In particular, what piqued my interested was Dave’s statement that “painfully harsh, poorly mixed sound is always too loud.” His point is that yes, rock concerts are (and should be) loud, and even so, they aren’t as measurably loud as a NASCAR race or an NFL game. And I agree that sound level can be an important part of an experience.
5 comments:
I have been to a number of concerts. The concert is noticeably louder at the beginning than by the end for me. Whether this is because of the progression of the setlist or the adjustment in my ears, the volume never really becomes a "pain" per say. The article brings up a good point about being able to talk to the people next to you. This is very important as it is part of the concert experience and this should not be forgotten about. To the average listener, which a good majority of the population at a confer most likely is, they are not able to tell between a well mixed show and a poorly mixed show. But it is critical to make sure that the mixing never becomes distracting for the listener considering that is what they are paying to see.
I wear ear plugs to concerts, and sometimes bring them to shows at CMU just in case things get crazy (which they often do). Whether or not the author is right about the reasons that concerts have gotten unpleasantly loud, I agree that they have. It is no longer about being able to hear the music, it is about from how many miles away can we force the entire city to hear the music. I've actually found that wearing ear plugs I can hear the music they are playing and successfully block out all the ridiculous other sound that ends up coming from those speakers. And as for shows in a theater, I just think it ends up not being part of the same piece. Generally the volume of what happens on stage takes place in one range and often the sound design takes place in an entirely different range. And often this ends up being unpleasant and brings me out of the experience.
And yes I am not a sound designer, I am not qualified to make artistic statements about sound. But I am not making artistic statements. I am the audience. I am the customer. As the theater goer the experience is for me. If I think the sound is too loud then the sound is too loud.
Sure, I'm not a fan of loud noises (especially loud music when it doesn't need to be), but I also see the point of this article. For example, when it mentions the sounds "s" and "f", I think of how, sometimes, when I'm at church and the congregation says something together, the "s" sounds always stick out, even though they're no louder than the rest of the sounds. Another thing that bothers me (although it is related to the loudness) is when the bass of a song is so heavy and loud that I can feel it resonate in my body, especially when it seems to be forcing my lungs and heart to constrict unnaturally. When sounds get to that point, you can't escape by plugging your ears, it is stupid to have music that loud.
The writer of this article makes some good points about volume not being the only reason for the uncomfortable loudness of many concerts. While the mixes could very well have some serious problems with them that cause discomfort among concert goers I think that pointing the blame primarily at this is saying a lot about the way the engineers are mixing their shows. I'm not trying to say that this article is wrong, but I think that at most of the concerts that I have gone to have been too loud. I would say that the engineers that are involved in these shows have a lot of experience in mixing and a lot of the problem is just that the mix is much too loud.
As for the comment that Ben made about the sound he is experiencing getting softer as the concert goes on is not due to either of the things that he made mention to. That is actually hearing loss at its finest. Most people don't understand that at the end of the concert, the numbing of your hearing for about an hour or so is not because your ear is "used to it" it is due to the fact that a significant amount of hearing loss has occurred.
As a person who goes to lots of basement or DIY shows, I am far to familiar with too-loud, poor-quality sound systems. Sometimes I really enjoy this "aesthetic" crackly, feedback-laden shows. It's a very visceral experience and in a strange way makes you feel more connected to the music. It's no better than you are. It makes mistakes and runs into problems, but keeps trekking along, busting your eardrums and shaking the floors. Yet on the other hand, I hardly ever hear a single lyric at a DIY show, which is a shame because the bands usually have great poets and artists putting the music together. Alas, poor mixing and bad (cheep) sound systems combined with extreme volume often overpowers the artistry.
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