Is It Live?
Remember the TV ad in the 1970s for Memorex cassette recording tapes? The theory was that it was so lifelike that you had to ask, “is it live, or is it Memorex?” I seem to recall the tape shattering glass when a singer hit a high note.
Reminds me of the Democrat’s political convention this week…are these clips live, or—if you will—Memorex?
Obviously, I do a lot of audio work these days…much of it is recorded, and much of it is live. Frankly, it doesn’t take much to pull off a perfect job if you are recording; unless there’s a time limitation or deadline, you have the chance to do it over and over until you get it right. Going live is a whole different story; for example, during breaking news or severe weather bulletins, the coverage is a bit raw and rough, but that’s expected in a fluid situation.
Same thing with musicians; what you hear on the recording has all manner of layers of editing and mixing going on, and no off-pitch note makes it through…by comparison, live performances frequently don’t sound like the record. Nothing wrong with it, just different.
The trick, of course, is how well someone who is live adapts to problems…technical issues, recovering from mistakes they make, adapting in response to a live audience, when one is present.
That’s the problem with the Democrat convention…too much is scripted, polished, and perfect…and we don’t have interest in it.
The bigger issue is how Joe Biden handles the acceptance speech. Much of what we’ve seen from the former vice president for months has been carefully crafted and perfect; in fact, no one cares about that, the news comes in his live appearances where odd things seem to happen.
So a live Biden speech will tell us much about the condition of the person the party has nominated and his worthiness for office. For that matter, so will a recorded and edited address.
