X-Factor Broadcast Sound

[Peter Chivers]

Had a rare saturday night off and watched some of X-Factor with my wife, but I was not impressed with the mix as broadcast. For a show which is a vocal talent show, I would have expected the vocals to sit well up in the mix, but instead found I was struggling to pick them out. I don't know if this is representative of the other shows in this series, or if the engineer just had a bad night.

Because my background is in music where the vocals have been of major importance I admit that I do have a tendency to mix vocals higher than some of the other engineers I work with, but not to the extent that I have had complaints.

Did any other noise boys or girls see the show? and what did you think?

Peter

[pantoman]

Yep we thought the vocals were weak as well

[Trunker]

Sometimes they are weak and sometimes they are not. Didn't see it tonight, but surely the engineer in the studio has a different sound (listening) on it than what comes out of your TV set?(speaker size, acoustics, quality of equipment etc.) Please tell me if I am wrong!

[avdavesound]

this topic could go on forever because we all don't live in the same size house, watch the same TV and listen to the same sound set-up. 2 many (x) ;) factors involved. sorry for the pun.

 

for me I think the band mix sounded great, with vocals up and down(not that much)

 

but remember there is a 27 piece band on stage aswell which will cloud the vocals abit especially when there standing in front of the brass section!!

[Trunker]

but remember there is a 27 piece band on stage aswell which will cloud the vocals abit especially when there standing in front of the brass section!!

 

There is a live band as well? Ah! Trumpets and drums. Singers cannot compete against these, and I know because I have played with Brass Bands in the past. ;)

[Peter Chivers]

With a show such as this I would have expected one engineer to mix the studio sound and another to mix the broadcast sound - the latter being more akin to mixing a live recording.

I am well aware of the issues of mixing vocals in front of big bands - I have toured for the last two and 3/4 years with several shows for a production company all of which are backed by a live big band, on stage, behind the vocalists. But even here I have always been able to get the vocals over the band.

Peter

[Trunker]

Well it shouldn't be a problem if you use the correct equipment, but the engineer is only human and we all have off days.

[StevieR]

There will no doubt be a separate mix for broadcast, mixed in a separate location from the studio. This way you should be able to achieve the correct balance for your TV. However, if the vocal sources are weak and/or there is a lot of bleed into the vocal mics from other sources then they may be forced to have the vocal at a lower level than they might ideally want.

 

Steve

[Peter Chivers]

Well it shouldn't be a problem if you use the correct equipment, but the engineer is only human and we all have off days.

 

which I did suggest as a possibility in my OP.

Peter

[soundo26]

I agree, the sound was not good, even my wife commented on it and she's tone deaf!! The band mix sounded OK but the vocals sounded as if they were only using the ambient studio sound and none of the input from the mics. Not good on a talent show where the singers voices are what is supposed to be featured!

[paulears]

I wonder if the real problem is surround? I've noticed this on many of these types of programme. I really can't believe that it didn't sound right when mixed - low level would surely have been noticed, so maybe the problem is in the surround coding - could it be there is just too much swirly, moving audio in the side and rear channels and not enough in the centre. I don't know about you, but when I got my latest TV, the centre channel was too high, and the ambience on most programmes through the rear very low, so I tweaked it so I could hear the rear channels louder, and a bit more on the sides. I can't be bothered to reset it for programmes like this one - so maybe we don't listen the way they think we do, and for this programme they kept the centre a bit low to make it sound 'live'? Just a guess, but if it was bad there, somebody watching and listening would have said something.

[matt_beal]

Interesting idea, I have just managed to catch the end of the results show and turning the "surround" sound off did seem to help to an extent. Would have been good to explore it a bit further but no time!

 

Matt

[Peter Chivers]

As our TV does not give any 'fancy' options on sound, just simple mono or stereo, I am not totally convinced that this would be the answer. The more I think about it, the more I come to consider that one of my original suggestions applies, that it was just a (rare) bad day at the office.

Peter

[6th Order]

Having seen the show, I think it's worth pointing out that 3/4 of the singers were singing towards the bottom end of their registers. This did lead to some under powered vocal performances.

 

I think it's also of note that the band volume was well under control. For example, on Rhydians version of 'I'm coming out (Get the Party Started)' * the drum sound seemed more like a playback than live because, thanks to the overhead wide shots, you could see the drummer playing much more than you could hear. All hihat and no drums! Plenty of control there then.

 

 

* Shirley Bassy version not Pink!

[i_hate_fisicks]

I saw it a couple of weeks ago and thought that the vocals were too loud, with an imbalanced mix that way. Swings and roundabouts I guess.