Electronically amplified entertainers.

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toad
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Joined: Wed Aug 20, 2008 5:00 pm

Electronically amplified entertainers.

Post by toad »

I was watching an Anime called "Kabukini", in it there was was a line by an instructor saying , .." you have to project your voice to people in the balcony." Thinking about I realized they performed in a rowdy environment with street noise on top of it. You had to be loud to be heard.
It put me in mind of pre sound stage actors and singers who had to speak loudly enough for the audience to hear them.
I also thought of G. Gordon Liddy's comment on opera about he could generate the voice but he visibly strained to do it and that ruined his acting.
I'm wondering how many singers these days would be worth a damn without "enhancement" and who couldn't make it even in a small venue?
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Gunnuts
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Re: Electronically amplified entertainers.

Post by Gunnuts »

toad wrote:I'm wondering how many singers these days would be worth a damn without "enhancement" and who couldn't make it even in a small venue?
None of 'em and all of 'em.

I'm argue that the vast majority aren't worth a damn even with "enhancement".
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blackeagle603
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Re: Electronically amplified entertainers.

Post by blackeagle603 »

Dear daughter #2 was born too late. Got lungs made for that pre-mic era and golden age of musicals. She can kill the Shirley Jones type stuff. I remember her singing the lead in 7 Brides one night in a large 4-500 seat auditorium when the sound went out. The show went on, she was about the only one you could hear. Not exactly Ethyl Merman but still... :)

Got her BA in Theater Arts wrapped up last May. That and a black apron and she's making a great use of it as a *server in a 24 hour diner. :lol:


*To be fair, she's worked with a couple friends to develop and stage fundraiser caberet's from some start up theater types. Not exactly paying work but...

Also has got a duet working now with a guy who's a decent guitar player. They're starting to get better gigs. Recently did the LBGT Alliance Charity dinner at The Prado restaurant at Balboa Park (white linen type spendy joint). That free Cabaret work downtown probably got her the exposure from the Hillcrest crowd that led to that gig.
"The Guncounter: More fun than a barrel of tattooed knife-fighting chain-smoking monkey butlers with drinking problems and excessive gambling debts!"

"The right of the citizens to keep and bear arms has justly been considered, as the palladium of the liberties of a republic;" Justice Story
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Weetabix
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Re: Electronically amplified entertainers.

Post by Weetabix »

I seem to recall a passage in Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography wherein he describes a street orator with a powerful voice.
The last time I saw Mr. Whitefield was in London, when he consulted me about his Orphan House concern, and his purpose of appropriating it to the establishment of a college.

He had a loud and clear voice, and articulated his words and sentences so perfectly, that he might be heard and understood at a great distance, especially as his auditories, however numerous, observ'd the most exact silence. He preach'd one evening from the top of the Courthouse steps, which are in the middle of Market-street, and on the west side of Second-street, which crosses it at right angles. Both streets were fill'd with his hearers to a considerable distance. Being among the hindmost in Market-street, I had the curiosity to learn how far he could be heard, by retiring backwards down the street towards the river; and I found his voice distinct till I came near Front-street, when some noise in that street obscur'd it. Imagining then a semicircle, of which my distance should be the radius, and that it were fill'd with auditors, to each of whom I allow'd two square feet, I computed that he might well be heard by more than thirty thousand. This reconcil'd me to the newspaper accounts of his having preach'd to twenty-five thousand people in the fields, and to the ancient histories of generals haranguing whole armies, of which I had sometimes doubted.
I suppose the curious could figure out the radius on that one. I think he was in Philadelphia.
Note to self: start reading sig lines. They're actually quite amusing. :D
MarkD
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Re: Electronically amplified entertainers.

Post by MarkD »

While I can't carry a tune in a bushel basket, I've done readings in churches with no sound systems, and I'm not convinced it's entirely a matter of lung power/volume. Our voices are highly directional, and if you're not pointing your mouth in the correct direction the folks in the back won't hear you clearly no matter how much air you're putting over your vocal cords.

Acoustics matter too, lots of soft stuff soaks up the sound, hard surfaces reflect, and if they're designed properly a whisper is perfectly audible from across the room. I was in a Greek Orthodox church once that had a domed Sanctuary, I could've SWORN there was someone right behind me talking in a low voice, when I turned around he was probably 40-50 feet away and I could hear every word as the sound bounced around the dome from him to me.

So while the advent of electronic amps has certainly downgraded the ability of performers to project their voices, it's also meant that venues aren't designed for them to be able to, since they're also designed with amps in mind.

Now don't get me started on lip-syncing and auto-tuning.
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