Who is doing sound for the inauguration?

[charlienyc]

i'm curious, because this ensemble with yo yo and itzhak perlman sounds fantastic!! kudos

[pkautzsch]

Indeed a good job that is.
Seen a TLM 103.

--> Must have been Steve

[d_fu]

Also saw some Earthworks mics, I think...

They should have practised that oath of office beforehand, though...

[boojum]

Originally Posted by d_fu

Also saw some Earthworks mics, I think...

They should have practised that oath of office beforehand, though...

It seemed a struggle between the Chief Justice and the President to see who was in charge. ;o)

[navitus]

LOL, i was also on the lookout for gear!

[fifthcircle]

Didn't see a TLM 103 in there, but I did see the Earthworks and a TLM 170...

There were major sound issues on the ABC broadcast- bad enough that I left for NBC which seemed better. The mix of the Marine band was really bad for much of the broadcast and the sync was going off by as much as 0.5 seconds.

Not sure about the broadcast, but the sound from much of what the Marine band does is handled in house by their full time engineer.

--Ben

[Funkster]

ditto! I was blown away by how good the quartet sounded (on NBC)! Nice arrangement too.

[Schaap]

Originally Posted by fifthcircle

Didn't see a TLM 103 in there, but I did see the Earthworks and a TLM 170...
--Ben

My thoughts too. The ensemble sounded great, also the Marine choir here on TV in the Netherlands.

[zoff]

Originally Posted by boojum

It seemed a struggle between the Chief Justice and the President to see who was in charge. ;o)

From what I understand the Chief Justice screwed up the words (not to mention he stepped on Obama's lines) , and Obama tried to correct it.

[d_fu]

I somehow eneded up watching a UK broadcast (Sky News), and the sound was good. Obviously, some reverb was added (well audible on the clarinet - BTW, who was the clarinet player, hadn't heard his name).

Originally Posted by zoff

From what I understand the Chief Justice screwed up the words (not to mention he stepped on Obama's lines) , and Obama tried to correct it.

At first, Obama seemed too eager and repeated "I, Barack Hussein Obama" before waiting for the rest of the line ("do solemnly swear"), then seemed to be unable to fully remember the second line - but I'd have to watch it again, might have been a mistake by the CJ also that confused him.
[EDIT]Just saw it again - it was the CJ who wrongly placed the word "faithfully" at the end of the second line (instead of "faithfully execute"). He also said "president to the US"... Seems Obama noticed and paused to give the CJ an opportunity to correct himself...

Let's hope the presidency isn't rendered invalid by an incorrectly executed oath of office...

[iluvatar]

I missed most of the music, but I did notice that his speech sounded stellar even over MSNBC.com's stuttering player.

-Dan.

[fifthcircle]

Originally Posted by d_fu

I somehow eneded up watching a UK broadcast (Sky News), and the sound was good. Obviously, some reverb was added (well audible on the clarinet - BTW, who was the clarinet player, hadn't heard his name).

Anthony McGill... He's a young star in the clarinet world. He is the principal clarinetist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, teaches at Peabody Conservatory, and winner of a Avery Fisher Career Grant

--Ben

[audio ergo sum]

Originally Posted by Funkster

ditto! I was blown away by how good the quartet sounded (on NBC)! Nice arrangement too.

I didn't hear the piano well. The national anthem in the end sounded awful, needed a little reverb and better mic placement. Also the speeches sounded dry and transported the atmosphere of isolation. Some more atmosphere would have made for a better sonic representation of the connection to the hundreds of thousands of people that were there in this huge place. Didn't happen sonically.

[d_fu]

Originally Posted by audio ergo sum

Also the speeches sounded dry and transported the atmosphere of isolation. Some more atmosphere would have made for a better sonic representation of the connection to the hundreds of thousands of people that were there in this huge place. Didn't happen sonically.

Actually, a bit too much of that happened in some places... Ambient mics' faders were pulled up when the crowd applauded, and pulled down too late after the speech resumed on occasions, causing a blurred sound because of pickup from all the speakers in the area. Would have been difficult to add ambience without this affecting intelligibility.

My 5-year-old daughter strongly disliked Aretha Franklin's singing... Guess she prefers classical, her mom's a soprano...

Daniel

[mixedupsteve]

I'm going to guess Clair Bros. They did Chicago:
Coppermine Photo Gallery - Obama - Chicago

I saw it on CNN and I thought it was fantastic. The clarinet and the piano were a little low for me but still well done. Aretha Franklin sounded great!

It did sound a bit dry, but for broadcast it may have been best that way. On CNN they left the audience reaction up a little long one time and you could hear the echo caused by the delays. Very strange.

[matthewd]

Hi American friends

On the issue of sync with the music, I don't know how you guys do it but certainly state events in which I have involved with for the BBC usually have the military band music prerecorded so they march to playback - therefore you won't necessarily see any mics because they are not recording anything. It will be coming out of the PA for those in attendance and the bandleader will have in ear monitor - sorry to shatter any illusions - I hope I won't be sent to the tower for breaking confidence.

Matt

[Barnabas]

Sound company for the Inauguration:

Obama inaugural is dream job for Baltimore sound company -- baltimoresun.com

To me, the mics for the quartet seemed to be too far away to pick up as well as they did. The Earthworks mic appeared to be about three feet in front of the violin. The Neuman in front of the cello seemed to be almost equal distant from the violin and clarinet. I'm surprised they got much separation from those mics and surprised that the ambient sound was not any louder.

[waveterm]

I like this quote :

" The primary microphone into which Obama will deliver his inaugural address is among the most important and expensive items in Maryland Sound's inventory,"

Uhm.....yeah. Looked like the standard 2x SM-57 arrangement to me.

WT

[Corran]

I was so excited to see that Earthworks mic! I don't know why - I was just happy to tell someone "hey, I have some of those ". They did sound very good.

Anyone else bust out laughing at the end of Aretha's solo when feedback suddenly burst out?!

[Jim vanBergen]

Originally Posted by Corran

Anyone else bust out laughing at the end of Aretha's solo when feedback suddenly burst out?!

Heck yes. It was sad, but also funny for those of us who know how hard these gigs are! She is one of those singers who demands the room in which she sings to be at 70 degrees, so it was obviously very hard on her today. I thought she did a good job, all things considered.

MSI did the live sound, though I saw Firehouse F12 monitors everywhere, not MSI's brand. I don't know which truck did the broadcast, who the audio mixer and who the music mixer were for broadcast. With this many elements, I expect there were several mixers involved in the broadcast feed. I expect we'll see some tech specs in the upcoming months on who mixed what.

Clair won bids for the *ten* of the parties (inaugural balls, as they call them ) happening tonight. They do a great job with concerts, not so great with podium gigs. I hope people remember what they liked and didn't like, instead of drinking too much and saying, "whoo-hoo, U2 played!"

I was impressed that you could hear the slap from the audience all the way at the mall responding seconds later after the nearfield audience to the content. Seemed to me that the ambient mics were too few, or that one pair was too close and the others too far. It's very easy for us to "armrest quarterback" or "backseat drive" compared to the guys who obviously pulled off a pretty good job for a major one-off with little to no rehearsal.

Does anyone know what specific cello was used? Yo-Yo Ma had talked in advance about using a carbon fiber cello instead of his $2million piece for this weather, and what we saw today looked pretty darn new. If it was carbon fiber or his "spare" I'd be interested to know.
I mixed Perlman's quartet for 9/11 memorial and I thought they managed to get a passable representation without hearing any of the PA in the mix, not an easy thing to pull off. I'd love to know what it sounded like up close.

[slaphappygarry]

Hey,

Check out this thread:

In defense of live on air mix engineers!

I think it is very appropriate before this one gets a little brutal.

G

[Corran]

Yeah I didn't mean to say that I could do it better or anything, I just thought it was funny. I hate live mixing, so I'll stick with recording!

[Jules]

Originally Posted by d_fu

Let's hope the presidency isn't rendered invalid by an incorrectly executed oath of office...

That occurred to me too..

Hey! Loose chads one year, incorrectly executed oath of office the next - wadda ya gonna do?

The woman speaker did her bit great.

I really enjoyed the classical piece despite the rather 'uphill' mix and Aretha too - re feedback I thought I saw her drop her hand holding the mic and point it right at the monitor wedges right after she stopped..

[slaphappygarry]

Originally Posted by Corran

Yeah I didn't mean to say that I could do it better or anything, I just thought it was funny. I hate live mixing, so I'll stick with recording!

Not at all aimed at you. I read that thread right after reading this one and it struck me as being very valid.



G

[mixedupsteve]

I should have guessed MSI since I live in MD.
Yeah those mics looked like standard VIP 57s to me, but who knows.
I didn't hear any feedback on CNN. Everything sounded very "close miced" to me. A little clipping at the very beginning maybe. Nice job overall.

[henryrobinett]

I was just amazed that Yo Yo Ma didn't appear to read any music at all. Everyone else appeared to be reading. That's what I was amazed at. And John Williams' arrangement was wonderful.

[resound]

I wasn't that crazy about the Williams piece, but I am biased as a composer. It did have some nice moments, though.

What struck me was the instrumentation: e.g., Messiaen's Quatour. I wonder if there was any meaning behind that? Talk about an instrumentation so closely associated with despair, hope, and transcendence in the darkest of times.

Perhaps a little commentary only us true music geeks would pick-up on?

[Corran]

I also noticed that. I was actually hoping they'd play Messiaen's piece as I love his work (and "Quartet for the End of Time" sounds so much more appropriate in our current economic climate ).

[henryrobinett]

Hm. As I said I really liked the arrangement. But it wasn't really Williams' composition. It was based on Copland's Appalachian Spring and his, Copland's, adoption of an old Shaker song. But you knew that . . .

[dbssound1]

I Played the Luncheon today in the capital (I was pretty amazing). The sound inside was hideous. It looked like they were using a passport for reinforcement (it wasn't, but it looked like it!).