# Superbowl LIV halftime show



## dvsDave (Feb 7, 2021)

Welcome to the ControlBooth annual traditional of commenting on the SuperBowl halftime show. 

This year we have The Weekend headlining.


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## Amiers (Feb 7, 2021)

Messed up panel middle of his enterance


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## Amiers (Feb 7, 2021)

What is this audio????


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## dvsDave (Feb 7, 2021)

There's an impressive level of automation happening here


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## dvsDave (Feb 7, 2021)

The mix is just terrible.


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## Amiers (Feb 7, 2021)

Smoke machines in the choir is pretty dope.


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## Calc (Feb 7, 2021)

For as obviously lip-synced as this is, why isn't the audio better?


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## dvsDave (Feb 7, 2021)

Omg, the number of tiny little lamps in that gold passage


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## Amiers (Feb 7, 2021)

The one on one inside was cool. But it’s getting old


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## Amiers (Feb 7, 2021)

That’s a very big led wall. Nice mapping.


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## dvsDave (Feb 7, 2021)

The led tape outlining the set elements are nicely diffused, I almost thought it was EL wire for a bit.


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## Amiers (Feb 7, 2021)

The flares woof


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## techieman33 (Feb 7, 2021)

That automated spotlight is awful


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## egilson1 (Feb 7, 2021)

What’s with the jock strap looking masks?


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## Amiers (Feb 7, 2021)

egilson1 said:


> What’s with the jock strap looking masks?


Abbey says it has something to do with what he did this year.


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## dvsDave (Feb 7, 2021)

egilson1 said:


> What’s with the jock strap looking masks?


He covered his face in bandages when he accepted the award for this song, because it's about the effects of drunk driving.


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## Amiers (Feb 7, 2021)

So thoughts on the flares and half fish eye lens on some but not all the cameras


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## MNicolai (Feb 7, 2021)

dvsDave said:


> The mix is just terrible.



I don't think that's an accident, but it really sounds like the left and right channels are out of phase -- that's absolutely not what's happening, but that's the consequence of having so many vocal effects and having the lead vocals buried under a reverb-heavy mix.


egilson1 said:


> What’s with the jock strap looking masks?



It has something to do with a persona the Weeknd has been fostering for his recent album. He's been photographed out and about with his face bludgeoned and then again with his face ultra made up. It's a character he's been immersing himself in.


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## BillESC (Feb 7, 2021)

That was 20 minutes I'll never get back.


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## MNicolai (Feb 7, 2021)

I really love the Weeknd but this halftime show didn't do anything for me. I didn't need more dystopia and overelaborate production in my life right now. After everything we saw at the Biden inauguration, it really felt like they missed the cultural moment by going with a production effect that came across as inauthentic, egocentric, and closed off from reality.


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## dvsDave (Feb 7, 2021)

MNicolai said:


> I really love the Weeknd but this halftime show didn't do anything for me. I didn't need more dystopia and overelaborate production in my life right now. After everything we saw at the Biden inauguration, it really felt like they missed the cultural moment by going with a production effect that came across as inauthentic, egocentric, and closed off from reality.



To be fair, the planning for this started many months before the Inauguration.


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## MNicolai (Feb 7, 2021)

dvsDave said:


> To be fair, the planning for this started many months before the Inauguration.



I'm sure, but they made a somewhat out of the ordinary decision to go with one single performer instead of showcasing multiple, close him off at one end of the stadium and within his own staging and his own alter ego. I understand wanting to minimize bringing staging onto the field with a giant crowd of unpaid help dragging the equipment along, but everything about this show felt impersonal and closed off and is the result of a series of artistic decisions that were made and stacked on top of each other. If you were to make a recipe for how to avoid connecting with an audience, it would be all of those factors combined.



I really loved this performance he did on the Late Show that was a similar production style, but even at the time it felt awkward that it was a completely pre-recorded bit leaving an audience in a room without a performer. As a standalone work it's beautiful. As a performance style for a live community it leaves something to be desired.


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## JChenault (Feb 8, 2021)

Does anyone know how they did the opening effect? It looked like he was in a 3D space. He walked DS and sat, and the 3D scenery turned into a pixelated screen.


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## egilson1 (Feb 8, 2021)

Along with what Mike has said, a friend of mine pointed out how due to the round edges of the “buildings” they in fact looked like head stones. If by choice, certainly and interesting one.


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## Ancient Engineer (Feb 8, 2021)

Dear (insert name of diety here), that audio was rubbish! POV pivoting in the hall of lights was nauseating after the first full minute... 

It seemed VERY long.

Overall rating: Mostly Harmless.


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## TimMc (Feb 8, 2021)

MNicolai said:


> I really love the Weeknd but this halftime show didn't do anything for me. I didn't need more dystopia and overelaborate production in my life right now. After everything we saw at the Biden inauguration, it really felt like they missed the cultural moment by going with a production effect that came across as inauthentic, egocentric, and closed off from reality.


How do you really feel, Mike? /nudge, wink

Generally speaking the "artist" doesn't have much control over the broadcast mix, the producer and NFL insist on a full on pre-record of audio and dress rehearsal video for "just in case" even if the live-ish audio and video are not precluded. That the under mix of vocals was persistent could be an artistic choice (I've done it under direction), the possibilities for any number of polarity flips, bad cables, misconnections cannot be dismissed. Nothing being done could mean artist choice, but....

Robert Scovill has a story about the Tom Petty half time show and how the wrong snapshot in the console was recalled; we got to listen to Scovill rebuild the mix from roughed-in to finished product in one song, and that the reason the pre-record wasn't used was... wait for it.... because the director didn't hear a problem. Petty's on screen, Petty is up in the mix, all is good...


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## MNicolai (Feb 8, 2021)

TimMc said:


> How do you really feel, Mike? /nudge, wink



_something, something, an opportunity squandered, blah, blah, something else _


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## TimMc (Feb 8, 2021)

MNicolai said:


> _something, something, an opportunity squandered, blah, blah, something else _


I'm thinking I could have spent more time in the kitchen.


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## RonHebbard (Feb 8, 2021)

TimMc said:


> I'm thinking I could have spent more time in the kitchen.


Or the washroom perhaps (Head down or buttocks down)? 
Toodleoo! 
Ron Hebbard


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## TimMc (Feb 8, 2021)

RonHebbard said:


> Or the washroom perhaps (Head down or buttocks down)?
> Toodleoo!
> Ron Hebbard


Neither, the performance wasn't THAT bad...


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## MNicolai (Feb 8, 2021)

TimMc said:


> Neither, the performance wasn't THAT bad...



Because I love to split hairs, I think it was a fine performance in terms of execution. Just an artistically misguided one given the nature of the event and the moment in time we're in as a culture.

Little bit like a Dave Matthews concert. Dave Matthews Band is an excellent musical act but usually around minute sixty-three of the saxophone interlude you realize he's probably making love to the microphone to compensate for something he's not getting at home and the performance isn't really for the audience that's right there in front of him.


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## dvsDave (Feb 8, 2021)

MNicolai said:


> Dave Matthews Band is an excellent musical act but usually around minute sixty-three of the saxophone interlude you realize he's probably making love to the microphone to compensate for something he's not getting at home and the performance isn't really for the audience that's right there in front of him.


Damn, that's cold.


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## FMEng (Feb 8, 2021)

Listening in stereo, the lead vocal was very wet. I suspect the mix was optimized for 5.1 surround and something about it didn't translate down to stereo well. I've heard this problem on other CBS live shows in recent years. I don't know where it falls apart in the broadcast chain, but somebody didn't get the memo.

Some years ago, NPR did a much touted New Year's Eve show in some form of encoded surround, as a proof of concept. I listened to it in stereo and, to me, it was an awful, unfocused mix. I couldn't localize anything. Perhaps it sounded good to the 5 listeners with proper decoding and a calibrated home theater system. That was the only time they ever did it.


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## RonHebbard (Feb 8, 2021)

dvsDave said:


> Damn, that's cold.


Could / Would _FRIGID_ perhaps be a better term? 
Ron Hebbard
Toodleoo! 
Ron Hebbard


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## dvsDave (Feb 8, 2021)




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## aeh20s (Feb 9, 2021)

From a technology aspect, I find this to be amazing. This is from PixMob the company that provided all the crowd LED effects for the Halftime show. 








Moving Head: How it works

PixMob is renowned for their top-quality LED wristband technology. Get in touch with PixMob to amplify events & involve the crowd in the show.



www.pixmob.com


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## rsmentele (Feb 9, 2021)

I loved it only because there was a bunch of Elation in the rig... which I felt were underutilized.... Part of the odd show design was due to covid restrictions on crew size....


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## gafftaper (Feb 9, 2021)

JChenault said:


> Does anyone know how they did the opening effect? It looked like he was in a 3D space. He walked DS and sat, and the 3D scenery turned into a pixelated screen.


I'm pretty sure that entire opening sequence was all a recorded video played on the big stadium screen. Take another look at it here.


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## josh88 (Feb 9, 2021)

aeh20s said:


> From a technology aspect, I find this to be amazing. This is from PixMob the company that provided all the crowd LED effects for the Halftime show.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


The Pixmob units are also what the dancers had and then there were a handful of cameras with a 1mm streak filter that they could cut to for the effects on the field during that portion.


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## Ben Stiegler (Feb 10, 2021)

Meh. I watched on fast forward after a while. I have little appreciation for arrangements and mixes with zero space and no musical dynamics left in them. Less is more, said the old codger. And ... get off my lawn!


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## yert33 (Feb 10, 2021)

I liked it.


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