Pollstar: Silent disco is the agreed-upon term for concerts where the music is delivered to wireless headphones. Most shows are DJ sets and they typically happen in places with strict sound curfews or where full sound production is problematic. But what began as a side attraction at Bonnaroo and a cute college event has grown into a viable live music opportunity. San Francisco-area producers Silent Frisco is putting on events like Hushfest and Treasure Island Music Festival, where bands play straight into the mixing board and broadcast to wireless headphones, with only vocals and the thump of the bass drum heard in the real world.
13 comments:
I actually think this is an interesting concept and reading through the article I'm glad to see that Mr. Dowd has actually thought through a lot of the problems with this idea and is addressing these. There's always the problem with wireless signals reacting in odd ways so it's nice that they don't just send out kits and let people have at it. The sanitation line was another thing that I was glad to see that it was being addressed. I would have liked to see what they do to sanitize the headphones after each use. 1800+ headphones to sanitize per performance is a huge undertaking and something many people would skip. Until there was a problem. I also liked the idea of having the headphones backstage to allow crew and management the opportunity to keep an ear on things onstage. Granted, we had a Quiet Disco type thing a couple years ago at the Pittsburgh Children's Festival and it was very interesting to watch people dance around when you can't hear the music. There is a level of self consciousness that also plays into this type of event.
That is such an interesting idea! What a way to solve noise pollution problems. When they said it was wireless, I was confused because distance is always an issue with wireless objects. I'm glad they addressed the matter in the article and explained that they went through that exact problem. The different channels is also quite an amazing feat. With such a huge amount of people, the whole process could be completely messed up very easily. I'd love to go to a quiet concert just to experience it, but I'm not sure how successful this will be.
I've never heard of the concept of a silent concert before, no pun intended, but it sounds really interesting. It could solve a lot of problems some venues have with sounds curfews and probably reduce noise complaints around venues or festivals. What is also nice is that Mr. Dowd and his company have put a lot of thought into safety and other issues. Not sending out DIY kits is a smart choice and making sure equipment is sanitized after each use both help solve safety issues. The one question I would have is who decides the levels in the headphones? Does the listener get to choose how loud they want it or is it decided/limited by the company that provides them. Hearing damage is a problem at any venue but by giving each person the ability to control how loud they want to the music could be a blessing or a curse. What's to stop people from unknowingly turning them up to high and hurting their hearing? That being said it sounded like they had a solution to that issue that just wasn't mentioned in this article. I'm interested in seeing if this concept catches on and become more common in the coming years.
I think this is a really cool idea. It can definitely eliminate noise complaints from a loud concert and blown speakers. It must look very interesting being in the room without headphones on because everyone is probably dancing and mouthing the words, but the room is pretty quiet. It seems like a big hassle to clean all of the headphones after each use. If they aren't cleaned they will become very gross because people get very sweaty at concerts. I wonder how the room looks when people are listening to different songs because they will all be dancing to different beats. I would like to try this one day.
I've actually heard of this before! From a patron perspective, I would really like this. Being able to control the volume is really appetizing. From a mixer perspective, I'm split. So much of the concert experience is the ear-splitting sound. Good mixing or bad mixing, it's loud. That can be comforting somewhat. There's a little room for slip-ups. With the headphones though, there's more transparency. Take it as you will. As a sound tech, this might be daunting. All these headphones?! All synced up?! Crazy. Especially because the synchronization is something that is critical for dancing. Personally, that's way more equipment than I ever want to handle.
I'd try it once. But I have to try it to fully get an understanding.
I think this is a very interesting idea. Everyone would be able to hear the music perfectly not matter how close or far they are from the stage and in a music festival application the promoters do not have to worry about sound from one stage contaminating sound from another. However I am wondering how much those headphones cost and how many people walk off with them or break them during the show, especially it is an EDM show. Also cleaning the headphones sound that it could take a lot of people a lot of time. Another thing that was not mentioned was do the headphones take batteries or do you charge. I think that it is a really cool idea and it would be very cool to see a whole crowd of people in complete silence all listening to the same music.
Cool. This product works really great for DJ shows, but I don’t think it’s great for live entertainment. There’s a certain something special about hearing music through a cabinet that you just don’t get through a pair of headphones. The same with theatre, there’s a certain something about a live voice that you don’t get when it’s reinforced.
I do know that I’ve never heard a good assistive listening system before. I’ve worked a bunch of different places with different systems, and I’ve never heard a good one. If this technology for silent DJ sets is good enough for large scale concerts, its probably the best option we have right now for a decent assistive listening system in theatre and other performing arts. It’s probably (right now) the next best thing.
I wonder if this company has given any thought to that share of the market?
This type of concept is just something that I don’t think I would pay money to go to. You go to concerts to listen to the band live. Yes, this is technically live, but I don’t think it would give out the same quality of music, because well, you’re listening to the music through headphones. What happens when you take them off? You’re standing in a pretty quiet venue, with everyone nodding their heads. Then it becomes a type of awkward situation I should think. If I spend money I want to get the most out of it, and not listen on headphones, it’s not like their beats headphones or whatever the best kind are, so it would take the quality of the music down, and the social activity down, at this point in its testing, I do think it would almost be a walk by, where you put them on for a few minutes and then leave.
I love the concept of this, specifically because it could allow for concerts to take place in really beautiful locations where noise restrictions might otherwise conflict. Besides that the versatility to control the volume of sound and thus your own experience of any concept seems really neat. unfortunately this might also serve as a drawback from the live quality of a concert as it streamlines the listener into the music but removes them from the loud genuine sound of live music and the invigorating roar of the crowd. Additionally with an audio mixer controlling the direct feed, there are huge implications to add effects to the live audio changing the experience from a live event to something more like listening to a finished studio recorded iTunes song than an actual concert. Another significant drawback is the necessary sanitation of the headphone equipment after each performance, and the on site adjustments needed. This might be better implemented with receivers that allow the audience to plug in their own headphones for the experience removing the nee for sanitation and allowing for personal adjustment for each audience member.
Overall I think this is a really cool idea but it's more of a niche idea than one that could be widely implemented. I think it could really enhance some musical performances, but also really hinder others, either way I'd be interested in going to one of these silent events to try it out.
One of the most bizarre moments of my teenage life was when I attended one of these while studying abroad one summer in high school. It works, it really does. The university I was at had noise restrictions, and this accommodated that perfectly. That said, part of the interactive quality of a concert is lost. I couldn't hear my friends unless I pulled off my headphones. I also missed the rib-cracking, heart-rattling umph-age that accompanies a typical concert. The common experience is what makes concert-going so appealing.
This is a really cool idea, but I'm not sure how much it appeals to me. While it may be a visual spectacle and an innovative use of technology, I think it eradicates the beauty of listening to music in a group setting; music brings people together. There is no better feeling than going to a concert, or even just listening to a really good record, then looking at the friends, or strangers, next to you and seeing they are just as engaged and affected as you are. It amazing how sound holds the power to penetrate and fill a space in an inescapable way. Channeling the sound to each individual isolates each person from those surrounding them. While I appreciate the idea and think it could make for some really cool events, I hope this approach to group music-listening does not penetrate too many venues or artists.
I think that this is a really cool new way to work within the confines of the industry. For the most part, there isn't much leeway in how a concert is formatted, at least compared to a movie or a play, so having any kind of a new approach is very exciting. The closest thing I have ever heard to these concerts is a silent rave, where attendees plug into their own tunes to dance in a crowd. That particular experience seems to be about being alone in a crowd, while silent concerts, where everyone is listening to the same things, feels like the crowd sharing a secret, which is a really cool, non-harmful way to play with mob mentality.
I'd go in a heartbeat! I think that there is something incredibly intimate about listing to music through headphones and sometimes it is my favorite way to experience sound. After reading this article, my initial thoughts and questions crumbled away because they talked so in depth about potential problems and ways they handle this type of event and it's honestly jaw-dropping. To think that they sanitize that many headphones before each performance is unfathomable. One of the main things that I kept thinking about spawned from personal experience; I've played piano before, on an electric keyboard, and had someone else wear the headphones and it was an incredibly disorienting experience watching them listen and move around to something I couldn't hear even though I knew it was happening. I can only imagine what it looks like to witness one of these shows and not have headphones of your own.
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