Not my bad mix, but the BBC!

[rob aylestone]

I have to say I am very disappointed with this mix. It is the BBC Proms. Normally a great event, visually and sonically. This time I hated it. Not the musicianship, but the lack of coordination between what we saw and heard. The BBC have always been very good at matching the audio mix with the visuals. This often meant different mixes for radio and TV, but here we would see a featured instrument and find it totally missing from the mix. Other times we would see and hear something badly wrong. For example, when the guitars start, in one channel we get brass going Pa-paaa. This part is correct but not the critical part. We hear the brass in one part and in the foreground the strings playing like mad, but missing from the mix. The end section in the original, started ppp and built to a climax. Here it’s just loud from the onset. The climax doesn’t happen at all. It’s NOT YouTube the original is wonderful, but it looks like there was a compressor on the output and robbed it of the excitement.

It makes me wonder what the mixer actually thought it should sound like and they missed the point totally.

 

[Papanate]

Maybe they were mixing for Small TV screens? - Certainly is flat sounding.

 

[TalismanRich]

I didn't think it was all that bad, but I'm just listening on my laptop with those massive 0.75" speakers. It was refreshing just to hear Tubular Bells again (it's been ages!)

How many rock videos have we seen where we get to the guitar or organ solo and instead of showing someone really getting into playing their instrument, we get the lead singer dancing around shaking a tambourine?

Who wants to watch Jimmy Page, when you can see that sexy Robert Plant in his tight jeans?