Adele in radio station studio: Live? Acoustics? Mic?

[alexis]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fmCoUjOMXU

Hi - I am going through an Adele fixation lately ... which brought me to this purported live performance in a radio station studio.

Do you guys think it's live? What makes me think it definitely could be is that the lip sync would have to be PERFECT to look that good, and from what I can notice of the band they seem to be right on also. But ... I hear background singers?? ... and ... can an untreated room really give vocals that sound that good?

Finally - anyone know what kind of mic and headphones she's using?

Thanks!

[Bob Bickerton]

Maybe it's a case of the video editing being PERFECT too........

Mic looks like a Neumann TLM170, phones are Sony MDR 7509.

Bob

[Hugh Robjohns]

I agree with the mic and phones recognition. It was clearly a well-edited video, and there was some element of backing track in there.

It sounded a bit too polished to be mixed live to me... Possible, but i wouldnt bet on it... Although I was only listening on an iPad speaker. So I'd reckon on live tracking and post-mixed... possible with overdubs.

H

[muzines]

They might have just spun in samples for the bvox, or spun them in on the video after the fact even (for the cynical )

Sounded live to me, but possibly recorded (even multitracked) and remixed in conjunction with doing the video. Definitely wan't lip synced, and it seems a complete waste of time setting up drum kits and mics and stuff just to mime to a prerecord (which it didn't sound like anyway).

As for the vocal sound - well yeah, stick an SM58 in front of Adele and she will still sound good. It's a radio station, so the room would be pretty dead anyway, and the rest and all close mic and fairly heavily compressed anyway. Might have just been recorded live to 2-track (which it almost certainly would have been seeing as it was (supposedly) being broadcast live, but they may have chosen to multitrack (radio stations don't usually have much facilities to this but given the nature of the guest artist they may have wanted to, or Adele may even have brought her own sound guy.

The bottom line is, sounded pretty decent to me, *maybe* more polished than I'd expect for a straight to 2-track live performance, but those people are all quality performers, so...

[Mike Stranks]

I'm wondering if it's one of those 'Live+' efforts that you sometimes come across - a 50:50(ish)mixture of backing-tracks and live. The element I'm most dubious about is the drums - what seem to be crystal-clear cymbals with nary a relevantly-placed mic to be seen (as far as I could tell)!

[The Red Bladder]

Take it from one who knows - nearly all playback. The band is obviously totally miming. Some of Adele's vocals at top and tail were live, the rest was mimed.

I have a DVD in front of me of a very well known act performing in our studio and in front of a live audience for a BBC programme. The audience was completely convinced they were seeing a live act and everything was mic'ed up and even plugged into the desk, with peak-meters flashing. Except it was completely and utterly mimed.

I can think of one famous act that is well known for performing live and doing gigs all over the World. He always mimes everything!

I can't speak for others, but we always leave little clues for those who know, so you can always tell. A missing pop-filter, one inappropriate mic, an acoustic guitar sounding like a Tele, small active monitors strewn about the studio floor. Or in this case, all of the above and whole lines and sounds being made by nobody!

Or do you seriously think that Adele is going to knock herself out for one pokey Dutch radio station?

[Billum]

Well I'm going to take the other viewpoint, despite the fact that I wouldn't doubt His Bladderness's assessment for a second...

I'd say it *could* have been played there in that room, there is nothing conclusive to say that it wasn't (maybe the same crew recorded it earlier in the day?). There are backing singers (you can see a girl and a guy at 2'45", 3'04" & 3'14" behind Adele) and the drums, especially the snare, sound like they're recorded in a crappy sounding room to me! It's not a complicated mix, and it's not a fantastic mix (piano much too loud at times, toms very gated, kick doesn't sound too good). The cymbals, I grant you, sound like they've got a condenser on them that is not apparent in the video.

So maybe the backing track was recorded by that band earlier in the day and Adele added a live lead vocal for the 'live' radio event?

[Dave Rowles]

If you get a wide angle shot of the drums you can see a tall boom stand off the ride cymbal corner of the kit. Noticed it at 3.01.

I'm in two minds. There's obviously a backing track for Backing vocals and others, but the rest could be live. Certainly when I listened to it I heard sound artefacts which would suggest, if nothing else, it was recorded in that space, even if the videoed performance was mimed.

[muzines]

There are backing singers (you can see a girl and a guy at 2'45", 3'04" & 3'14" behind Adele)

There are people there for sure, but they are likely radio station staff or other crew coming in to watch (very typical particularly at smaller local radio stations when "big" artists stop by), they are not part of the performance and are not miced up or anything, and most of them seem to be staring into their phones. None of those people show any evidence that there are backing singers, and I would have thought that even if there were a couple of backing singers, we'd have a deliberate shot or two just for flavour.

So I don't see any backing singers in the video, indicating that *at least* some of those parts were added from recordings. But yes the mix does sound live to me, wooly drums, piano too loud, the bass is quite wooly, some of the guitar parts were a little off and so on.

It's possible though that the track was recorded earlier (with backing singers) and then for the vocal take and video the band were miming to playback with Adele singing over the top...

[Richie Royale]

I just watched this version overlaid with the original dutch one and the performances are near identical, so I'm inclined to agree with Mr Bladder. There was some difference in the drum, but not much, the tempo is exactly the same and the piano ends identically. also that little synth guitar thing toward the end crops up the same, but not sure where it is supposed to be being played from.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2a11t1ELAc

[muzines]

Had a quick listen, doesn't sound like the same performance to me, the snare is much more defined, the bvox are louder, the piano is quieter, and I thought there were some differences in the drums and piano performances (though I haven't compared).

Obviously the played parts are much the same as it is the same group of people playing the same arrangement.

I don't think that proves anything - the tempo could be a clicktrack.

[Richie Royale]

The balance of sound is very different and the vocal has lots of reverb on it, but overall the performances are very similar. The vocal sung is different though, as she swaps a swear word out on the Letterman performance.

[Billum]

There are people there for sure, but they are likely radio station staff or other crew coming in to watch (very typical particularly at smaller local radio stations when "big" artists stop by), they are not part of the performance and are not miced up or anything, and most of them seem to be staring into their phones.

Yeah I'll give you that - first time through I thought at least the blonde girl was singing, but looks like she's actually biting her nails (probably thinking "When do I get to be famous and mime in a mangy local radio station?")

Pre-recorded backing track at least - plain as the nose on, er, someone's face

[The Red Bladder]

The Letterman performance was live.

[Frank Eleveld]

Yeah I'll give you that - first time through I thought at least the blonde girl was singing, but looks like she's actually biting her nails (probably thinking "When do I get to be famous and mime in a mangy local radio station?")

The VARA/3FM radio station this 'performance' was for has nation-wide coverage here in Holland, with around 10% of the population tuning in on a daily basis. Which equals to nearly 1.7m people.

Still doesn't change the fact that there wasn't much 'live' here...

Cheers,
Frank

[dubbmann]

i haven't watched the vid yet (but will - i really like adele, despite not being a teenage girl but to add another data point on the 'is it live or is it memorex' debate (only us geezers will get that reference, i'm afraid). i was really surprised and disappointed to discover after the Superbowl in February that the Red Hot Chili Peppers all mimed their performance except for the singer. the official story was that the NFL had requested this because getting the sound 'right' in a stadium was too difficult. maybe the adele vid has the musos miming and her singing?

btw, this is yet another reason i adore hawkwind. when they had a brief residence in the top hits charts back in the 70s and were invited to be on OGWT, they declined when it was explained that they'd be miming (apparently this was the Beeb's policy since the (in)famous episode of jimi hendrix on the lulu show saying 'f&*k it').

cheers,

d

[Hugh Robjohns]

...they declined when it was explained that they'd be miming (apparently this was the Beeb's policy since the (in)famous episode of jimi hendrix on the lulu show saying 'f&*k it').

Yes, there's always one that ruins it for everyone else!

Most bands I've come across in TV studios employ some level of backing track. Sometimes its just a click and some string or brass beds and stabs. Sometimes it includes more elements -- kit, commonly, bass and guitars sometimes etc... right up to a full track to mime against.

OGWT and TOTP have, at various times insisted on full miming or fully live, depending on the prevailing MU conditions or profanities issues of the time... Later with Jools insists that everyone you see on stage plays or sings live, but limited backing tracks are usually accepted where really necessary for additional parts. But then all the artists are from current UK tours, so already have a well-worked up live performance act.

H

[Sam Inglis]

btw, this is yet another reason i adore hawkwind. when they had a brief residence in the top hits charts back in the 70s and were invited to be on OGWT, they declined when it was explained that they'd be miming (apparently this was the Beeb's policy since the (in)famous episode of jimi hendrix on the lulu show saying 'f&*k it').

Half Man Half Biscuit are said to have turned down the chance to be on Top of the Pops because Tranmere Rovers had a game that night.

[Dr Huge Longjohns]

I think she's miming too. I always look at people's throats to see if there's any movement there and in this case I suspect there's no muscles/tendons being put to work. But then again, really good singers keep their throats very relaxed so I may be wrong. But you get a sort of sixth sense that she's not really singing here.

[Dr Huge Longjohns]

Half Man Half Biscuit are said to have turned down the chance to be on Top of the Pops because Tranmere Rovers had a game that night.

Yeah, right.

[Tim Gillett]

I dont care either way. If she's singing it's a great live performance and if she's miming she's doing that exceptionally well too. I hear the really great performers can sing live and make it look like they're miming.