Beats by Dre Mic on American Idol

[scud133]

Originally Posted by johndykstra

What show are you watching?

Up until Motown week, every contestant was using the Beats logo'ed Blue Encore mic. For Motown week, every contestant was using a Sennheiser.

From what I understand, (as relayed to me through a Blue inside sales rep), is that being Blue does not have a wireless product, Idol was a testing ground. They were using Line 6's wireless protocol. Given the mass exodus, I'd say it failed. Again, Beats has obviously paid a small fortune for their product placement. The fact that they were absent from stage last week tells me that there is something about them that made tweaking an impossibility.

To my ears... Subjectively... the difference was immediately apparent.

There was one episode where some people were using the Beats mic and some were using Senns. And the difference was immediately apparent.

[johndykstra]

I must have missed that one. Maybe the Mentalist was on...

[Remoteness]

Originally Posted by scud133

There was one episode where some people were using the Beats mic and some were using Senns. And the difference was immediately apparent.

I wonder if that was with or without EQ to match the sound of those two brands?

[Remoteness]

Originally Posted by johndykstra

<snip>...From what I understand, (as relayed to me through a Blue inside sales rep), is that being Blue does not have a wireless product, Idol was a testing ground. They were using Line 6's wireless protocol. Given the mass exodus, I'd say it failed. Again, Beats has obviously paid a small fortune for their product placement. The fact that they were absent from stage last week tells me that there is something about them that made tweaking an impossibility.

To my ears... Subjectively... the difference was immediately apparent.

Man, if true, imagine what the engineers were feeling when they realized that those mics were not tweakable?

[johndykstra]

Remote,

I'm not sure what it is you are getting at. Have you ever worked a show where a band brings there own wireless, and it happens to be a 200 series Audio Technica? While the capsule itself my very well be fine, the wireless transfer squashes and bandlimits the response, rendering it useless. NO eq on earth is going to save it.

I'm not saying that's necessarily the case here. But what else can explain the show abandoning a sponsor so abruptly? I'm pretty sure the engineers on Idol know how to boost a bit of 3k... And I'm pretty sure they would try everything they could in order to continue relentless product placement.

[Remoteness]

What I was getting at was, if true, imagine how they felt when they realized they couldn't tweak the problems away.

I have indeed worked shows where a band or guest engineer brought in inferior wireless systems (or other gear for that matter) that did not perform as advertised and it seriously sucked.

...and, you are correct, no EQ on earth is going to save that scenario for sure.

I didn't hear any squashing due to the wireless system, so perhaps a bit of EQ could have helped the situation, but I don't know because I fast-forward through that show a lot.

IMHO, I heard a lot of assumptions and who knows, you might be right for the most part, but I'd rather hear it from one of the (hard working) folks from the show.
I'm sure they can shed some light on this matter.

Not promising anything, but I will look into it.

Originally Posted by johndykstra

Remote,

I'm not sure what it is you are getting at. Have you ever worked a show where a band brings there own wireless, and it happens to be a 200 series Audio Technica? While the capsule itself my very well be fine, the wireless transfer squashes and bandlimits the response, rendering it useless. NO eq on earth is going to save it.

I'm not saying that's necessarily the case here. But what else can explain the show abandoning a sponsor so abruptly? I'm pretty sure the engineers on Idol know how to boost a bit of 3k... And I'm pretty sure they would try everything they could in order to continue relentless product placement.

[Micah421]

Hey Guys, embarrassed to say I love the show. I've always been a sucker to see any rags to riches story, plus I think it's fun and exciting to hear people use their talent singing. Anyways I did notice the "Beats" stickers, hats, headphones all over the show, it's all "product placement". Fox gets a ton of money every time it shows up on camera, same with the coke cups they use ect. Any product that gets someone's name on the item is for marketing purposes.

[johndykstra]

sorry. misunderstanding

I was trying to make a joke based on the interactions round you. ...friendly fire.

[johndykstra]

I am FLOORED that Pia was sent home. FLOORED.

[Igotsoul4u]

I would not mix on them, but they are great for pure listening despite the hype. I like a little extra bass.

[Sounds Great]

Originally Posted by johndykstra

I am FLOORED that Pia was sent home. FLOORED.

I really think it was her vibrato.

Earlier she was my odds on favorite, but that constant full on trill in her voice was getting annoying. She needs more vocal training.