New Celtic Woman special

[McMathTX]

Ah yes, the shoulders!

[beowulf67]

The shoulders are what stand out to me as well!

[Mike in Dayton]

Keep in mind that if you are watching a program in HD the timing can be off between the video and audio. This is a problem that the TV stations and networks are fighting. Sometimes the out of sync picture and video can be very annoying.

[Detroitpete]

Ah yes, the shoulders!

Ahem......yes.

I think this is the ONLY place that I can admit my weakness for Celtic Woman Watching these PBS specials turn me into a glassy-eyed mouth-breather and there's nothing I can do about it.

I just heard they'll be in my city in April!

[chasem]

We watched a little bit of the new show last night, Songs from the Heart. Is it me or are the vocals in this show recorded. They sound so studio-like. The whole thought of it kind of spoiled the moment and 30 minutes in, we were watching something else.

It's definitely not prerecorded. At least not at their live shows (and I'm very confident not on what they show on PBS).

[piperdbh]

The reason I think it's prerecorded is that there is no wind noise, no mic-moving-against-something noise, and no fluctuation in the voice as the singers dance and move.
Maybe it's not prerecorded. If that's the case, then they're far more talented than I thought!

[EagleJCS]

dbh,
They're using some very good wireless earpiece mics. Look carefully at the right cheek, just in front of the ear. You may be able to see a small, light- or flesh-colored ball. That's the mic, with a foam screen over it to keep out ambient noises, like wind (the screen is the colored part). Wearing the mic as an earpice reduces the "mic-moving-against-something noise". The camera angles (and their hair) are adjusted so the mics are a little more difficult to see. That preserves the "illusion" for the audience. (You mean their voices aren't strong enough to sing over a full orchestra? )

The reason they're able to keep singing while moving about like that is because they've been practicing doing both for quite a while before doing public performances, and as professional singers, they have excellent breath control.

I do a little performing from time to time, and I wish I could afford the 'inexpensive' versions of those mics - they run about US$300 or so. The cheap ones (quality as well as price) run about US$90. That's just the microphone (plus the transmitter & battery pack). The receiver base will cost you a little more. The better ones are even more expensive. I was told by one of the stage managers at our performing arts center that the professional stage wireless mics run about $500 or more, depending on whether you want it as an earpiece, or hidden in a part of the costume the performer is wearing.

[Frank McGrath]

If the music isn't pre recorded, they have the greatest sound man on earth

[chasem]

I work with a guy who used to run sound for shows up in Maine (to give him some credit: Dashboard Confessional, Martina McBride, etc), and ran a show for Celtic Woman. I asked his thoughts on it, and he said that Celtic Woman do not lip-sync. He's a good sound guy, and isn't a big fan of CW.

He did proceed to tell me about a couple groups he has worked with who did use pre-recorded sound, so I don't doubt he would've told me if CW actually did.