Feedback...

[liadnan]

... is something you expect at some events. Those events do not include the BBC Proms. In particular you don't expect a concert to be delayed by almost an hour because of continuous feedback at the BBC Proms, which after all have a fair number of BBC sound engineers around.

Anne Sophie von Otter (Mahler, Rückert Lieder) and Sib 5 extremely good though.

Comments

[ksta.livejournal.com]

i caught the end of the sibelius. a fab symphony.

[liadnan]

Isn't it. We did it in youth orchestra (I played horn, so a good piece for us) and I've loved it ever since.

[(Anonymous)]

ooooh, jealous. I think I've played adifferent one. I remember there was a lot of counting, it was quite difficult.

[knell.livejournal.com]

Feedback's weird shit, especially in places with weird acoustics like the Albert Hall. Eliminating it during setup time is a tedious process involving a lot of fiddling with equalisation to cut the frequencies most likely to cause feedback while still making the output sound good. Getting rid of some particularly
awkward feedback can cause problems for even the most experienced knob-twiddler.

There's no magic wand for eliminating it. Well, there are these things called feedback eliminators which detect feedback and cut the relevant frequencies in response, but they're generally considered lazy and (at least in my day, aye) aren't particularly approved of as they can muck with the frequency profile of your signal in unpredictable ways. This is okay for live sound on the whole, but not if you're recording it (and not if you've got anally-retentive people like Radio 3 listeners on the other end of the circuit).

[liadnan]

A friend who was in the arena with me, who coincidentally happens to be a BBC sound bod, wandered off to see if they needed more people (which they did): he told me later they were still not entirely sure what had happened, they'd just found a knob to twiddle (or possibly a more technical equivalent) that did the necessary. Though they suspected the basic problem arose in the Albert Hall's stuff rather than the broadcasting stuff (or in the interface between the two: I became confused at this point).

Nick Kenyon, (who runs the proms) said he'd never heard of such a problem occurring at the proms before, still first time for everything I guess.

Albert Hall acoustically appalling in any case of course...

[http://users.livejournal.com/_hypatia_/]

feedback or no feedback I can only envy your being in the audience for von Otter - I love her voice in every musical form I've heard from her.

Have been rather slack on LJ recently, due to the inconvenience from real life so I'll also take the opportunity to wish you all the best in sunny Jersey (I rather envy six months there as well :)). If you have a drink on one of your return trips I'll endeavour to hook up with young gmh and associated reprobates and share a small whisk(e)y #-)

[liadnan]

Goodo. I'll be around: look forward to a drink at some point then.

proms feedback feedback

[(Anonymous)]

Prior to our chat on Saturday in J&L's garden, I met a friend of mine, who is one of the Radio 3 Studio Managers yesterday, who was also there in an "audience" capacity. I'm please to announce that the feedback wasn't the fault of the BBC, but the outdated and complex equipment, and positively mediaeval understanding of technology, to be found in the Albert Hall.
Of course, if it had been deliberate and had been called "Feedback syumphony No. 6" it would have received rapturous applause. You're a fickle lot you prommers.

Oh, and I know I don't have a ae ligature key on my keyboard but I refuse to obey the spell checker and change mediaeval to medieval