I know its not their usual location but in the past the BBC would never have had such problems. They had skilled outside broadcast people who wouldnt be phased by such a building.

Last nights sound was atrocious. It was up and down all night.

Yes, it was awful. The worst i've ever heard. I also generally dislike the way the crowd's clapping is mixed in wih the music every week. Ghastly.

You have to remember where they were. Ancient old Tower ballroom in naff seaside town, with appalling lighting and ancient technology. It's not going to be BBC standard is it? Those places may have once been wonderful but they are rarely maintained properly. (The Dome in Brighton is a rarity).

Sentimentality is understandable, but when I was organising media events I found places like that were stick stuck in the dark and managed by people who had been there too long and hated change.

The lighting was the pits. And having dancers leave the arena behind the judges was silly. Prob down to some daft and ancient house rule.

....AND to be able to hear Tess nattering for the first part of Rod's song - only one word for it ...... AMATEURISH

Love Blackpool ballrooms - best floors anywhere - it may be old and not as modern as some places but it has a history and an atmosphere you don't get anywhere else - pity the BBC sound department where not up to the challenge .

Yes, I noticed that - it really did ruin, what for me at least, was a really well produced show.

I had really been looking forward to the Blackpool show, and initially thought it was just a BBC HD problem, as they have had so many problems with sound recently, however BBC1 also had sound issues.

Everyone involved must feel let down by the appalling sound.

john

There is a reason why some institutions and events thrive in small towns, situated some distance from a metropolis and by design inconvenient to reach. Washington DC is safely away from the powerhouse of New York City. Ottawa is separate from Toronto. Canberra is away from Sydney.

Political HQs like London, Paris, Moscow, Beijing situated inside the capital city find themselves captive of the mindset of the metropolis more than of the nation. In times of rioting the metropolitan mobs hold the nation to ransom.

The Shepherds Bush audience was always packed with the London elite, and viewers north of Watford were very aware it was London's show. Blackpool being 5 hours travel from London, anybody who went to the seaside had chosen to. Last night showcased dance for the enchantment of the audience as much as for the participants. It was like a holiday outing to a special place.

Whilst I agree there were a couple of 'cockups' with people talking whilst the music was playing (eg Rod Stewart), I felt the whole atmosphere of being in a proper dance hall was created by the sound engineers. The studios in London have a somewhat 'recorded' type feel to them, but this was absolutely buzzing and you really felt you were there - and that it was a live show.
A number of the performers - pros and the celebs commented on what an amazing atmosphere it was last night, and this was transmitted to us on our sofas. This is what real live performances sound like! - and they're good.
And just for the record, I thought the live music AND the singers were wonderful last night.

Totally agree....I made a couple of similar posts last night....The atmosphere last night just made you realise how anodyne and dull a state of the art TV studio can be.Last night really did feel like a LIVE show....For the first time SCD felt like event TV.....Yes the sound was a bit hit and miss...but then if you watch the x-factor they have suffered with exactly the same problems when broadcasting a live show with a large audience.

The sound was all too clear to me!
I distinctly heard some caterwauling.
Not to mention some yakking.
And then I swear I heard Alesha Dixon make a very unkind remark to Craig Kelly.

The sound was working all too well at my end...

To be honest I would rather they had turned Rod down so I could hear what they were saying

Aside from that I agree with you.

I agree with you entirely, but why single out last night?! It is awful every week, as is pretty much every single technical aspect of the show. Camera work, direction, synching, mix; all of it is below a standard we should expect given it's our poll tax that goes to paying the inflated salaries of these people! That the show is still enjoyable and successful owes nothing to the present incumbents and everything to Jane Lush and her team (Fenia Vardanis in particular) who had the idea originally. Would that someone could take it on and produce it properly.

I thought it was poor right at the start but improved soon after. Did you all watch the clip from ITT about the sound department and the work they do on SCD. I'm sure the head of sound said they were putting in extra mikes for Blackpool.

I'm just about to watch it again so will check if the sound quality is poor all through or not.

Have to disagree. Yes there were some glitches, a couple of time when the gain was too high and mixing in the off camera mic during Rod's bit. But these things happen on a live show. (You do want it to be live?) It's a pretty small time and have to move a lot of equipment and set up a lot of final mix outputs, HD, standard TV, on-line, 5.1 and the front of house. They hardly get any time with the band to set this up and are pretty much mixing live.

I have to confess a certain obession with mixes and often listen to 3 or 4 of them on a Sunday, (not the entire show, just interesting bits where I'm sure I heard them change something).

I thought they captured the soundscape of a large hall very well and still managed the 'intimate' mics well. It's quite a job to keep the costume mics down so they don't pick up extraneous coughs etc, but open them just in time to catch comments, e.g. the comments between partners when they get saved.