Listening to Audio vs. Being in the Audience

Written by Chin,

Tuesday, 18 May 2010 11:26

The response for this topic really surprises me. Some people seem to really feel that the most accurate way to judge a clash is by listening to the audio. At times, such a method may work, but please be advised -- it is a known fact that audio can be misleading.

Let's use Black Kat as an example! Panther is the Boss, a king of his craft. By listening to him clash on audio, it is sometimes so hard to determine his position in the dance.

One will hear audio of Panther pulling up dubs, dissing his opponent, and yelling "watch the crowd," and believe that Panther is "bussing" the dance. But being at the dance is another thing. I have watched clashes with Panther, where he lost the crowd for at least two rounds before catching up. But the audio says different. The audio says Panther "buss" the whole dance straight. Panther is a master at this form of deceipt. Therefore, on audio, it always sounds like Black Kat put up a good fight. I think this an exciting war tactic! But it proves that audio lies.

I have stood right next to Ricky Trooper in a clash and watched him turn off the mic to prevent the boos he was getting from being heard on the audio. The next day the audio said Trooper won the dance... a lie. I have seen Mighty Crown flop bad in a clash, but the audio made it seem like the clash was close. When the fact was, Crown lost by far.

Clash fans need to stop judging clashes by the amount of big tunes played on the audio. Everywhere you go -- there is a different definition of what is a big tune. The arena is huge. So, clash fans need to be more open minded.

The example I love to use is One Love at World Clash U.S. They had Black Kat beat by 5 in the "tune fi tune" to become the next World Champions and they lost. Why? Because they started to play big tunes instead of pleasing the crowd. However, if the clash was in Europe and they played those same dubs, the outcome may have been very different. According to clash fans in Europe who listened to the audio, One Love should have won because they played the bigger dubs. Yet, those in the US who were at the dance knew that One Love lost fair and square.

I am not saying that one should not listen to clash audio. All I'm saying is don't put your trust in audio alone! A sound can play BIG TUNES all they want. If the crowd is not into it, it's useless.

The crowd is the judge! I just saw Sentinel admit to plying a fake JAY Z in front of 6000 people and the crowd worked in their favor. If a real clash head heard that shit on audio only, he or she would have said they should have been eliminated for being so daring, despite the lead they had.

Oh! Another classic is Black Kat getting the crowd to boo Mighty Crown at World Clash Canada for playing hip hop dubs, despite the fact that Mighty Crown won so many clashes with the same dubs. But on the audio Mighty Crown clearly played the bigger dubs.

And the list goes on forever! I enjoy clash audio... but I don't live by it. What I love about audio is that it's living proof of who played back dubs, made loose speeches, etc.

Comments

0 #7 Guest 2010-07-01 11:09

i strongly agree even though this wasn't a "soundclash i heard and saw the live audio recording of,Reggae Sunsplash 91 seperately and i noticed through carefully editing how the "cheering" for specific artists would differ from each other,case in point if anybody has a chance watch and listen Ninjaman's performance and you will agree.Another method utilized particularly in video editing in terms of certain reggae videos is how they would "re-use" the same "crowd cheering" shot for different artists (i.e. Reggae Sting 89).

0 #6 Guest 2010-05-31 08:02

i live in nottingham v rcket sound home town. im a big fan and cannot seam to find any clashes that have been realesed. im very keen to listen and watch all of the battles that have taken place over the past years. can you help place me in the right direction to find these sound clashesh. iv tried lady v but shes shut up shop so am leaving it to the orignaters of the clash industry. ONE!!

0 #5 Guest 2010-05-23 05:06

well this happens when u all give the advantage to those net nerds on DHR n other whack ass sites. When the dance done why u all quik to push it out there let the suspense build n let those who went give the details n reactions n then buss the audio. Alot of you are to hurry come n if a person hear the audio but never in the dance IGNORE them. all these laptop sounds n etc just give these folks too much voice. BEen to dance in JA n USA n seen many clashes n then read of hear a person say only heasr the audio like the LP v/ JAro clash in bklyn.......... ....I was in that dat no jaro side

0 #4 Guest 2010-05-20 02:51

people need to move on, it\'s 2010 and we are still listening to cds and mp3? when dvds should be running the cut! dvds i think give a better feel for dances at least you get to see the audience reacting to the chunes and speeches. To hell with audio, dvd, me say.

0 #3 Guest 2010-05-19 15:49

Well said. Some soundman are only good on the audio Cd recorded of the actual dance. I have been to a lot of dances in Canada, and people stand up when they play certain tune. But when I listen to the audio , the MC sound bad, and the audio feels powerful driving down in my car

0 #2 Guest 2010-05-19 07:00

Chin wrote: \"Some people seem to really feel that the most accurate way to judge a clash is by listening to the audio.\"

--

I re-read the thread you\'re referring to and I can\'t find anyone suggesting anything of the sort. Who\'s the culprit?

0 #1 Guest 2010-05-19 04:05

Good points, my favorite example is LP vs. Jaro in 95 (biltmore). I never attended the dance but a couple years ago, i heard the audio for the first time and LP went in with great chunes, sterofish had speech, and the horns were blowing but when i speak to people that was actually there, they be like \"Son, LP got murdered...no chance\". and another example is Blunt Vs Addies...the audio I think Blunt took it hands down, but people that went said the same, Addies had the crown di whole night. Its tricky i guess. Its like juding a boxing match, do you look for Ring generalship or actual punches landed.

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