SoundBoard at Motor City Casino an Embarrassment!

[Gannon]

I hope they up their game for concerts, but at tonight's Red Wings viewing party there were SO many things wrong with the image and sound it was a joke.

At least I hope so, or I'm embarrassed for what passes as sound and video reinforcement at the professional level. I'm HOPING they hire professionals, but the evidence is thin.

They had one huge projector shining on a screen at the back of the stage, then four flanking it, two for the upper seats, the others for the lower.

The middle main one was the ancient 1.33:1 aspect ratio [[height versus width, this ratio the old original Academy Standard which Hollywood has been trying to forget since the fifties, but the only one we knew at home until HDTV came along)...all of the others squished that same geometry into the new HD rectangular 1.78:1 screens, making EVERYONE look short and squat, as anything round turned oval. Like the Wings logo. I'm sure they spent all those dollars to have their image warped due to ignorance.


Only ONE had the proper color temperature, or 'tint' of the white-gray-black scale which is the foundation of every other color in the image. It was EASY to spot, since we all know what ice looks like! Think basically of the shade of paper put through a printer, a bluish white will emphasize certain colors in the spectrum...while reddish white would emphasize those at the opposite end. Only one had bluish ice, the others a dingy pink or red.

Two of them were OUT OF FOCUS. That is projector setup 101! First thing a technician should learn after plugging the damn things in. I couldn't believe this.

All of them had horribly low black levels, so the shadows were overwhelming. This is unfortunately all too common.

The only one with a fresh, bright, young bulb was the lower right projector, which shone decidedly brighter and more accurately than the others. [[this basic maintenance concern might've been part of the trouble with the grayscale, too, since the bulb dictates the quality of the color along with peak white level, which many call brightness, but residentially has always been adjusted via contrast...don't get me started on that!)


The main screen had desaturated color enough to make the Wings jerseys look black and white! You could barely see some colors in the ads around the perimeter of the rink. Again, MILLIONS are spent on logos and corporate identities...all wasted on this incorrect setting on the projector or video processor/switcher.


The sound was also quite poor, but THAT could be due the broadcast. It was thin and shrill and piercing...which leads me to believe it was the overall equalization of the speaker array. The sound person should've been able to make subtle changes through their amazing mixer, they ALL have tone controls for each input. Some quite elaborate, but simple bass and treble would've sufficed.

It was also way too loud, but I haven't been in any venue in the last five years that didn't send me burying my fingers in my ears in the rare instances I forgot my earplugs. Like tonight. I will never again visit another venue without my trusty Radio Shack Sound Pressure Level meter.

Plus, the array was designed to merely blast monaural sound throughout the house, when a simple angling would spread stereo to everyone. With the timing of when this system was installed, it should've been surround sound, too...like Alvin's or St. Andrews Hall. But too many sound folk remain back in the 50s with sound, too. Mono is dead everywhere but with live music. Damn shame.


So, yeah, I'd LOVE to hear if anyone has had stellar experiences at concerts there, because tonight's experience leads me to believe they really don't have the first clue on how to operate the gear in that joint. Perhaps they only had the second or third string in for this gig.

At least two of the projectors could have been rentals, on the lower levels. They were different brands than the installed ones. They were the best image of the five, the lower right one the only really enjoyable one.

As long as I had fingers in my ears.


Embarrassing to all involved. They should be called onto the carpet for this one...and if management doesn't realize how shitty their presentation was tonight...then perhaps they should hire this ex-Technical Editor of a national hifi magazine to teach them what it should all look and sound like.

It would be my pleasure. Cash upfront, though.

No chips.