Superbowl 42 Halftime-

[Jim vanBergen]

Whaddya think about Tom Petty and the halftime show?

Sound was not as bad as some years...mix definitely improved as the songs went on, but... well, I'd like some other opinions.

No, it wasn't me. But one of my buddies who runs NMT trucks called and asked if it was my mix, b/c the opening song had too much vox and not enough drums & bass. I laughed... a little.

Anyway, share your thoughts?

JvB

[The dman]

I was surprised it was that good considering the logistics of the performance and the sound.

[Sound Sorcerer]

sorry ! I was watching power Rangers on Jetix...

[dannygold]

Sounded great... Prince was good last year too... the stones seemed to have some "issues" the year before. By the way, did the chick singing the anthem lip sync... looked like it and it would make sense given how much echo she'd have to deal with. Different with a band with cranked monitoring I'd think.

[FFTT]

I've seen both Petty and Aerosmith fighting signal delay when they use their small stage in the middle of the show, so I'd guess the bounceback in this situation is much worse and only proves how seasoned they really are as performers.

I'm already reading speculation that the show was voice over backing track,
but I think the delay people are seeing was caused by the network after all the fun they went through with Janet Jackson.

[bcgood]

Originally Posted by dannygold

Sounded great... Prince was good last year too... the stones seemed to have some "issues" the year before. By the way, did the chick singing the anthem lip sync... looked like it and it would make sense given how much echo she'd have to deal with. Different with a band with cranked monitoring I'd think.

I was thinking the same thing, it looked and sounded like she was lip syncing to me as well.

Tom Petty this year sounded quite a bit better than Prince last year in my opinion. All the people involved with the sound this year did a great job!

[aaronsternke]

I too thought the overall sound/show was great. Great sound, great lights, great performance. It didn't seem to me like the lead vocal was backed up... but maybe they just did a good job of hiding it. Background vocals look like they may have been helped by tracks a bit. Considering the time constraints of such a show, they really do an amazing job with these things.

But it looked like Jordin Sparks lip-synced the national anthem... but of course she did.

[dannygold]

I think he should have exposed his nipple, ala janket jackson. That would have been FUNNNNNNNNY.

[SixAndChange]

I thought it was pretty choice as well. Especially taking into consideration all the madness that goes on during these types of events. I heard Mr. Petty, I heard all the instruments and nothing stood out. Thats a win in my book, regardless of whether or not I thought the hi-hats sounded a little funky during the beginning.

[dannygold]

Now that the Pats lost I retract my statement... Tom Petty obviously put some kind of deep south voodoo on the Pats because he hates yankees. Boo tom petty!

[springer]

I thought the Anthem singer screwed up the lip sync as well... until I saw the refs screwing up their lip sync?>^%*??? Oh time delay... DOH! But it seemed like selctive time delay as certain things were right on and others off... weird.

[lomky]

aw geez:

Petty, Heartbreakers sound a bit too perfect at Super Bowl | Dallas Morning News | News for Dallas, Texas | Arts & Entertainment

[Jimbo]

Every time I saw "Super Bowl XLII", I couldn't help thinking that it was the new transformerless version with the C12 capsule remake, and SMT.

[SixAndChange]

Originally Posted by lomky

aw geez:

Petty, Heartbreakers sound a bit too perfect at Super Bowl | Dallas Morning News | News for Dallas, Texas | Arts & Entertainment

So does that make it official or what? Isnt that article just speculating as we are? They pointed at stuff like the sinc being off when he backs from the mic, but some of us even noticed the same thing occuring with the aforementioned refs and opening singer. I dunno if that makes me feel any more or less decided on the matter.

And honestly, I dont really care if he did or didnt. Im hardly expecting a quality musical performance at the Super Bowl, just a quick bit of entertainment.

[drmmrboy]

Originally Posted by bcgood

Tom Petty this year sounded quite a bit better than Prince last year in my opinion. All the people involved with the sound this year did a great job!

Agreed, & agreed..

Originally Posted by Jimbo

Every time I saw "Super Bowl XLII", I couldn't help thinking that it was the new transformerless version with the C12 capsule remake, and SMT.

[Sounds Great]

Originally Posted by bcgood

Tom Petty this year sounded quite a bit better than Prince last year in my opinion.

Nah, I'd say Prince by a mile.

[Jonathan Starr]

Great halftime show.

I don't buy into the DMN lipsynch theory; they were working hard to deal with a difficult environment and setup, and pulled it off better than previous years. Yes, there could have been more produced backup vocals, but so what. It's live guitar band rock 'n roll and the tunes and guitar solos worked great.

The Anthem singer was totally lame ass Fox Idol "never mind the talent" bullshit, and the venue deserved a pro instead of a promo for the Fox tv show.

Great game! love them comeback kids.

[FFTT]

Prince is a worthy performer and a known gifted musician, but Petty and Co.
have written so many hits, it's not a fair comparison.

When your friends and musical associates include the likes of Dylan, Harrison, Starr,
Lynn, Orbison then talk to me about raw talent.

Add to that more than 30 years of major concert tours and it's not that difficut
to see why this show was so together even if you do consider the technical difficulties
involved.

[IDOAUDIO]

Hey folks-
I was there, but on an outside stage with another act. I was there all week watching the nightmare unfold. A few friends I have worked with were involved in the halftime show.

From what I saw first-hand, it was all live, even the anthem. There were a few sync issues. If you watch the game and post game, you will see LOTS of sync issues. Example- when Terry Bradshaw gave the trophy, the audio / video sync was off. SO, I asked. It was explained to me, via the TD and a video utility- that they were using quite a few wireless camera systems, and they have latency. They had lots of standard Triax / Fiber fed HD cameras, but the wireless ones had the latency. They set the audio delay to match the wired cameras, but switching from one to the other you wold see a difference.

I know Future Sonics (ear monitors) were there all week handing out molds like crazy. Just like the world series (I've done)- the ear molds really all but hide the stadium effect / delay.

I saw Robert Scovill (long time Petty Engineer and one of the design team on Digi's live consoles) running around all week. I hear he mixed the show on a Digidesign Profile, but can't tell if it was the PA feed or the broadcast feed, I know he has done both in the past.

I blame the audio sync issues for the Pats losing.

Tim

[Jim vanBergen]

Frank,
Thanks for your first-hand insight & impressions.

Can you tell us who you were there with?

It looked like the indoor PA side was done by ATK from Los Angeles. Usually that's Pat Baltzell's gig. Did you get to hear the live mix? I'm curious how it sounded live. I have mixed live in Giants' Stadium, Yankeee Stadium, Flushing Meadows (home of the NY Mets) and no matter how good the PA is, mixes turn to mush in a flash.

It's a tough job, and I think they all did a good job.

JvB

[camitchell]

Originally Posted by FFTT

Prince is a worthy performer and a known gifted musician, but Petty and Co.
have written so many hits, it's not a fair comparison.

Love both Prince and Tom Petty ..... but Prince's has had plenty of hits. I think he had a billboard top ten for 19 years in a row.

Prince's show last year was more "inspired" to me. Tom and the boys showed up and did a
solid show.

Both are great.

[FFTT]

Rumor has it they seeded the clouds with the Goodyear Blimp so it would rain for Prince's performance.

[dogmusic]

Originally Posted by Jim vanBergen

Whaddya think about Tom Petty and the halftime show?

Sound was not as bad as some years...mix definitely improved as the songs went on, but... well, I'd like some other opinions.

No, it wasn't me. But one of my buddies who runs NMT trucks called and asked if it was my mix, b/c the opening song had too much vox and not enough drums & bass. I laughed... a little.

Anyway, share your thoughts?

JvB

I'm glad you asked, because I watched the performance on an HD TV with the 5.1 digital sound coming through my home system, and was really disappointed at how "thin" the mix was. The bass was like out of a Lawrence Welk show mix (I have a 15 inch subwoofer) and you could barely make out some of the snare drum work by Petty's drummer. This was only slightly improved by the end of the set. The overall sound was timid.