A pet peeve with bands on TV

drumr0 · #1 01-01-2008, 04:19 PM

I have always had a little pet peeve about watching a band on tv that is not actually playing, maybe the singer is singing, but the rest of the thing is just a soundtrack and the other guys are "playing along." I know there are reasons for this, but once again, to me, all it does is highlight the singer, which is a shame.

I was watching the Dick Clark count down last night and thought the bands were actually playing. The sure give away to me is that the drums aren't miked. These drums were miked, but once again the other give away happened..The drummer was playing the ride cymbal, and the hi hat is what I was hearing. The Jonas Brothers drummer messed up one bar where he should have been doing a tom breakdown instead of a hi hat/snare beat.

I know this is kind of dumb, but I enjoy watching people actually play music, and if they mess up, that just makes them human!

GRUNTERSDAD · #2 01-01-2008, 04:33 PM

I guess when its live and its 20 degrees outside, and you can't have a do-over, recordings are necessary. One of the best faked ever was the National Anthem at the Super Bowl here in Tampa. Not only was Whitney Houston lip-syncing but so was the Florida Orchestra. Supposedly one of the best anthems ever, "is it live or is it Memorex?" Live TV has its limitations.

drummerchick435 · #3 01-01-2008, 04:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by drumr0

I have always had a little pet peeve about watching a band on tv that is not actually playing, maybe the singer is singing, but the rest of the thing is just a soundtrack and the other guys are "playing along." I know there are reasons for this, but once again, to me, all it does is highlight the singer, which is a shame.

I was watching the Dick Clark count down last night and thought the bands were actually playing. The sure give away to me is that the drums aren't miked. These drums were miked, but once again the other give away happened..The drummer was playing the ride cymbal, and the hi hat is what I was hearing. The Jonas Brothers drummer messed up one bar where he should have been doing a tom breakdown instead of a hi hat/snare beat.

I know this is kind of dumb, but I enjoy watching people actually play music, and if they mess up, that just makes them human!

Yeah...it is a pet peeve of mine too, but you gotta remember that most people don't play music, and more specifically most people don't know the difference between a ride and hihat. It's sad I know, but I still enjoy it.

The Jonas Brothers ROCK!!! I wanna meet them one day.

#4 01-01-2008, 06:53 PM

I only caught Carrie Underwood last night and I thought the drummer was playing. Though I spent most of the time trying to figure out what model Gretsch kit he was playing so I wasn't paying as much attention :)

burnthehero · #5 01-01-2008, 08:52 PM

It's amuzing. I think the funniest/coolest example of this was when The Who did "My Generation" on the smother's brothers comedy hour. Watching Keith Moon just cracks me up. And then the explosion at the end is the icing on the cake.

Fassa Albrecht · #6 01-05-2008, 01:32 AM

I'm also a technician as well as a drummer/bassist and I'm telling you, live mic'ing and set-up is one of the hardest things to get right. The studio may not have good accustics, the sequencing may be too hard to do live, the amps might not be strong enough to do it (or too powerful)...there are a whole host of things that could be the problem.

A good example of this is a live version of Subculture done by New Order. The room they played in was tiny, with bad accoustics and some very bad equipment. The result was a disaster- the bass rattled around the room, the cymbals sounded tinny and the vocals were terrible,

Pete Stoltman · #7 01-05-2008, 04:35 PM

I'm old enough to remember seeing a lot of bands on shows like American Bandstand and others that had artists lip synching to their songs. It was painfully obvious even to non-musicians that these guys were just there "window dressing" to hype song sales. It was really funny watching drummers try very hard to not actually hit their drums or cymbals.

SLEEPY BRiGHT EYEZ · #8 01-07-2008, 05:44 AM

I understand the challenges, but it is a pet peeve of mine as well. I mean, when I go to see a band play live at a bar (or wherever), I don't really expect it to sound like the album. I want the rawness. I want the mistakes. I want to know that these are actually musicians doing their thing.

drumr0 · #9 01-07-2008, 09:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pete Stoltman

I'm old enough to remember seeing a lot of bands on shows like American Bandstand and others that had artists lip synching to their songs. It was painfully obvious even to non-musicians that these guys were just there "window dressing" to hype song sales. It was really funny watching drummers try very hard to not actually hit their drums or cymbals.

I remember this too. I think Soul Train did the same thing. I remember a band on AB where the drummer just had his drums lying around on the stage and no cymbals. I believe he was sitting on the bass drum just hitting around on stuff during the song, maybe it was Adam Ant or someone like that..funny stuff.

drumr0 · #10 01-07-2008, 09:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SLEEPY BRiGHT EYEZ

I understand the challenges, but it is a pet peeve of mine as well. I mean, when I go to see a band play live at a bar (or wherever), I don't really expect it to sound like the album. I want the rawness. I want the mistakes. I want to know that these are actually musicians doing their thing.

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