Grammy “Sounding” Board
Carrie Underwood
Is it live or is it Memorex?
Remember that old commercial for magnetic tape? Remember magnetic tape? Anyhow, the gist of it was guessing whether what you heard was pre-recorded or not. And that was the game I played all night long during the Grammy telecast.
Not surprisingly, Music City’s finest fared best. Those were unquestionably live vocals by Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus during their performance of Taylor’s song “Fifteen.” That’s especially cool because Taylor can sometimes be a little “pitchy.” Carrie Underwood’s powerhouse delivery of “Last Name” was also emphatically live. You could question whether it was “country” or not, but there was no denying her performance.
Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift
The evening’s winningest champs Alison Krauss and Robert Plant were predictably jaw-dropping. I love the way their disparate voices create that harmonic overtone.
Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland’s “Stay” was also a terrific live vocal. Keith Urban’s guitar work during the Bo Diddley tribute and the great Justin Timberlake and Al Green collaboration on “Let’s Stay Together” was also on the money. Kenny Chesney’s performance of “Better as a Memory” was swathed in smoke, so it was a little difficult to tell whether or not it was live. But it was unquestionably lovely.
Kenny Chesney
The deal is, they record the rehearsals. So when show time arrives, the audio guys have the choice to give us either the pre-recorded or the live performance. So Katy Perry can run all over the stage in her fruits-and-veggies outfit and not sound at all out of breath. Piped in? You bet. The Jamie Foxx, Ne-Yo and Smokey Robinson medley of tunes by The Four Tops also sounded totally pre-taped, as did T.I. with Justin Timberlake.
Coldplay, Radiohead and U2 were all toss-ups. Who can tell? Especially with the USC marching band tossed into the mix. The Rap Pack? Who cares? Although the extremely pregnant M.I.A.’s polka-dotted onesy was certainly eye-catching.
The live pop performances included Paul McCartney’s. It might have been garage-y, but maybe that’s the way “I Saw Her Standing There” should sound. Stevie Wonder and The Jonas Brothers were remarkably well mixed and very exciting.
Jennifer Nettles returned to the stage to sing with Best New Artist winner Adele. The result was soulful and heartfelt. Neil Diamond was low-key but effective. Of all people, Kid Rock sounded good. His energy level was winning as well. Naturally Jennifer Hudson killed. But she should have left her lobster bib at the restaurant.
Kanye West and an evidently Reynolds-Wrapped Estelle sounded like live vocals to tracks. The multi-artist New Orleans tribute was kind of a train wreck and was definitely blah. Whitney Houston sounded rather incoherent, but was gowned beautifully. I don’t think she’ll ever live down that reality series Being Bobby Brown. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Gwyneth Paltrow were both nice diversions. Don’t even bother trying to hear anything from Lifetime Achievement honoree Brenda Lee. She didn’t even get to stand and wave, never mind sing or speak.
Overall, however, I have to give the telecast a sonic “A.” It is a gargantuan task to make a wide variety of genres sound good and an even bigger one to do it on an international live telecast. I hope all the engineers involved celebrated afterward.
Photos courtesy Grammy.com, by John Shearer/WireImage
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On the money with your comments!
Keith Urban is a definite stand-out — any genre, any venue!
Jennifer Netttles was clearly ecstatic and wound up thanking even Paul McCartney for her win!
Alison Krauss is A-class and the pairing with Robert Plant vocals is pleasing!
I agree with most of your points, although I still don’t quite get the Robert Plant/T-Bone Burnett/Alison Krauss musical ménage à trois. Don’t get me wrong, they are all incredibly gifted and each has quite a musical history. In fact, Alison is probably THE most talented and complete artist working today! But with 40 years experience as a musician, I don’t think this combo is near as amazing as many people proclaim it to be.
Oh, and in light of recent events, “Naturally Jennifer Hudson killed” was probably not the best phrase you could have used to describe her performance. Just sayin’.
GOD bless Jennifer Nettles and Kenny Chesney. They actually did a country song. The rest might as well have been Pop acts. Carrie, Taylor, Keith not even close to country. What are they ashamed of their fan base? If they want to be pop or rock artists then let them compete in that arena and open up the charts for some country acts. The sound for the most part was awful. Could barely understand Chesney but not his fault. The standing ovations for the “Grammy Elite” were interesting. How could they not give Jennifer Nettles a standing ovation after some of the other awful performances they gave ovations for, after all, she can actually sing. Also what’s the deal with the CMA’s and ACM award shows using actors. I don’t see any singers presenting at the Academy Awards. Use the television time for singers that need the exposure. Isn’t that what the CMA and ACM and Grammy’s suppose to do, support recording artists? Guess not.
No “A” for the show I saw. Agreed Ms. Nettles was great, and even smoked Adele on her own song. Sir Paul was for real. Plant and Krauss… yep. The rest was crap, and proves that the recording industry’s slumping sales have more to do with it’s own output, than the downloads it so often wants to blame..
A sonic “A”?! The mix was horrible. Carrie’s vocal was burried by the band, but it was a song with virtually no melody. No loss. Jennifer Nettles can sing when she stops smacking the fake southern drawl to death. Taylor is not a singer. Sorry, but it’s true. If she was fat and ugly and 25 years old would anybody pay attention? A sonic “A”? Grade inflation.
That Jeniffer Hudson line slipped by me the first time, but gotta agree. Not cool, man.
Brenda Lee didn’t stand and wave because she didn’t attend the actual show, but she did plenty of standing and waving at the Special Merit Awards the night before. Katy Perry was so obviously not dubbed because she could barely stay on pitch during her LIVE performance on the telecast. Miley Cyrus’s vocals leave a lot to be desired, but yet, Taylor did sound quite good next to her. Notably ignored in this article were the incredible performances by U2, Radiohead, and Coldplay…but then I suppose the USC marching band was pre-recorded as well.