Karaoke Forums

Okay - No hate mail please - OKAY Taylor Swift is adorable, blond hair, writes songs really cute songs and yes they are popular with the very young teenager (Miley Cyrus) crowd which sells records but I don't think this girl can sing live for the life of her. Seriously can the CMA's really give her all these awards when there are REAL singers out there. Just don't get it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Guess Susan Boyle will never be invited - Not cute enough but gosh that women can sing!!!

It isn't as much about singing as it is marketing. Very possible also that the sound is messed up and she cannot hear herself properly. Has happened to some of the best.

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Kevin

The girl is a bundle of talent and creativity. She is everything that the music industry is looking for. Her monologue song on Saturday Night Live was very funny. I don't really see what people see in Bob Dylan's voice but he's a musical genius. Same thing for Willie Nelson IMHO. A pretty voice isn't always the most important thing in the music business. I'm not a Taylor Swift fan by any stretch but I'm willing to give the gal all the credit in the world for what she's accomplished in her 19 years. God Bless Her. Wish we had more wholesome kids just like her.

Wholesome AND marketable YES- just like britney spears was at the start of her career. I think Taylor can sing well, although not always. But she's young and will only get better with time if she's able to avoid the pitfalls and scandals that await everyone famous.

I guess the difference is that Britney could never sing well live AT ALL and relied on sound engineers too much instead of taking professional singing lessons as she aged. She has a pretty bad lip-sync scandal in australia now with people booing and leaving after just 3 songs after paying hundreds to thousands of dollars for great seats.

BUT back to Taylor Swift! She is VERY creative and talented songwriter, as well as a decent humble young lady. -IMHO of course

As far as role models....mmmhhh....Britney Spears? .... Ah, not so much. Taylor Swift? A young woman in control of her career...Very, very talented but I agree, not so much the singer. She is the country marketing machine dream.

agree britney's never been as good of a role model but appeared innocent at one time and was more marketable to the youth.

Unfortunately most females seem to give in eventually to the trappings either sooner or later and use their sexuality to sell records. (whitney, mariah,janet, etc who came from church choirs no less). Britney lasted longer than Christina if i remember correctly (good girl image) but then got Nasty.

I sincerely hope that country music can keep it's CLASS and not turn RAUNCHY like Pop, R&B, and Hip Hop has done for many years.

Did you miss the one year when they dumped water on her at the end of her song, resulting in basically a wet t-shirt contest? Some were aghast but George Strait reall seemed to enjoy it so she got the OK. But she does seem really aware of wanting to portray good values to her fans and not fall into the usual traps. But her singing leaves me cold. No problem--we bought her CD&Gs for when we do the Boys and Girls Club. To each their own.

We have to realize that a lot of the commercial music out there is as "edited" as a fashon model photo.

A lot of live performers are no-where near as good as the songs that come out of the editing process.

As singers we all have our good (and bad) nights. Some people get famous for a good performance that is not concistent. Others get promoted to be famous.

With karaoke we see singing live, warts and all. Sometimes it is less than pretty, but go to enough live shows and listen to the same artist in their edited recordings some of the live performances are by comparison horrible.

We all remember the good performances of our best singers, but everyone bombs sometimes, and does not live up to expectations.

I hope that you all have taken into consideration when evaluating anyone's live performance that a lot has to do with the engineers. I would hope so considering that mixing is something we are expected to do and to well!

IMHO, the engineering last night was spotty at best. Darius Rucker's (Hootie) performance with a wireless mic in the midst of the audience was about the only really decent sound I heard all night

Nonetheless, I don't think Taylor Swift is a great singer. But she's as good as most of her "competition", including Miley Cyrus, Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, Avril Lavigne

From my point of view, (country music) isn't what we are seeing lately, with a few exceptions. I think it's more of a pop, country mix. MARKETING, and cookie cutter PACKAGEING is what I see. Does Carrie Underwood need to do a Lady Gaga impersonation, NO, but that's what I saw last night. Was she selling SEXUALITY, you bet your life she was. So (country music) isn't what it USED to be. Country music has been looked down upon (by most) IMO, so they had to get in the GAME. They are doing EVERYTHING that the other genres are doing to sell albums. How many UGLY country (female) singers have you seen lately? I'm not being sexist by any means, but SEX sells, and they're (packageing) it up pretty good. Will ANY of these young ladies be the next Reba McIntire, or Martina McBride, who knows? But from what I saw last night, I don't think ANY of the women sounded good. Sugarland sounded terrible, Taylor Swift sounded terrible, Miranda Lambert sounded terrible. MAYBE the engineer didn't know how to make (women) sound good.

Srnitynow

I have two things to say related to the CMA's and this topic. First, Taylor Swift has never been that great of a singer. But she is an amazing song writer and has a demographic much larger than just the teenie boppers. Her songs are great, genuine and performed by her which gives them a large appeal. However this is not uncommon, Shania Twain was much the same. For crying out loud her live production rig included NINE channels of pitch correction just to make her sound acceptable. And I could go farther back. Female country stars for a long time have been about image as much as anything. Seriously, other than the Judds, how many overweight female country artists have you seen in the last 3 decades? The Nashville machine rolls on just as the LA Machine and New York machine do. It's unfortunate, but consumers have spoken and this is what they buy.

Second, I was on the phone with the owner of our production company during the CMA's last night (both of us have experience mixing music in live broadcast settings) and we both agreed the mix left much to be desired. It was truly disappointing that they couldn't properly bring all instruments into the mix and keep them properly separated, and the vocal treatment just didn't jive at all.

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DJ Tony
Let It Rip Karaoke

The record/music industry was never about how GOOD you can sing.

It's always been about ..How many Albums(cds) can you sell..How many Tickets can you sell on tour ? How much MONEY can you make $$$$$$

Some of the best singers in the world will never make it UPFRONT to be noticed.

That's Life ...... It's why Karaoke has been succesful all these years - gives the average guy/gal a chance to be the Star no matter how they look or sound.

Can you say MILLI-VANILLI?

Srnitynow

Best part of the show - my opinion only - was the ZAC Brown band - Now that was country music as far as I was concerned!!!!

Broadcast mix and FOH mix are 2 different things. she may sound reasonable good in the house mix.

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I can neither confirm nor deny ever having or knowing anything about nothing.... mrscott

My husband has major hearing loss from ridiculously high stage volumes his entire life it seems, first as a bass player, then as a front man. Now he uses an in-ear monitor, but I suspect that unless a singer is wearing an in-ear monitor system, and a good one at that, the chance that they will stray off key is major - imagine the conditions in that auditorium. My husband has always complained about the sound/mix on these televised programs. I guess as far as mixing and separating, etc., when you have multiple bands moving on and off stage, the variables can get crazy - maybe in a rehearsal sound check they had everything tuned in, but in the actual show the chance for an instrument to be slightly out of tune, etc., is pretty great.

I've never been a fan of these shows for that reason, even though we have a great setup with a large flat screen to enjoy it - which is why we buy professionally produced concert DVDs to enjoy music/concerts at home.

Most singers are NOT capable of singing pitch perfect, as Letitrip points out - my experience in Nashville studios, listening to the studio musicians talk, and listening to life performances, makes me feel pretty good about my own ability to maintain pitch and volume without any mechanical intervention.

Hey, that program last night is all about money ... just as it is in the pop scene. Take it for what it is, buy the tracks and make the publishers, the songwriters, the managers, and the artists some pennies.

Yes that is very possible, but as you mentioned, usually at these events they are two completely different mixes. So why you can't have a competent audio engineer running each of them I'll never understand. And if for some ungodly reason they did take the House mix and use that directly for Broadcast, well then shame on them.

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DJ Tony
Let It Rip Karaoke

I agree with ya rip, it had to be the mixing last night. Miranda's song was brutal too.

I can't remember if it was the same awards show or another country one but last year hardly anyone sounded good or on key at all and it was becoming apparent there was something wrong with the sound on their end. You would see people constantly reaching for their ear and trying to adjust their monitor. I think Kenny Chesney was able to sound good despite it all and maybe Brad Paisley but the rest couldn't seem to find where they should be. I've had friends see Sugarland live and tell me that lady can really sing and she has usually been pretty good on other shows.

I once saw Jimmy Buffett on Johnny Carson do "In The City" which is harmony all the way through. Something went wrong that night as none of the singers ever got on key or together and it was embarrassing. I expected a temper tantrum of some sort but Jimmy Buffett just laughed and said, "That was no Milli Vanilli." Guess it happens but you would think they could get it together for an awards show.

I've been on the deck for two Sugarland shows and I can tell you without a doubt that Jennifer Nettles (Sugarland) is a much better singer than she appeared to be on the broadcast last night. That said she does have a very unique voice that could be challenging to work with if you're not on your game.

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DJ Tony
Let It Rip Karaoke