The X Factor 2008 - Official Thread

Loved Dermot's sly comments towards Louis...

Why were Louis', Dermot's and Rachel's mics faded out after the judges spoken so you couldn't hear Louis' comeback?

That would've been funny to hear.

Oh, Rachel did a stunning performance at the end, but Austin's was average.

PLEASE can somebody tell Diana to STOP doing that thing with the hand and the squeek at the end of each note. It's-AH getting-AH annoying-AH!

I quite agree, there's a few other people I could mention who would be far more worthy, like war corespondants for example. Can't see Cowell in a fak jacket reporting from Bazra

Expected Austin to go a lot further than this - was quite surprised he was in the bottom 2.

And Louis had the nerve to attack the public last night on the Xtra Factor for keeping Daniel in with the sympathy vote - when he didn't have the bottle to vote him out seven days earlier.

Sometimes less is more. Definitely preferred that, it seemed more tense than making it seem epic.

Last night was OK, not the best live show they have ever done though. Austin didn't deserve to go, how Eoghan and Daniel are still there is beyond me.

JLS were the only act on Saturday that I actually enjoyed listening to. I thought Rachel was the worst one, and she should have gone rather than Austin.

Does anyone else find the sound mixing on X Factor particularly poor? Very often I'm straining to hear the vocals above the music.

Austin this week was a case in point - at points during his performance he was almost drowned out, which makes me wonder if that contributed to his exit.

To be fair it's often been the same in previous series, but surely being able to hear the vocals clearly is of paramount import in a singing competition.

Is anyone under the impression this is still a "singing" competition? I cannot dispute that the show has produced some rather talented people but the route taken to choose that special someone certainly doesn't seem to be about the singing anymore.

Fair point. I tend to find suspension of disbelief necessary when watching X Factor. That and a couple of gins inside me.

Whilst it might be the sound balance - equally it could be weak singing. With high levels of PA, foldback and monitoring you can't just make singers louder, as you'll end up with PA howl-round. You can't turn the PA down as the audience want to hear the acts... Catch 22.

Chances are that the singers you don't hear as clearly in the mix are simply not as good - or have poor mic technique.

I'm still hating how the audience are still applauding when the first judge starts to speak. I don't understand how they can't get the audience to be quiet THEN do the judges comments.

Would make sense, surely?

I know that they try to get a larger audience for a better atmosphere, but I think that its over the top at the moment. Britain's Got Talent seems to have a much better set up in terms of audience size and noise, even the set appears larger, even though they both use the same studio and presumebly a similar set up in terms of sound.