ECMA + CBC

Kudos to the ECMA and the CBC for a good show tonight, but could somebody please fire the sound people: the voices of the performers weren’t synced properly to the video for the first 15 minutes or so of the broadcast, and the quality of the mix, especially starting off, was abysmal (note to Rest of Canada: Chucky Danger Band sounds about 1000% better than you heard them tonight on the CBC). Then there were the drop-outs and the fuzzy bits that appeared at random throughout. Things got better as the broadcast progressed, and by the time Buddy MacMaster came on stage they appeared to be over the worst.

As to the new PEI television commercials, I’m going to reserve judgement until I’ve seen the whole lot.

Comments

alexander o'neill's picture
alexander o'neill on February 28, 2006 - 07:37 Permalink

I made this into a blog post but I’ll cross-post it here since it’s my impressions of the show as well.

Wow, CBC, fire your sound guys. That was terrible. Wintersleep sounded pretty good, they were the hilight of the show for me. I always love watching Loel drum and the backup vocals were a nice touch. Chucky Danger are cute but not all that interesting, I expect they’ll have a fairly successful career getting token airplay on Magic 93 and playing at high school dances.

I was happy to see Slowcoaster win an award, but really disappointed that the ‘alternative rock’ award didn’t merit being included in the main show presentation and was shuffled off to a 10 second segment in the ‘awards given out earlier’ sections. Those bands are the ones pushing new musical styles and actually doing something different, and if the ECMA people wanted to appeal to younger people by hiring the Trailer Park Boys to host they really dropped the ball by not making a bigger deal out of this category.

Natalie McMaster’s talking about her uncle Buddy and then her performance were wonderful. I was happy to hear a slower, more soulful fiddle tune as opposed ot the stereotypical jigs you usually associate with the cheesiest of Maritime music.

The Trailer Park Boys bits weren’t all that funny, and I’m getting sick of the characters rather rapidly, but to be fair it was definitely way better than the skits and canned dialog you hear at most awards shows.

Alan's picture
Alan on February 28, 2006 - 13:41 Permalink

I thought these PEI ads were pretty good. In the past by their focus on what the province has to offer (according to this year’s consultants) ad campaigns, I thought, conveyed a sense of a place that did not exist. These ads, however, and the Gentle Island theme are supposed to not focus what the province has to offer and thereby presents it as it is. “Gentle” is the word I always use to describe the old neighbourhood and the old neighbours.

Alan's picture
Alan on February 28, 2006 - 13:43 Permalink

PS: Bubbles singing “Liquor and Whores” as a sing-along was one of the great moments in Canadian comedy.

Steven Garrity's picture
Steven Garrity on February 28, 2006 - 14:55 Permalink

Disappointing to hear it came across so poorly on TV. The sound and overall production was great at the actual live show.

Ann's picture
Ann on February 28, 2006 - 15:01 Permalink

Ditto on the sound. The problem happens every year and is very disappointing.

The very best ad on the show — and maybe ever — was the Holland College kitchen party ad. I’d sure like to know who did it — it was brilliant.

Bob's picture
Bob on February 28, 2006 - 22:23 Permalink

The sound for the pre-broadcast portion of the show was terrible. Specifically, Andrea Curry’s number- the sound guy must have been out for a smoke. She gets a great showcase opportunity like that in front of six thousand people and that’s what she gets. He owes her a huge apology!

Perry Williams did the Holland College ad.

Ann's picture
Ann on March 1, 2006 - 17:07 Permalink

Thanks, Bob

Perry Williams is a star of the very highest magnitude.

Kevin O'Brien's picture
Kevin O'Brien on March 2, 2006 - 14:02 Permalink

(Alan: the duct-tape-improvised guitar strap was the icing on it)

A/V out of sync: The screens inside the Civic Centre remained .5 seconds out of sync with the stage audio for the entire show — contrast that with the Stones concert in Moncton where they had three sets of screens, each further from the stage than the previous, which were seperately sync’d to have the sound from the stage match the video *at that distance from the stage*.

I’m sure the Stones spent more though.

tom's picture
tom on March 2, 2006 - 18:55 Permalink

Once again, the CBC’s Halifax crew is screwed by our counterparts in Toronto. For the first 19 minutes of the show, some brain surgeon in T.O. married the video feed from satelite (an inherent half-second delay) to the back up feed audio (landline — no delay). Days of hard work and sync tests out the window and once again we look the fool.

Peter Rukavina's picture
Peter Rukavina on March 2, 2006 - 19:07 Permalink

I retract my “fire the sound guys” comment and insert a “fire Toronto”.