Concerning the Sound Production at Magic City on YouTube. Posted on April 6, 2024 at 01:10:25 PM by jatna77
I very much enjoy the free Jai-Alai at Magic City on YouTube and appreciate that they, like Dania, are trying to revitalize Jai-Alai in America.
Having said that, there are some flaws. Here are both my objective and subjective observations concerning flaws in the sound production and music at Magic City Jai-Alai on YouTube.
1) Whoever is running the soundboard/mixer does a poor job. I have heard that it is Diaz but I do not know. At any rate, fairly often, they either leave the music running during play at the regular volume or a much lower volume because they did not turn the fader down all the way. They usually catch their error sometime between a minute to ten minutes and finally turn it down all the way. But there have been times when it continues to play throughout an entire game.
2) Quite often, whoever is running the soundboard/mixer forgets to bring the overhead mic fader up during play. Here is a timestamped link with an example during the last top-tier BC doubles match: https://youtu.be/__vvJ3Pn4QI?t=1375
That mic is responsible for the thudding sound of the ball hitting the front and side walls, as well as hearing the player's catching, communication and movement (squeaky shoes). It adds much excitement and entertainment value to the game. Without it, the game sounds almost silent, except for the back wall, and the announcers sound disconnected from the game, like they are overdubbing after the fact on some video footage.
Flaws one and two are squarely the fault of whoever is running the soundboard/mixer. It is not that hard of a job! You could train a ten-year-old to do it correctly and they would probably make these mistakes less often than whoever is doing it now.
3) The music in between games is Godawful Generic Shit that repeats the same horrible fucking songs over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and (×)Ω^∞.... you get the idea. Royalty-free music is just not that expensive! Hell, in Dania's last tournament, they had different genres of music playing at every break, and as far as I could tell there was no repetition at all.
How many potential Jai-Alai fans has Scott Savin chased away with this terrible, horrific, generic 90's muzak? Most of the time I have to mute it or watch something else during the breaks and so I miss most of Stu and Andrew's banter -which I like! I mute it to save my sanity from listening to the same horrendous songs for the 8 millionth time!
Do I have too much time on my hands that I am annoyed by such minutiae? Yes. And I use a lot of that time (which I value) to watch Magic City Jai-Alai on YouTube, that is why I am bitching!
Now I realize that I am looking a free, gift horse in the mouth. I realize that some people could care less about the above. I even realize that I may just be super-sensitive, being a musician myself. But surely I am not the only one and I would not advise ignoring the importance of sound and music to an entertainment product that is trying to gain new fans and rise in professional quality.
