Will Madonna have a talent malfunction in the half time show?

[bassjones]

The best halftime show in recent years however is still Prince in 2006.

Jeff

It's Prince. Of course it was great. That little bastard is the greatest performer of any of our lifetimes. A helluva musician too.  U2 was also really good.

[X1Glider]

I thought the halftime show was tastefully done and executed, especially by the standards Madonna set for herself decades ago.  The ghetto trash guest singers detracted from the show IMO.  Madonna is an original.  She set the standard that her successors haven't risen to.  No middle ground with her.  You love her or hate her.  But you can't deny that she's a top notch showperson.  Which also makes the point that the half time show was not a Madonna concert.  It's a stage production.  She, like others before her, are simply performers in the show.

There's been a lot of flack about lip synching over the years with these halftime shows.  The pre-recording is done for a good reason and that's sound quality.  The way the PAs are laid out all over the stadium and the inherently poor acoustics of the architectural design do not make for good sound.   You just can't give everyone a live mic and not expect to have the sound coming from all over the place to re-enter the mic and regenerate as if you were singing through an echoplex set at 10 ms with regen on max and no decay.  Not to mention trying to tame mic feedback.

Technically, the show was great for the allotted time to set up, perform and break down.  At 53, she looked great.  Not as agile and flexible as her younger self.  But she did a mighty fine job.

Now, back to my Dream Theater...

[Scratch33]

You just can't give everyone a live mic and not expect to have the sound coming from all over the place to re-enter the mic and regenerate as if you were singing through an echoplex set at 10 ms with regen on max and no decay.

Next year's 1/2 time show will be Lou Reed performing his Metal Machine Music album in its entirety  

[DredheadV2.0]

Technology of the show was great. I thought everything was pre-recorded 'cept for Cee Lo, but I'll bow to Dred's superior knowledge in that regard.

I could be wrong.  I'll know in a couple days, though.

[Fourstring]

I could be wrong.  I'll know in a couple days, though.

Watching Cee-Lo "singing" in front on an army of snare drums had me   .  That's one amazing mic.

[DredheadV2.0]

Watching Cee-Lo "singing" in front on an army of snare drums had me   .  That's one amazing mic.

Considering he was barely audible when he started, much like LMFAO (and Fergie last year) I'm gonna go with "live mics" in Cee-Lo's case.

As far as the model - maybe you can identify it?  It looks like a Sennheiser SKM 5200 MKII.   Put a super- or hyper-cardioid capsule in there, and I'll betcha you wouldn't hear a grenade going off 10' away if it was properly gained.  Which actually might explain why we couldn't hear him at first.

[cbsnbiker]

Next year's 1/2 time show will be Lou Reed performing his Metal Machine Music album in its entirety  

The following year should be La Monte Young and his drones.  

[Fourstring]

Considering he was barely audible when he started, much like LMFAO (and Fergie last year) I'm gonna go with "live mics" in Cee-Lo's case.

As far as the model - maybe you can identify it?  It looks like a Sennheiser SKM 5200 MKII.   Put a super- or hyper-cardioid capsule in there, and I'll betcha you wouldn't hear a grenade going off 10' away if it was properly gained.  Which actually might explain why we couldn't hear him at first.

Yeah, I think it's a MKII, but who knows what's under the shell?  I do think he was live at least part of the time, especially when the two of them were on the riser, but I'd bet he was tracked for at least that portion of the show.  A row of snares like that would be almost impossible to gate; the volume those things put out is just ridiculous.

Edit to add- be really curious to hear what you find out. 

[antvq]

Holy crap!  Microphone NERDS!    

[Kneescrubber]

Next year Travis Pastrana and Mike Metzger.  


I quit watching the halftime show when they outed the marching bands. 1991.  



All kidding aside. It's a football game for me and I'm a football junkie. I really don't need all the "other" stuff. I mostly blame Up With People and Walt Disney Productions. I'm sure Madison Avenue and Pete Rozell had something to do with it too.  

[mxvet57]

Next year Travis Pastrana and Mike Metzger.  

Now that I'd pay to watch.

[stromgal]

There's been a lot of flack about lip synching over the years with these halftime shows.  The pre-recording is done for a good reason and that's sound quality.  The way the PAs are laid out all over the stadium and the inherently poor acoustics of the architectural design do not make for good sound.  

I beg to differ; it can be done. That's why I'd love to see Prince again, with modern lighting and visuals. His Superbowl show was live.

[cbsnbiker]

Holy crap!  Microphone NERDS!    

It looks just like a Telefunken U-47. You'll love it.

With leather?

[Mr.Black]

[DredheadV2.0]

It looks just like a Telefunken U-47. You'll love it.

The guys in the crew got a present for you.

[coho]

The guys in the crew got a present for you.

Unfortunately, they got it for you in Salt Lake City.

[garry]

It looks just like a Telefunken U-47. You'll love it.

If you want to get a bit more mic nerdy, Telefunken was just a distributor for Neumann and AKG mics, they never made their own mics. U47s were only made by Neumann, but re-badged by Telefunken. When Germany was split in half, Georg Neumann ended up on the west and his factory in Gefell in the east, which is how Gefell mics got started. So if you go way back, that U47 design could be found wearing three different badges.

[zer0netgain]

Madonna is a talent malfunction.

Not sure when, but I'm pretty sure she was "past it" after the 1980s.