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Should the amateur contestants wear ear monitors like the pro's do?
ribtickle
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Whenever a professional singer sings live these days they tend to wear ear monitors, which look like wired hearing aids. These allow them to hear their singing voices clearly, especially above any loud noise from the band or backing track, and it also helps them keep better time with the music. Some are 'noise cancelling', so that background sounds are reduced, helping full concentration on the voice.
If you cannot hear yourself adequately when you sing you'll either give a poorer performance or sing off pitch, particularly during the tricky bit at the opening of a verse after a vocal pause where other noise can throw you.
Most top pro's would refuse to appear unless they had their ear monitors. David Bowie, for example, has been using them longer than most. Will Young removed a pair when he spoke to Dermot after his performance last Saturday.
None of the amateurs who take part in these contests use them, and so they occasionally sing a 'bum note', particularly after a break, and occasionally can continue doing so during an entire verse, to the extent you could be forgiven for thinking they are tone deaf. Inevitably the audience thinks they're poor singers, wonder "how did he/she make it through to the finals?", and the panel refer to these tuning problems.
Do you think the amateurs should be allowed to use ear monitors, to monitor their voice more clearly, so that they are on a level playing field with the pro's?
This Saturday, should Mariah Carey sing live, she will surely wear them, while the amateurs around her, should they sing backing vocals, will not.
If you cannot hear yourself adequately when you sing you'll either give a poorer performance or sing off pitch, particularly during the tricky bit at the opening of a verse after a vocal pause where other noise can throw you.
Most top pro's would refuse to appear unless they had their ear monitors. David Bowie, for example, has been using them longer than most. Will Young removed a pair when he spoke to Dermot after his performance last Saturday.
None of the amateurs who take part in these contests use them, and so they occasionally sing a 'bum note', particularly after a break, and occasionally can continue doing so during an entire verse, to the extent you could be forgiven for thinking they are tone deaf. Inevitably the audience thinks they're poor singers, wonder "how did he/she make it through to the finals?", and the panel refer to these tuning problems.
Do you think the amateurs should be allowed to use ear monitors, to monitor their voice more clearly, so that they are on a level playing field with the pro's?
This Saturday, should Mariah Carey sing live, she will surely wear them, while the amateurs around her, should they sing backing vocals, will not.
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Obviously I've no idea how good the stage monitors are but the in ear ones would certainly help.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=zchE7drjVHQ
You can see them from 40 seconds onwards
no one else had them
I commented on the live thread about it
I must have missed that, but I'm glad to hear it, and yes, they probably thought it was more justified for a group.
There's no excuse for them not to let everyone use them these days, as the equipment isn't as expensive as it used to be.
They were the only people singing as a group, or with live backing vocals.
Fair enough I say.
The most famous [and nightmarish!] example, of course, is Jemini in the Eurovision Song Contest. That poor girl was almost a semitone sharp for the entire first verse, and she was universally ridiculed as if she couldn't hold a tune to save her life....but it wasn't that simple! She pitched the first note sharp and stayed consistently sharp for the entire verse without realising it. An in-ear monitor would have spared her (and us!) that embarrassment!
I also remember something similar happened to that blonde girl from EastEnders (Kim something?) and Ade Edmonson when they sang You're The One That I Want on Comic Relief Celeb Fame Academy a few years ago. Again, they sounded as if they were horrendously off-key, but they were in the *wrong* key because they couldn't hear the track!
Sorry, wandered off topic a bit there. But yes, I think in-ear monitors would make a huge difference to everyone.
Thing is - all of the girls might be wearing them - but you would not see them beneath the long hair. We'll all keep our eyes open next saturday and see who is wearing them. I think they all are.
I'd rather take my chances with a floor monitor and move to a position where I got the best sound.
It is possible, if experienced, to know what pitch you are producing without being able to hear yourself, but not all vocalists can do this even with experience.
In any case, when it comes to front of house mix vs what you hear through moniters, weather in ear or floor,you are to a great degree at the mercy of the person running sound.
...best advice I ever remember getting as far as this topic....be nice to the soundman!
From reading the very informative (thanks everyone) stuff on this thread perhaps eggnog would benefit most from it. There must be something about him that the judges see but to me he just sounds terrible and out of tune every week. This must be the reason. Plug his ear and see if he sounds any better!
I don't think anyone else has, apart from JLS, who must've thrown me because they already have every kind of ear adornment. Austin didn't use them, I've re-checked his performances at YouTube, and I haven't noticed Daniel or Eoghan using them in the couple of clips I reviewed.
Good point about the girls, but in week 1 when Alex sang Wanna Dance With Somebody her hair was tied up and she wasn't using in-ear monitors.