# Mariah Carey New Years Audio...



## Fountain Of Euph (Jan 1, 2017)

Watched it live on ABC... Got a sinking feeling from the moment it started that this was not going to end well.

http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/01/a...square.html?src=twr?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur


Anyone know what exactly happened? I think this may fall under the category of reasons to stop the show, but I am curious what others think about this.


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## ruinexplorer (Jan 1, 2017)

It looked like she had a problem with her in-ear monitor (probably due to the echoes). She took it out as she was walking down, probably hoping for better coverage from the wedges, which were probably not patched for that mic. I feel a little bad for her, but only a little. When you have a reputation like that, you need to be better prepared. It isn't like she's a noob.


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## StageTech620 (Jan 1, 2017)

ruinexplorer said:


> It looked like she had a problem with her in-ear monitor (probably due to the echoes). She took it out as she was walking down, probably hoping for better coverage from the wedges, which were probably not patched for that mic. I feel a little bad for her, but only a little. When you have a reputation like that, you need to be better prepared. It isn't like she's a noob.



From the way it looked, the entire technical aspect went as planned. The backup dancers appeared to be hearing the music just fine.


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## ruinexplorer (Jan 1, 2017)

Oh, yeah. The mix that they were prepared for was going through the wedges. That's why I said that the issue probably stemmed from her in-ear. She couldn't hear what she needed to make the performance to go as planned.


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## JD (Jan 1, 2017)

I don't know. Worked with a lot of performers over the years, seen lots of technical glitches, and most roll with it and make it happen, especially on a live show. Since it was a lip sync gig, she only needed the ambient to pull it off. 
Worked with a band that did an "AM Philadelphia" show back in the 80s. Playback came on and it sounded like a distant transistor radio. You could hear their shoes squeak on the stage louder than the playback. Threw them for about one beat. Was weird to the live audience, but playing back the video that went out live that morning, it looked fine. 
I think in this case, she just Diva'ed out.


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## EdSavoie (Jan 1, 2017)

JD said:


> I think in this case, she just Diva'ed out.



I mean, _She is Mariah Carey... _


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## ruinexplorer (Jan 2, 2017)

I've never worked with her and I don't listen to her music. I was going off of some assumptions about how it sounds in areas like where she was performing (lots of echo, which makes it difficult to hear the actual beat) and know that if you don't have your mix just right, you can't perform it right. I assume that at some point she was professional and had talent, or she wouldn't have made it to this point. I know that last year she was mocked because she couldn't hit some of her high notes due to the cold affecting her voice (as it was reported). If it is as she said, that there was no sound check previously, there is a good chance that she just couldn't hear right. Why they couldn't get her mix into the wedges as she asked, I don't know. Why she couldn't hear what she needed to perform, I don't know. I have worked with some divas who absolutely must have their monitor mix perfect or it throws them off. I'm not a musician, so I don't know what exactly they are listening for. I have never been a monitor guy, unless I am doing that along with the FOH mix.


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## AudJ (Jan 2, 2017)

Not knowing specifically went wrong in this situation, I can speak from both sides, in that this had to be a live nightmare for everyone. 

As a performer, I had a similar situation when my own headset was damaged, and I couldn't understand why the sound guy couldn't get it right. Thankfully we were somehow able to get through it, but seeing something similar happen to Mariah Carey, an icon, live on tv, in front of millions with high expectations based in her past performances; I get the frustration. Could have been a bunch of things that went wrong, some with nobody at fault, but undoubtedly careers will be damaged by this moment.


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## EdSavoie (Jan 2, 2017)

The reason she didn't rehearse is because she sent a stand in to rehearse for her. That aside, I think she lost all remaining credibility after accusing tech of intentionally sabotaging her performance...

I mean really, come on!


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## What Rigger? (Jan 2, 2017)

EdSavoie said:


> The reason she didn't rehearse is because she sent a stand in to rehearse for her. That aside, I think she lost all remaining credibility after accusing tech of intentionally sabotaging her performance...
> 
> I mean really, come on!



Agree, that's some weak BS. What astounds me, but shouldn't, is that this seemed to have somehow escalated in the news cycle this morning. "New revelations...", etc... Ugh.


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## ruinexplorer (Jan 2, 2017)

Intentionally sabotaging a live performance is definitely a diva moment. What, is she in grade school?


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## gafftaper (Jan 3, 2017)

Can't wait to hear what really happened on this one. Somebody around here knows someone who will know what happened. 

The thing that strikes me is that if there was enough music in the wedges for the Dancers to keep up their routine, there was enough for a professional musician to figure it out and limp through the song. Yeah it might have been difficult, maybe you cut corners a bit here and there, but the dancers knew right where they were supposed to be, so it wasn't impossible. Go stand by the wedge and figure it out.


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## ruinexplorer (Jan 3, 2017)

Here's one account about the audio difficulties. It's possible that the dancers also had in-ear monitors that were working and not relying on the wedges.


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## gafftaper (Jan 3, 2017)

...and Here is what the producers have to say in response. The interesting thing about this is it's easy to throw a nameless sound guy under the bus instead of blaming the superstar or the producer. Yet the opposite is happening. That's odd.


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## Van (Jan 3, 2017)

In the end, my analysis is, Someone dropped the ball.


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## Morte615 (Jan 3, 2017)

And not the one at midnight...


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## EdSavoie (Jan 3, 2017)

Speaking jokingly, if they did sabotage her, it would only be because she Diva'd to such an extent it reallllly pissed off the techs.

So either way, still Mariah Carey being Mariah Carey.


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## gafftaper (Jan 4, 2017)

From Jenny McCarthy:
"The truth of the matter is, Mariah didn't do a sound check, she said it there. She did whatever you would call like a dance move rehearsal, holding her gold microphone, and she stood off to the side of the stage while she had a stand-in do a sound check. Now, when you're doing a show live in Times Square, this is a location that's tough. Out of all the places that you're going to need to do a sound check, you do it there."
McCarthy hypothesized as to what could have been the real reason for the performance debacle.
“Now I think, and if I try to give a guess of what happened, I think Mariah was nervous as hell. I think she chose really tough songs to try to sing along with. I think 'Emotions,' that song, I mean her voice is not there anymore. I don't believe there was a problem with her inner ears. I just don't. I think she used it as an excuse. The monitors on the stage are there, by the way, to blast out the songs to the musician in case this happens."
"How do I know the monitors were blasting? Look at the dancers behind her! They were on cue for every beat, right? Every beat! So, I was like, 'You can hear it.' She's choosing not to see it. Now my other opinion, and this is just mine from being there, being on that stage, I don't think she expected to be as far away from this prompter and as small as it was, she could have possibly not been able to see the words to her own song."


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## ruinexplorer (Jan 4, 2017)

So, are we to believe the person who also thinks that vacines cause autism? I mean, how often has Ms. McCarthy been a headline act or even a backup dancer? If we go by Ms. Carey's team, the reason she was on the side is because the in-ear wasn't working during sound check either.


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## techieman33 (Jan 4, 2017)

If her in ears were really not working then I don't understand why she didn't demand they be fixed at sound check. I sure wouldn't accept oh it'll work fine later tonight if I was about to perform in front of a million people in person, and tens of millions more on tv. At this point it's always going to be he said/she said we're never going to know what really happened.


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## MNicolai (Jan 4, 2017)

Guy responsible for some portion of the audio that night contact the Baltimore Sun and insisted there were no technical issues with anything under his purview.


> The Baltimore-based Maryland Sound International declined to comment when contacted by The Baltimore Sun.
> 
> But Robert Goldstein, a veteran audio producer for the company, wrote in an email to the New York Times that the sound equipment that he oversaw wasn't malfunctioning.
> 
> “Every monitor and in-ear device worked perfectly,” Goldstein told the Times. “ I ...don’t know what her nontechnical issue may have been.”



http://www.baltimoresun.com/feature...riah-carey-maryland-sound-20170103-story.html


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