Lol a friend and myself went to a bar that had an Irish band playing for st Patrick s day. On there break asked if they would like us to setup the system a bit better they said sure asked us what we knew about it told them we were both audio files and it was a life time hobbie we got the speakers close to equal distance from the wall leveled them somewhat close one was at leat 2 feet lower than the other did a few basic things they started to play the first song and stopped mid song and thanked us. After the show they offer us a job!!! Lol had fun that night.
Why does rock concert sound suck?
I have been to two rock concert in the past year : Brit Floyd in Bridgeport CT and Eric Clapton at Madison Square Garden, NYC (last Monday)
For Brit Floyd I was about 40 feet form the stage and treble end was an ear-splitting distorted sound - the soprano solo on Dark Side of the Moon sounded like a chain saw running at 5x speed.
For Eric Clapton I was sitting at floor level about 20 rows behind the mixing desk - i.e., the opposite end from the stage. In this case the high top end was not so distorted, but the voices were still very harsh - seemingly a massive response peak at ~1500hz. Imagine AM radio with the treble turned up 20db.
I knew a lot of the words form the songs ahead of time of course, and just about recognized them, but otherwise the lyrics were unintelligible. The only exceptions were when he sang a quieter song - e.g., “Tears in Heaven” . Clapton moved back from the mic rather than place his mouth right next to it. Then the sound was quite listenable .
Of course managing the acoustics in such a big venue is no doubt a challenge — but does it have to be this bad?
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Sound men start with the drums, getting a great-but-too-loud sound from the kit. Then they do the same with the bass. After that there's nowhere for the higher pitched instruments and vocals to exist. And it all sounds like crap. My wife and I were once at a Los Lobos outdoors show and the sound was so bad we decided to go home. As we were walking away we hit a point where the sound was decent enough so we sat there and stayed for the rest of the concert. So it can be a relative thing. The most painfully loud band I ever heard was the 13th Floor Elevators at the Safari Club in Baytown, Texas ca. 1968. This was long before big PA systems so I'm not sure how they managed to do it. Small room, I guess. |
I’ve become very picky over the venue choice v. the performance to be attended. Leaning towards smaller halls, outdoor venues, and who is headlined and what they do.... Larger venues, esp. outdoors, draw fans that either spend too much time on a cell or loud chatting with whomever you came with. Esp. with the $ for even a mediocre seat (tending to under a balcony or nosebleed... The cheers/yowling of the audience is my downfall, the 'beige racket' typically louder than the flown drivers on stage. I've literally had my ears go 'pop' and toss the towel. Between that and loud machinery, my hearing required earplugs, later aids for just the day by day... I’ve been to enough concerts over the span to ’who/where’ determines go or no go. Fortunately, more good than awful. The occasional ’flawless’: Paul Simon, Cyntia Woods Pav., north of Houston. Terrific thunderstorm prior to and delaying the opening of the set, we watched as the front rolled in, soaked Everyone (we had grown a brain, rented chairs and brought a tarp (had noted the forecast and the radar...). Opened with ’rainforest noodling’, perfect choice that brought cheers... Talking Heads~David Byne: Previous at the Greek Theatre, Berkeley, Byne twice right here in AVL, small hall. Both times, front row balcony dead center. Pefect. Others: Anything Bill Graham had anything to do with back in the Bay Area.....within ’practical limits’... I suspect all had their own mix crew, sure sounded that way... |
Over the last decade or so, about 90% of the concerts I've attended have had atrocious sound. I just don't go to many anymore...bad sound damages my ears; bad sound is unpleasant; bad sound prevents me from hearing the artistry that drew me to the concert in the first place; bad sound wastes my money and my time. I've never understood why a band would carefully craft an amazing sounding album and be content with lousy live reproduction of it. |
@77jovian , down with that....👍 Living where we do, most concerts are min. 2+ hours away (Raleigh/Durham, Charlotte, Knoxville...Atlanta is an overnight, and it had better be 'early seat pick') If I expect it to be an issue, we don't go. So much easier to cue up a file of some source and enjoy it on my own sound reinforcement...and my own 'mix'. ;) Don't have to tip-toe through the too-tripped with beer at ridiculous $s', can light up something of a non-retail variety without making the 'down-wind' crowd start head swiveling for source, Sal stoner with gal Sally either howling like wolves or loud on the cells... I often wished for a jar of ether with a battery fan....My version of The Cone of Silence...*L* That, and aerosol LSD... |
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