Pro Sound News covers the biggest concert tours on earth, but there’s another kind of tour that we rarely cover: The endless string of political rallies held by candidates for president. These events get crowds often times as large as a good-sized pop show—or at least the rallies by candidates you’ve heard of do. But that means that just like a good-sized pop show, sometimes there’s audio issues…like the ones current Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump faced on January 13 this year.
At a rally in Pensacola, FL, Trump had microphone issues and insisted from the podium that his campaign not pay the sound vendor. We think he was kidding about stiffing the sound company (mostly), but to be fair, you can hear audio issues in the video clip.
When we posted the video to the Pro Sound News Facebook page, readers offered solutions like teaching Mr. Trump better microphone technique; switching out the mic for a shorter gooseneck, Shure SM57 or 58; adding a more robust pop filter; and more.
Commenting on Trump’s suggestion that the sound company would not get compensated, one mischievous sound pro noted, “At this time, I’d say turn off the system and walk away…either way, you are not getting paid.” Another responded, “Or, slowly add delay, and watch him begin to stumble over his words before he even realizes why…lol.”
It’s all a far cry from a month ago, when we wrote about a rally where Trump was far more positive about his audio.
