THE EDITOR, Sir:
THE PRIME Minister's Gala is a wonderful event that annually recognises and features live performances from some of our finest Jamaican talents. Dismaying, however is the fact that these excellent performances are matched with inferior broadcast sound quality - event after event and year on year. Certainly, other viewers must also have noticed. On TVJ Saturday night, the bass and high end were terribly distorted. The bass was also distorted on CVM, with the high end almost non-existent.
I have spoken to technicians at both stations about this consistent problem with live and especially government-sponsored broadcast events. Usually the techs lament about the 'feeds' and say there's nothing they can do if the signal they get is 'no good' and already mixed down to stereo (which is true).
From an engineering standpoint, the sound must be better mixed, and more importantly, processed with proper gain and equalisation, limiters or gates, and compression. The live mix should be done separate and apart from the TV mix. I am not speaking as a lay person as I have worked in both live and studio sound (abroad) in decades past, as well as having performed on-stage and on television.
To the producers of these live broadcast shows, I implore you to address this lingering problem! It's a travesty that superb programming from our national events can be repeatedly ruined by such embarrassingly poor sound, when in fact the content is otherwise often worthy of global viewing.
I am, etc.,
ELLIE HITESHEW
GRENNAN
Kingston 10
