2. music
  3. 132866-2199

Live show audience noise

Listening to Getz Au Go Go. I understand that when they made the recording, the audience were asked to refrain from whistling in appreciation. Unfortunately, they didn't. I find it irritating that so many recordings are spoiled by excessive whistling. Opinions?

128x128noromance
hifiman5's avatar
hifiman5
1,823 posts
 
$25 for a live concert?  Lucky you.
terry9
2,209 posts
 
Depends.

An intrinsic element to Gieseking’s 1944 Emperor is the anti-aircraft cannon in the background. This makes perfect sense of the phrase of rambling chaos up and down the keyboard, of what happens when the emperor gets lost - people die. As such, it is part of what makes this the greatest Emperor ever recorded. If not audience noise, it's what neither performer nor composer intended.

Folk music is often improved by the audience, although the most intrusive lout ever recorded can be heard on the Kingston Trio’s Hungry Eye (1958).

Like I say, depends.
noromance's avatar
noromance OP
9,379 posts
 
Yeah. It's not audience noise that bugs me, it's he ear-splitting whistling. I love the live murmur in a jazz speakeasy!
A live Dead recording is ruined by it and a lovely moment between Roy Harper and Jimmy Page destroyed forever by some idiot. Etc. I was at a Melani Safka gig once and a woman beside me whistled all the time. It was ridiculous. 

More to discover