. @ 29 Jun 2008, 9:39 PM) 
PA companies rarely supply radio mics these days as, like the previous poster mentions, they have a tendancy to get thrown into the audience, hurled into the pit or generally mistreated. If the engineer/band specifically ask for one then they normally have to bring their own. I'm just back from doing a band at Glastonbury today and we provided our own Sennheiser Evolution G2 handhelds which remained unscathed!!
With regard to Amy's mic lead, it may just be a case that she doesn't want a radio. A lot of vocalists like a cabled mic. Copper wire sounds far better than radio waves and the cable can act as a prop. (Swinging the mic around etc). Bizarrely as it sounds a a few vocalists enjoy getting tangled up in cables and wrapping them round wedges as it "looks rock 'n' roll" !!
LWG
With regard to Amy's mic lead, it may just be a case that she doesn't want a radio. A lot of vocalists like a cabled mic. Copper wire sounds far better than radio waves and the cable can act as a prop. (Swinging the mic around etc). Bizarrely as it sounds a a few vocalists enjoy getting tangled up in cables and wrapping them round wedges as it "looks rock 'n' roll" !!
LWG
They definitely can be used as props, Although I can assure u getting hit by a rogue SM58 would hurt quite alot!!!
I know a guy who head-butted one on stage, Needless to say he came out worse than the mic, He had a forehead like a cheese grater with lots of lines!!!
Your not thinking of the commitments film are you Alan?
John Denim.
John Denim.
How long was her mic lead? Not long enough. I reckon another 200m would have been really beneficial to the sound.
QUOTE (paulears @ 29 Jun 2008, 10:25 PM)
How long was her mic lead? Not long enough. I reckon another 200m would have been really beneficial to the sound.
Bitchy Mr Ears...
why bother with 200m of cable when a few line pads strung together would suffice?
isnt NO mic cable better? and I dont mean radio mic..........
QUOTE (mervaka @ 30 Jun 2008, 12:27 AM)
why bother with 200m of cable when a few line pads strung together would suffice?
More for her to "accidentally" get tangled up in.
QUOTE (johndenim @ 29 Jun 2008, 11:15 PM)
Your not thinking of the commitments film are you Alan?
John Denim.
John Denim.
Nope, It happened about 2 years ago when I was still in school, We had some metal head on stage doing the usual head banging thing they do and he hit it!!!
I'll dig out the video clip if I can!!!
Perhaps my 200m suggestion was misunderstood. On reconsideration, maybe just cutting the cable at 6" like Top of the Pops used to do would have been best, then getting somebody who could actually sing and move at the same time to sing for her from the wings. Something about her performance suggests she may not have actually noticed. Let's face it, if Piers, Amanda and Simon were sitting at a little desk with three buzzers, she'd have managed about 10 seconds.
All the people who marvel at what a 'talent' she is must be seeing something in her that frankly, I don't. In fact - anybody looking and acting like her wouldn't get past the bouncers at even a half-decent nightclub!
All the people who marvel at what a 'talent' she is must be seeing something in her that frankly, I don't. In fact - anybody looking and acting like her wouldn't get past the bouncers at even a half-decent nightclub!
QUOTE (paulears @ 30 Jun 2008, 12:02 PM)
Perhaps my 200m suggestion was misunderstood. On reconsideration, maybe just cutting the cable at 6" like Top of the Pops used to do would have been best, then getting somebody who could actually sing and move at the same time to sing for her from the wings. Something about her performance suggests she may not have actually noticed. Let's face it, if Piers, Amanda and Simon were sitting at a little desk with three buzzers, she'd have managed about 10 seconds.
All the people who marvel at what a 'talent' she is must be seeing something in her that frankly, I don't. In fact - anybody looking and acting like her wouldn't get past the bouncers at even a half-decent nightclub!
All the people who marvel at what a 'talent' she is must be seeing something in her that frankly, I don't. In fact - anybody looking and acting like her wouldn't get past the bouncers at even a half-decent nightclub!
Wait...I know why they think she's great, It's thanks to a studio application called Melodyne!!!
Melodyne Homepage
It's the industry standard pitch shifting & time stretching application used in studio's throughout the world!!!
QUOTE (fatfrog @ 30 Jun 2008, 9:12 PM)
It's the industry standard pitch shifting & time stretching application used in studio's throughout the world!!!
The folks who make the Antares Autotune might argue with that, but I take your point!
Bob
QUOTE (Bobbsy @ 30 Jun 2008, 11:23 AM)
QUOTE (fatfrog @ 30 Jun 2008, 9:12 PM)
It's the industry standard pitch shifting & time stretching application used in studio's throughout the world!!!
The folks who make the Antares Autotune might argue with that, but I take your point!
Bob
Well, Either way - we can agree that one of those packages did it!!!
QUOTE (paulears @ 30 Jun 2008, 11:02 AM)
....................Let's face it, if Piers, Amanda and Simon were sitting at a little desk with three buzzers, she'd have managed about 10 seconds.
All the people who marvel at what a 'talent' she is must be seeing something in her that frankly, I don't. In fact - anybody looking and acting like her wouldn't get past the bouncers at even a half-decent nightclub!
All the people who marvel at what a 'talent' she is must be seeing something in her that frankly, I don't. In fact - anybody looking and acting like her wouldn't get past the bouncers at even a half-decent nightclub!
Amen.
I've just watched Amy's "performance" on the BBC Glastonbury site. Very lacklustre. When she went down into the pit....good move NOT. The lights of course could barely pick her out, naturally and the first few rows were treated to a private performance, including "Rehab" which was breathless (must be the emphysema) and out of tune. If you are going to get up close and personal to your audience you do run the risk of getting grabbed hence her lashing out. DOH!
I thought Duffy was much better and she actually sang better and communicated with the audience. Winehouse just wiggled, mumbled the lyrics, poor projection and what she was rambling on about between songs God only knows. Intimate ramblings don't work well at huge festivals, you have to project that personality *shakes head*
I thought Duffy was much better and she actually sang better and communicated with the audience. Winehouse just wiggled, mumbled the lyrics, poor projection and what she was rambling on about between songs God only knows. Intimate ramblings don't work well at huge festivals, you have to project that personality *shakes head*
QUOTE (fatfrog @ 29 Jun 2008, 11:10 PM)
I know a guy who head-butted one on stage, Needless to say he came out worse than the mic, He had a forehead like a cheese grater with lots of lines!!!
John Otway?
Dum diddle um diddle um diddle um diddle um diddle um diddle um diddle um diddle um diddle uuuuuuummmmmmm (poor quality video)
QUOTE (paulears @ 30 Jun 2008, 12:02 PM)
Perhaps my 200m suggestion was misunderstood.
Well, I understood exactly what you meant.
Drugs and booze may have a large part to play?
I have seen a couple of (rare) live performances where she actually sang in tune, but this girl has Issues!
Saying that it can be very daunting even for well known pop acts to sing in front a crowd as big as glasto.
Second the Duffy comment, she has a great voice and keeps her head together.
On another note, I love watching TOTP2 when some of the old 80's acts are miming into those mics with the wire cut off,
I think the concept of wireless was around then but hey, they would have to have mimed anyway!
Slightly OT, but does anyone know when wireless mics first came out? (cue...Bob.)
John Denim.
I have seen a couple of (rare) live performances where she actually sang in tune, but this girl has Issues!
Saying that it can be very daunting even for well known pop acts to sing in front a crowd as big as glasto.
Second the Duffy comment, she has a great voice and keeps her head together.
On another note, I love watching TOTP2 when some of the old 80's acts are miming into those mics with the wire cut off,
I think the concept of wireless was around then but hey, they would have to have mimed anyway!
Slightly OT, but does anyone know when wireless mics first came out? (cue...Bob.)
John Denim.
The Shure Vagabond was the first in the early 50s I think.
Shure brought out the "Vagabond" in the 50s that never really took off. Radio mics were around in the late 60s and 70s as used by Liberace and other Las Vegas style acts. The first true professional "touring" radio mic was made by Nady. They arrived on our shores around 1981. You see them quite often on early 80s footage of bands. They're recognizable by the white band around the lower third of the base. They had a recessed toggle switch on the base and 2 painted red and green dots to determine which was on and off!! You got around 3 hours on a single PP3 that was held in place by a small block of foam wedged into the housing. They cost a small fortune, I seem to recall, and they were extremely noisy compared to today's products. Samson came along in the mid eighties and they dominated the live market, as they had interchangeable heads and solid RF until Shure brought out their VHF fixed channel systems a few years later. You could pick up cell phone conversations with the Samson UHF receivers as they operated on 920mhz!!
Reslo made semi-pro radio mics as did EDC back in the day. I'm not sure about broadcast radios but the Mikroport series (SKM4031) has been around for as long as I can remember.
LWG
Reslo made semi-pro radio mics as did EDC back in the day. I'm not sure about broadcast radios but the Mikroport series (SKM4031) has been around for as long as I can remember.
LWG
Thanks Guys,
A quote from shurenotes.
"Who was first remains a subject of some debate. Shure introduced The Vagabond in 1953. It operated on two hearing aid batteries and boasted a 700-square foot “Performance Circle” range. Sennheiser debuted the SK 1004 in 1962; that same year Beyerdynamic introduced the “transistophone”. And remember the cheesy television commercials of the early 1970’s for a toy called “Mr. Microphone”? That was a wireless mic."
Now let me apologise for stealing this thread!
John Denim.
A quote from shurenotes.
"Who was first remains a subject of some debate. Shure introduced The Vagabond in 1953. It operated on two hearing aid batteries and boasted a 700-square foot “Performance Circle” range. Sennheiser debuted the SK 1004 in 1962; that same year Beyerdynamic introduced the “transistophone”. And remember the cheesy television commercials of the early 1970’s for a toy called “Mr. Microphone”? That was a wireless mic."
Now let me apologise for stealing this thread!
John Denim.
QUOTE (johndenim @ 30 Jun 2008, 10:25 PM)
but this girl has Issues!
One of them being that she's a dingo-ugly drug-addled drunken talentless crack-wh0re. But I'm not going to hold that against her.
Not a fan then Gareth.... 
Was it that obvious? Damn, I was trying to be subtle ...
rename this to 'slag off amy winehouse' ?
calm down folks.
I think that although her performance was disappointing, she usually does a moderately good job singing live.
she HAS got talent. She has brought jazz to mainstream music.
she came along before people like Duffy and Adele. record labels looked for a clean Amy Winehouse. and then found people like Duffy, now I am not saying in any way that artists like Duffy and Adele are copies of Amy (although there are some people who believe they are),
I'm just saying that Amy has discovered this knish in the mainstream market for this style music.
Surely we shouldn't be slating her for this?
without drugs and alcohol; she is one amazing singer with a voice that generates a lot of jealousy.
Okay. she may have had some slight tweaking in the studio, but theres nothing wrong in polishing a trophy.
this discussion has really gone off topic. why has it not been warned/closed?
as for the actual question.
very long.
where is the multi core/link to desk? if it was center stage then I would say her cable was at least 30M. she and others; such as beth ditto from the gossip went right to the side of the audience barriers stage right.
I have one simple question, if its allowed.
how come theres never any feedback when the artists go off stage?
they are sometimes right in front of the bass/infill cabinets and even (at other festivals), in front of the line arrays.
EDIT: its winehouse not wimehouse (shouldn't have the n&m keys together)
calm down folks.
I think that although her performance was disappointing, she usually does a moderately good job singing live.
she HAS got talent. She has brought jazz to mainstream music.
she came along before people like Duffy and Adele. record labels looked for a clean Amy Winehouse. and then found people like Duffy, now I am not saying in any way that artists like Duffy and Adele are copies of Amy (although there are some people who believe they are),
I'm just saying that Amy has discovered this knish in the mainstream market for this style music.
Surely we shouldn't be slating her for this?
without drugs and alcohol; she is one amazing singer with a voice that generates a lot of jealousy.
Okay. she may have had some slight tweaking in the studio, but theres nothing wrong in polishing a trophy.
this discussion has really gone off topic. why has it not been warned/closed?
as for the actual question.
very long.
where is the multi core/link to desk? if it was center stage then I would say her cable was at least 30M. she and others; such as beth ditto from the gossip went right to the side of the audience barriers stage right.
I have one simple question, if its allowed.
how come theres never any feedback when the artists go off stage?
they are sometimes right in front of the bass/infill cabinets and even (at other festivals), in front of the line arrays.
EDIT: its winehouse not wimehouse (shouldn't have the n&m keys together)
QUOTE (nothingatall666 @ 2 Jul 2008, 9:22 PM)
but theres nothing wrong in polishing a trophy.
EDIT: Polishing a Turd.
I actually at least partially agree with what Harry has to say.
She is a very very good singer, with alot of talent. She's certainly done alot for the music industry. Of course, when she puts on a performance under the influence of alcohol then this is a different matter and it's not worth watching or listening to.
Back to the technical side of things. The stage box connector would be right in the middle at the front I'm sure. As to why there is no feedback. Well it's fairly simple. The system is linear, no 1 frequency sticks out above the rest. it's never driven to a point where the cabinet frequency response changes, lets face it, with the noise restrictions you are never going to push these systems on these stages hard (let's not go into the discussion about how these sound better when pushed) so you still keep this linear response. There is no reason for it to feedback. Of course if it does start to get unstable, the FOH engineer can keep the levels down when she's not singing to minimise the chances. Also the system tech SHOULD have individual control of each box or each amp channel if more than one box is on any one amp channel on most of these systems nowadays so can adjust part of the system to suit. All this is trivia really as under normal circumstances you wont get feedback. I've had singers with wireless mics stand on top of subs and sing with a extremely loud and efficient top box (blue in colour) less than a foot behind their heads and not had a bit of feedback.
Anyone in the crowd on jazz world over the weekend will have spotted me swinging mics around and pointing them at the wedges about 18inches from them to try to induce feedback. it was only when it didn't do it that we moved onto the next mic.
She is a very very good singer, with alot of talent. She's certainly done alot for the music industry. Of course, when she puts on a performance under the influence of alcohol then this is a different matter and it's not worth watching or listening to.
Back to the technical side of things. The stage box connector would be right in the middle at the front I'm sure. As to why there is no feedback. Well it's fairly simple. The system is linear, no 1 frequency sticks out above the rest. it's never driven to a point where the cabinet frequency response changes, lets face it, with the noise restrictions you are never going to push these systems on these stages hard (let's not go into the discussion about how these sound better when pushed) so you still keep this linear response. There is no reason for it to feedback. Of course if it does start to get unstable, the FOH engineer can keep the levels down when she's not singing to minimise the chances. Also the system tech SHOULD have individual control of each box or each amp channel if more than one box is on any one amp channel on most of these systems nowadays so can adjust part of the system to suit. All this is trivia really as under normal circumstances you wont get feedback. I've had singers with wireless mics stand on top of subs and sing with a extremely loud and efficient top box (blue in colour) less than a foot behind their heads and not had a bit of feedback.
Anyone in the crowd on jazz world over the weekend will have spotted me swinging mics around and pointing them at the wedges about 18inches from them to try to induce feedback. it was only when it didn't do it that we moved onto the next mic.
The FOH system on the the Pyramid stage was provided by SSE who use the following colour codes for cable lengths:
Orange 3m
Blue 6m
White 9m
Red 12m
Green 15m
Yellow 21m
Therefore Ms Winehouse had a 21m cable connected to her mic.
Cheers.
RS
Orange 3m
Blue 6m
White 9m
Red 12m
Green 15m
Yellow 21m
Therefore Ms Winehouse had a 21m cable connected to her mic.
Cheers.
RS
No it wasn't. It was RG Jones/Capital.
And who says that she didn't have 2 or 3 cables joined together?
And who says that she didn't have 2 or 3 cables joined together?
Moderation: More to the point, is it that important. The OP queried how long the cable was, it's gone round and around, with plenty of opportunity for the topic to move on. It appears to have got stuck, so I've closed it. If anyone feels strongly there is worth in opening it again, please contact any mod who will be happy to consider the request.
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