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Reality singing show auditions....


LydiaN

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Okay, so I auditioned for the X-factor in Los Angeles and I have to say that it was the most grueling and unfair process! No I didn't make it though to the next level, but before anyone assumes that I'm just mad because I didn't make it, let me tell you about the process...

Saturday morning, registration started at 6am and went until 6am on Sunday... So after standing in line from about 7:30am until about 3:00pm on Saturday, my "supporters" and I finally got our wristbands and tickets. (If you didn't have both, you would not be admitted to the auditions on Sunday.) We received instructions to return between 6:00 and 6:30am on Sunday morning. They said the "auditions" would start at 8am on Sunday. When we arrived, it was dark, cold, and it had rained, and we ended up standing in a puddle of water, waiting to get in. At 8am, they didn't start the auditions, they started taping the opening "crowd of auditioners" scenes for the show. For two hours, they expected us to yell "I have the X-Factor" and other various phrases, scream and cheer at the top of our lungs and jump and dance and sing along with all of the songs they were playing (by Lady Gaga, Usher, Katy Perry, and other artists' songs that I didn't really know the words to anyway). Finally around 12pm they let us inside of the auditorium. I went out into the corridor to warm up around 12:45pm or so, but they called everyone back inside of the auditorium at 1pm to say that they were starting the auditions.

There were 24 "booths" on the floor divided only by black curtains with a judge in each booth... One person was in each booth at a time, but everyone was singing for the judges at the same time. There were three levels of 30 sections each and they took one section at a time and not always in order--and I was in section 30 on the second level. They didn't tell us in what order we would be taken down to audition, and they didn't give us even an estimate of how long it would take to get to everyone. By the time my turn came, it was after 7pm and I had already spent over 6 hours trying to keep my voice warm. After 4 hours, my throat was starting to tingle so I had my husband buy me some tea from the concession stand. While it helped soothe my throat, it didn't help enough. When I got into the booth--the noise from the other auditioners was deafening! It was ten times worse than the noise of all the people singing in the corridor. The judge didn't even let me put my belongings down and get ready on the marked spot before he started asking me questions and that totally threw me off guard. My audition was not as good as it would have been if I had been able to go when my voice was still fresh. Interestingly, I noticed at the beginning--a lot of people were making it through, but as time went on...fewer and fewer were getting a yes. Also, out of 24 judges, we only saw 4 booths shut down so the judges could take a break. I'm sure if they didn't take a break, everyone was just starting to blend together.

To be honest, I don't think the process was fair to the auditioners OR the judges. I don't understand how they expected vocalists to scream for two hours straight, require some of us to stay warm for 6 hours or more and still give our best performance? I don't think a professional could even do that. My voice still feels strained two days later, and I didn't even scream that much because I didn't want to stress my voice too much, knowing that I had to sing.

Oh, btw, the "yes" was simply a "yes" that you could come back yesterday (Monday) and audition again, and if you got another "yes", you might have to come back today (Tuesday) to be weeded through some more. From what I understand, American Idol went through 4 rounds of this before they even made it on televised auditions. If those people went through what we did every time they went to audition, I understand why some of those people go ballistic during the televised auditions and they are rejected. The show wants us to believe that they are over reacting and such, but I have a new appreciation for what they have actually gone through. And I am convinced that the people who make it to the show may not be the most talented--they may simply be the ones that stand up to the abuse the best.

As long as they are doing the auditions this way, it will never be a fair competition and they couldn't pay me enough money to do it again..... Seeing what happens behind the scenes has totally ruined it for me. I can't even look at these shows the same way again. Actually, I'm relieved I didn't make it--:D I'd love to see your comments--what do you think about this?

Lydia

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Okay, so I auditioned for the X-factor in Los Angeles and I have to say that it was the most grueling and unfair process! No I didn't make it though to the next level, but before anyone assumes that I'm just mad because I didn't make it, let me tell you about the process...

Saturday morning, registration started at 6am and went until 6am on Sunday... So after standing in line from about 7:30am until about 3:00pm on Saturday, my "supporters" and I finally got our wristbands and tickets. (If you didn't have both, you would not be admitted to the auditions on Sunday.) We received instructions to return between 6:00 and 6:30am on Sunday morning. They said the "auditions" would start at 8am on Sunday. When we arrived, it was dark, cold, and it had rained, and we ended up standing in a puddle of water, waiting to get in. At 8am, they didn't start the auditions, they started taping the opening "crowd of auditioners" scenes for the show. For two hours, they expected us to yell "I have the X-Factor" and other various phrases, scream and cheer at the top of our lungs and jump and dance and sing along with all of the songs they were playing (by Lady Gaga, Usher, Katy Perry, and other artists' songs that I didn't really know the words to anyway). Finally around 12pm they let us inside of the auditorium. I went out into the corridor to warm up around 12:45pm or so, but they called everyone back inside of the auditorium at 1pm to say that they were starting the auditions.

There were 24 "booths" on the floor divided only by black curtains with a judge in each booth... One person was in each booth at a time, but everyone was singing for the judges at the same time. There were three levels of 30 sections each and they took one section at a time and not always in order--and I was in section 30 on the second level. They didn't tell us in what order we would be taken down to audition, and they didn't give us even an estimate of how long it would take to get to everyone. By the time my turn came, it was after 7pm and I had already spent over 6 hours trying to keep my voice warm. After 4 hours, my throat was starting to tingle so I had my husband buy me some tea from the concession stand. While it helped soothe my throat, it didn't help enough. When I got into the booth--the noise from the other auditioners was deafening! It was ten times worse than the noise of all the people singing in the corridor. The judge didn't even let me put my belongings down and get ready on the marked spot before he started asking me questions and that totally threw me off guard. My audition was not as good as it would have been if I had been able to go when my voice was still fresh. Interestingly, I noticed at the beginning--a lot of people were making it through, but as time went on...fewer and fewer were getting a yes. Also, out of 24 judges, we only saw 4 booths shut down so the judges could take a break. I'm sure if they didn't take a break, everyone was just starting to blend together.

To be honest, I don't think the process was fair to the auditioners OR the judges. I don't understand how they expected vocalists to scream for two hours straight, require some of us to stay warm for 6 hours or more and still give our best performance? I don't think a professional could even do that. My voice still feels strained two days later, and I didn't even scream that much because I didn't want to stress my voice too much, knowing that I had to sing.

Oh, btw, the "yes" was simply a "yes" that you could come back yesterday (Monday) and audition again, and if you got another "yes", you might have to come back today (Tuesday) to be weeded through some more. From what I understand, American Idol went through 4 rounds of this before they even made it on televised auditions. If those people went through what we did every time they went to audition, I understand why some of those people go ballistic during the televised auditions and they are rejected. The show wants us to believe that they are over reacting and such, but I have a new appreciation for what they have actually gone through. And I am convinced that the people who make it to the show may not be the most talented--they may simply be the ones that stand up to the abuse the best.

As long as they are doing the auditions this way, it will never be a fair competition and they couldn't pay me enough money to do it again..... Seeing what happens behind the scenes has totally ruined it for me. I can't even look at these shows the same way again. Actually, I'm relieved I didn't make it--:D I'd love to see your comments--what do you think about this?

Lydia

oh lydia, i had the same horrific experience when i went to nyc for "america's got talent." after waiting hours to get in, they had us sit in this huge auditorium and all these people singing and warming up (so-called) all at the same time screaming and mother and father were there asking everyone to listen to their kid...

i had to audition with little warmup and the room i auditioned in i didn't even realize was the audition room!!!

i've never seen so many micheal jackson impersonators in my whole life!

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I had the same experience for XFactor in the UK. I queded for over 4 hours from 6am till 10am. Went inside a huge stadium in Birmingham and waited a further 2 hours, to audition to someone who said yes. I was all hyped up, went back the next day to filming for 2 hours (which never got aired) then waiting hours to receive a simple no from the judges. The guy that went in front of me was horrible, because I heard his audition but he got a yes, I wasn't a great singer but I had potential.

It just doesn't seem fair anymore, because they simply go for ridiculous people and try and get more idiots for viewing purposes.

I'm kinda happy though because apart from making me feel down and out I decided to develop my voice better and since then, even though it isn't star quality I am alot better.

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Yeah, I'm all about the nerves I guess ;) Though it happens with auditions, not with performances. Auditions kill me... I guess it's the pressure... With performances it's not that bad, I guess it's because you know an audience will not be judging every single note and mistakes you make but will instead enjoy (hopefully) your voice... Depends on the audience obviously...

And I've heard those stories before. It's all about what sells and what doesn't. It's a shame, really.

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somehow, i hate to say it, but in my case, with that show, i think the cattle call was more for getting the bad singers than the marketable ones....it's a great publicity stunt too.

after all, how daunting can the task be of whittling down all of these hundreds of thousands of singers to arrive at less than 20 or whatever?

the top people may have been picked previously?

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I had the same experience for XFactor in the UK. I queded for over 4 hours from 6am till 10am. Went inside a huge stadium in Birmingham and waited a further 2 hours, to audition to someone who said yes. I was all hyped up, went back the next day to filming for 2 hours (which never got aired) then waiting hours to receive a simple no from the judges. The guy that went in front of me was horrible, because I heard his audition but he got a yes, I wasn't a great singer but I had potential.

It just doesn't seem fair anymore, because they simply go for ridiculous people and try and get more idiots for viewing purposes.

I'm kinda happy though because apart from making me feel down and out I decided to develop my voice better and since then, even though it isn't star quality I am alot better.

I'm sorry that your experience made you feel down and out, but glad that it didn't make you give up! :D

I really wasn't after the contract anyway... I just wanted to get in front of Simon because 1. I wanted to see what he would think of me and 2. because I think he is SO hot!!! :lol: But after this experience I realize that I don't need their approval to be validated as a singer. And I'm not going to sell my soul just to get a recording contract--I'd rather be in control of my own destiny.

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Guys, I gotta tell you, I really admire you for auditioning. I don't think I would ever have the guts to do it. I just wanted to say that :D

Thanks, I appreciate that. I'm sure you could do it too--I look at it this way--if you have ever gotten up in front of a crowded bar to do karaoke or to perform, you have been in front of more people than you would be doing the audition. At the audition it's only one person--and what's the worst that can happen, they say "no"? Okay, so what? It won't kill you. You hold your head high and keep on going--that's only one thing. And if I didn't believe that I can sing, I never would have done it in the first place.

When I felt I was getting nervous, that is what I told myself and it helped me calm down. A few times, my daughter kept asking me if I was nervous but I told her no. But I'll tell you exactly what I did to blow my audition. When I started into the first verse of "Fire & Ice" I was way too low in my chest voice--I knew it as soon as I started. Then when I hit the higher notes, there was a HUGE break. It ticked me off because I had gone over it over and over again in the seats and one last time while I was in line and I was exactly where I was supposed to be. I was listening to my mp3 player so I didn't realize how loud it was down there. I was distracted by all of the noise of the other auditioners and the quickness of having to sing threw me off balance, not to mention that my voice was so tired....

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somehow, i hate to say it, but in my case, with that show, i think the cattle call was more for getting the bad singers than the marketable ones....it's a great publicity stunt too.

after all, how daunting can the task be of whittling down all of these hundreds of thousands of singers to arrive at less than 20 or whatever?

the top people may have been picked previously?

My husband says that he thinks the finalists have been picked beforehand. He met five auditioners while he was walking around that caught his eye. There was just something about them--they all knew each other but were not a vocal group. We only saw one of them on Sunday, and he got a yes. He said that he wants to see if they all got through. Also, even though they were supposed to go in order by section, for some reason when they got to the middle section 16, they jumped up to the top section 20 and brought this huge group of people down to the audition floor when they should not have been the next group. I thought to myself, "I wonder who is in that group that they wanted to get down there?" Today I found out from some online posts that the judges ran out of golden tickets and just started telling everyone "no". I bet that is why they brought that section down out of turn. So yes, I believe it is fixed too.

In a country music contest, I was going to sing Martina McBride's "Where Would You Be." I nailed it during soundcheck, but during the contest they ruined my performance. The sound man messed with my mic settings so my voice had too much treble, and the guitarist hit a chord in the middle of a break that threw off my timing (that he didn't do during rehearsal). These guys prided themselves on being "Studio Musicians" used by the Industry and they didn't do that during soundcheck, so I believe they intentionally sabotaged my performance because I wasn't the one that was supposed to win.

My husband and I have said for years, do you really think that they are going to give a huge recording contract to someone completely untested? Nope, this is a master publicity stunt....Get people emotionally involved with the artists and make them think they really pick the winners.... Voila! a huge following of people that will buy the artists music and see them in concert.

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It is as I suspected and have read, elsewhere. F.ex., on AI, by the time you seem someone croaking thorugh whatever song, they've actually been auditioned at least 3 times before you see them on camera getting blasted by Simon, when he was on there. That is, they should not have gotten that far but were passed along as fodder for "reality" t.v.

Your experiences, Lydia, are invaluable for the rest of us. Given the chance or temptation to audition for one of these "reality" shows, I would run the other away as fast as this old man can run.

I would rather come up the way Steven Tyler did. Play in clubs in front of real rock and roll audiences and earn your keep and learn how to take care of yourself on the road. Even the judges don't always have a clue as to what the public wants. Such as Adam Lambert not winning the audience vote on the final vote of that season. He was clearly the best singer and performer. Yet, the audience chose the other guy.

Well, it's an audience that pays for tickets to see the show, buy the download, buy the cd, whatever format you are using.

And the more live experience you have, the better you can handle an mis-step. Like I was mentioning in another thread about singing at a greek restaurant. I was singing and the guy didn't know all the chords and missed a cue and played it one step lower than the original. And I rolled right on through and none of the people in the restaurant knew the difference. But, I must say, it wasn't a talent show about looks and what strikes the fancy of the judges. So, I feel bad that you had to endure that but I appreciate the wisdom you now have and thank you so much for sharing with us.

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My husband says that he thinks the finalists have been picked beforehand. He met five auditioners while he was walking around that caught his eye. There was just something about them--they all knew each other but were not a vocal group. We only saw one of them on Sunday, and he got a yes. He said that he wants to see if they all got through. Also, even though they were supposed to go in order by section, for some reason when they got to the middle section 16, they jumped up to the top section 20 and brought this huge group of people down to the audition floor when they should not have been the next group. I thought to myself, "I wonder who is in that group that they wanted to get down there?" Today I found out from some online posts that the judges ran out of golden tickets and just started telling everyone "no". I bet that is why they brought that section down out of turn. So yes, I believe it is fixed too.

In a country music contest, I was going to sing Martina McBride's "Where Would You Be." I nailed it during soundcheck, but during the contest they ruined my performance. The sound man messed with my mic settings so my voice had too much treble, and the guitarist hit a chord in the middle of a break that threw off my timing (that he didn't do during rehearsal). These guys prided themselves on being "Studio Musicians" used by the Industry and they didn't do that during soundcheck, so I believe they intentionally sabotaged my performance because I wasn't the one that was supposed to win.

My husband and I have said for years, do you really think that they are going to give a huge recording contract to someone completely untested? Nope, this is a master publicity stunt....Get people emotionally involved with the artists and make them think they really pick the winners.... Voila! a huge following of people that will buy the artists music and see them in concert.

i totally agree and wrote about this in another post. it's a brilliant concept to ensure the sale of their cd.

as far as karaoke contests go, i just go to be able to sing in front of a captive audience. they're all rigged too...lol!

ron, here's my theory on adam lambert......

adam lambert lost because he was offputting to the public, he came out like a elvis wannabee..and allienated the public...the public was thinking..."yes, you're a great singer and great looking guy, but you're a little too aware of it and we're not gonna like you that cocksure. and this "i'm gay and super" attitude really pissed people off.

notice now how he toned down a lot. some image expert must have sat him down and said "adam baby....you're too over the top.....you need to drop down to make your public see you as more approachable and demonstate some vulnerability rather than superiority.....soon!

'

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Check out this season's "Clint Jun Gamboa". Great, great singer, but he was played out as a kind of a villain by alienating another contestant, which probably wasn't 100% true, and therefore the audience got turned off him and he got voted off. So talent is just part of it. People have to LIKE you.

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ron, here's my theory on adam lambert......

adam lambert lost because he was offputting to the public, he came out like a elvis wannabee..and allienated the public...the public was thinking..."yes, you're a great singer and great looking guy, but you're a little too aware of it and we're not gonna like you that cocksure. and this "i'm gay and super" attitude really pissed people off.

notice now how he toned down a lot. some image expert must have sat him down and said "adam baby....you're too over the top.....you need to drop down to make your public see you as more approachable and demonstate some vulnerability rather than superiority.....soon!

'

I think American Idol forced him to keep his sexuality a secret, so when he was finally able to admit it he went way overboard. I really liked Adam, but I got bored with his high pitched notes all of the time. (Kinda like Mariah Carey, her high notes were cool at first, but then she started doing it all the time and it got old.) I didn't like his in your face attitude about being gay, which was probably in response to American Idol's suppression.... And now that I think about it, I bet he was probably under some pressure from the gay community.... they probably felt he was hiding who he really was and he did that to say "I'm proud of who I am".

But I think you're right...somebody probably did say, "Adam cool it, you don't want to alienate the mainstream."

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Check out this season's "Clint Jun Gamboa". Great, great singer, but he was played out as a kind of a villain by alienating another contestant, which probably wasn't 100% true, and therefore the audience got turned off him and he got voted off. So talent is just part of it. People have to LIKE you.

He was at the X Factor auditions... A LOT of people were asking him about that situation. I never had a chance to ask him about what happened, but he didn't seem too stuck up to me. In fact, he was right in front of us during registration, and he laughed at a comment my husband made about some of the annoying people in line behind us. I think he was serious about the competition and didn't want someone else to ruin his chances. I can't say I blame him. It reminds me of some of the girls in the Miss Nebraska USA pageant I competed in when I was younger--some of the girls were really mean, and justified it with "I'm Sorry, I just want to win...":P

You could be entirely correct about the situation not being what it seemed. Did you know that the release that they had us sign gives the producer permission to basically make up things about you, whether they are true or false, if they are embarrassing, or if it paints you in an unfavorable light? So how many things are they making up to sensationalize the contest and justify the elimination of a contestant? One could only guess....

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I don't get what people mean with Adam going overboard with his sexuality? Female singers plays on it far more. :)

He probebly was abit sad about having to hide his sexuality because a big part of the AI watchers are homophobes, but if you think the little make up he put up in the end of the season was "overboard" you should see what he was doing before idol:

Glittering and throwin' up some amazing vocals like a a real baller.

The fact that Adam actually started to develop more of a unique style and alienated some of the people that watched AI is probebly why he is doing well now. Because he wasn't just the regular mainstream average joe that Idol often produces that goes on to make a really boring mediocre album and then is forgotten.

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I don't get what people mean with Adam going overboard with his sexuality? Female singers plays on it far more. :)

He probebly was abit sad about having to hide his sexuality because a big part of the AI watchers are homophobes, but if you think the little make up he put up in the end of the season was "overboard" you should see what he was doing before idol:

Glittering and throwin' up some amazing vocals like a a real baller.

The fact that Adam actually started to develop more of a unique style and alienated some of the people that watched AI is probebly why he is doing well now. Because he wasn't just the regular mainstream average joe that Idol often produces that goes on to make a really boring mediocre album and then is forgotten.

sometimes when performers are over the top they are indimidating to people without those people even knowing it.

it's like an exceptionally beautiful woman...if she isn't showing herself as being "approacable" she won't succeed because she's not touching any hearts.

the best performers touch something inside of us....they let us feel like they let us in and we in turn let them in.

i dated a gal who was an image consultant.......she was nuts, but taught me a lot about people and marketing to market segments.

adam lambert was so severe (for lack of a better word) he allienated the public initially anyway.

another interesting study was andrew dice clay...they say the biggest mistake he made was showing us (ironically) his nice guy side. like a bad wrestler, he should have never showed us the other side and stayed an asshole.....lol!!!!

i still get a kick out of him....

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Adam Lambert never seemed cocky to me. Confident? Sure. Poised? Sure. But when you are good, knowing it is not conceit but an acceptance of the truth. As for his going "overboard" with his sexuality, I don't think so. I think everyone else needs to get over it. If you accept that God created everything, then he created gays, too. Remember, even if you think being gay is a sin, God also created Lucifer. Sorry, but ultimate responsibility always finds its way back to the Boss. But we're getting into a side issue with this. Michael Sweet has a phenomenal voice. And I will buy someone some lunch if Mick Jagger didn't sell more albums than Stryper.

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I tried out for "Utah Idol" sponsored by a Salt Lake TV station. It was a big cattle call in a mall; there were no booths, just had to belt it out next to the escalators for a woman with a clipboard. Trying to show off I sang an original song of mine with a 2 1/2-octave range and had an unscheduled key change in there somehow but afterwards one of the mall punks told me I "kicked nuts" (a compliment)! :D

p.s. Tremendous number of über-talented singers there . . . kids with Fame-type training.

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I am absolutely not a homophobe--Since moving to Las Vegas, the majority of the times I have performed has been at a gay bar with a friend of mine. There are also female impersonators (who are wonderful performers that I have learned a lot from). We had a blast and they even invited me to be a princess at a Coronation ball a few months ago. In fact, my husband and I are going to the bar Saturday night. This is not my first exposure to the gay community either. My statement about pressure from the gay community comes from knowing that once you are accepted into the "community," as I have been, they fiercely protect their own. It absolutely amazes me how everyone is accepted in the community regardless of their sexuality, yet the mainstream seems to have such a problem not judging others.

When I look at people I see people, not their sexuality. My statement about Adam going "overboard" was not based on the fact that he wears makeup or kissed guys on stage or even on my moral convictions. It was simply based on the fact that every time I turned around, it was Adam saying "I'm Gay." After a while it was like, Yes, Adam, we know you're gay---you don't have to keep telling us. For me it's like Black people who are constantly calling attention to their race--and saying that everything that happens to them--good or bad--is because of their race. After a while you just get tired of hearing about it. When I said he was going overboard...it was because he seemingly went from not saying anything about it to that's all you heard...but on the other hand, it could have simply been the media--We all know how they like to sensationalize everything....:D

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Sounds like, Lydia, you have some of the same friends I have had. But we get different interpretations from it. I didn't see Adam flaming out at every opportunity. What I saw was the media going bonkers because he kissed a guy. My opinion was, "big flipping deal." But I applaud his making his issue known and being absolutely brave. He's got cajones grande.

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Sounds like, Lydia, you have some of the same friends I have had. But we get different interpretations from it. I didn't see Adam flaming out at every opportunity. What I saw was the media going bonkers because he kissed a guy. My opinion was, "big flipping deal." But I applaud his making his issue known and being absolutely brave. He's got cajones grande.

I absolutely agree... If only more people would stand up for what they believe in regardless of what other people think.....

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