I don’t understand why SNL has such consistently bad sound guys (gals). It seems like every. single. time. I watch a music guest on SNL, something goes wrong with their sound equipment, the mixing is bad, the monitors don’t work, etc., and the poor singer is hung out to dry on national TV with everyone sitting at home going “I had no idea so-and-so was such a bad singer”. It can make a gigantic difference if you can’t hear what your band is playing, or worse, if you’re hearing a secondary echo from the audience area back onto the stage, and it seriously affects a vocal performance.
I’ve been in this position myself, and I can say there is just about nothing more frustrating - and embarrassing - than being out front when things are going terribly wrong because you have no choice but to smile like everything’s excellent and go on with the show (at least that’s certainly the case in a two-minute appearance on SNL).
SNL, please hire new sound techs, because those people are worth their weight in gold and as we all note here, can make or break a performance.
Musical guest sound problems have been common on SNL for the last decade (however, at least on this last show, I could hear Paul and his band and make out what they were playing) but I’ve noticed it’s not just there. This same problem often crops up on The Late Show with David Letterman. I find it odd that in terms of TV sound, it was easier to clearly hear a musical performance during the 80s than now after all the latest advances in sound and TV technology.