Noise volume in clubs/bars/venues

guitarzero

Wondering what take folks have on going out to disco bars, clubs and the like and how loud these places blare their music. The fact that I was shouting to the top of my lungs to be heard last night, and visa versa, is pretty bad considering the fact if you were to do that in a normal setting your ears would be ringing. Of course, you can choose not to go to these places but I dont think its something we really take into consideration we've grown so accustomed to it.

Leeg17

WHAT. I CAN'T HEAR YOU

guitarzero

Leeg17 wrote: »

WHAT. I CAN'T HEAR YOU

WHAT!?!?

You'll love this story, OP -

Foo Fighters Concert Causes Earthquake-like Tremors

When the Foo Fighters proudly “rocked” Auckland, New Zealand, during their performance there on Tuesday, they did so more literally than they could have known.

An entry from GeoNet, a New Zealand-based earthquake blog, indicated that two of Auckland’s seismic stations within a two-kilometer proximity to Western Springs Stadium, where the Foo Fighters were performing, detected a strong low frequency of geological tremors that persisted during the exact same window of time as their show and rose and fell with the peaks and troughs of their performance. Though only the two nearest seismic stations picked up on the frequency, GeoNet states it was “similar to volcanic tremor that is recorded at places like Mt Ruapehu and White Island.”

The first signs of the earthquake-like tremors appeared during Tenacious D’s opening set around 7:30 p.m. The shakes increased tremendously in power at 8:20 p.m. when Dave Grohl and company took the stage and promptly stopped when the show ended at 11 p.m., with lulls in the signal between songs and an increase in frequency during the songs’ loudest parts.

GeoNet explained that the vibrations “were recorded as a semi continuous harmonic signal with a peak osculation of 3Hz, i.e. the ground was shaking 3 times per second in a nice rhythmic motion.”

This earth-shaking show marks the Foo Fighters’ last concert until March. In the meantime, the group has been nominated for six Grammys for their latest album Wasting Light and its smash hit single “Walk.”

So, yeah, nightclubs might be bad, but at least they don't actually register on the Richter scale!

El Weirdo

Leeg17 wrote: »

WHAT. I CAN'T HEAR YOU

Are you wearing a towel?

El Weirdo

El Weirdo wrote: »

Are you wearing a towel?

Sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of my own awesomeness

Posy

Clubs piss me off. I'm a talker. I prefer pubs for this reason.

ScumLord

Posy wrote: »

Clubs piss me off. I'm a talker. I prefer pubs for this reason.

It's also why all your friends prefer clubs.

Biggins

I don't mind loud music if its the right time and place.
A small bar (where you want to be able to talk in normal levels) that has loud sound bouncing all over the place - no thanks.
At a concert? Well its only to be at least half expected.

Randomer.

Its difficult as I like the atmosphere but due to having to scream to have a conversation I end up losing my voice pretty early and simply can't speak for the rest of the night. Suck as the night revolves around waiting for the cheesy song to end so you can talk for 10 seconds until the next one starts and the waiting begins again.

Would be great if it was like on the telly where its this banging trendy night club with great music but everyone's able to somehow chat and normal volumes

stupidusername

SORRY?

I'm very rarely in the mood to go to a club anymore because of the noise level. cosy old man pubs with a warm fire ftw

Posy

ScumLord wrote: »

It's also why all your friends prefer clubs.

Nope. We're just all over 25 and prefer actual conversation.

Sonics2k

Just means you're getting old OP, welcome to my world.

Posy

Sonics2k wrote: »

Just means you're getting old OP, welcome to my world.

I hate clubs and I'm not old. I prefer having a nice night in eating a big bag of Werther's Original, doing my knitting and listening to the gramophone.. oh wait, maybe I am old.

Mister Dread

It masks some of the absolute ****e I say to women.

Logical Fallacy

I don't know a single DJ who doesn't wear ear plugs while working, yet people go to clubs every weekend and get their hearing abused.

It's crazy.

ShadowHearth

One of the reasons I couldn't be **** going out in to pubs/clubs.

I hate hate hate when they got live bands on Friday or Saturday nights. They have it so ****ing loud, that you can't even say a flipping word. Plus you can't even understand what song they sing as its just a flipping noise at this stage.

Biggins

ShadowHearth wrote: »

One of the reasons I couldn't be **** going out in to pubs/clubs.

I hate hate hate when they got live bands on Friday or Saturday nights. They have it so ****ing loud, that you can't even say a flipping word. Plus you can't even understand what song they sing as its just a flipping noise at this stage.

Aye, true.
I don't mind a band in a large place but I've seen/heard tool loud a band in too small a place many a time.
Stupidity.
Often I just leave, elsewhere can have my money.

Liam Byrne

I think it depends on the target clientele.

If they're aimed at the segment of the younger age group who get tragically and laughably hammered and couldn't hold a conversation, then it's in the club's interest to have them there without the need for conversation, as they'll sell more drink at over-inflated prices, and the lushes can stagger home thinking that they had a great night because they didn't have to make - or listen to - vacuous OMG waffle.

Sky King

Logical Fallacy wrote: »

I don't know a single DJ who doesn't wear ear plugs while working, yet people go to clubs every weekend and get their hearing abused.

It's crazy.

Agreed. I have tinnitus from working in loud enviornments, which sucks.

I don't mind loud music in the right time / place but there's over doing it too. A venue in my local town actually has the music painfully loud... driving the speakers into distortion, ruining the sound (and presumably the hearing of everyone in the place.

And this place employs so called 'sound engineers' full time (who must be fking deaf jusging by the quality of the sound). I just don't understand it. The music would actually sound better turned down a bit.

Louder = better but only up to a point and then it actually starts detracting from the enjoyment of the place. These guys don;t seem to get it.

Nodin

Deleted User wrote: »

So, yeah, nightclubs might be bad, but at least they don't actually register on the Richter scale!

Yeah, but a gig is a different ball game. It's the bars where its annoying. I had the misfortune to be in copperface jacks about 10-12 years ago and lasted 15 minutes.

IHeartChemistry

I'm 19 and I hate clubs. The noise levels always piss me off. When I'm out now, I go to late pubs for the night and hang out in the smoking area. Can still hear the music, but can also talk and have the banter.

ScumLord

Sky King wrote: »

A venue in my local town actually has the music painfully loud... driving the speakers into distortion, ruining the sound (and presumably the hearing of everyone in the place.

Do you live in every town and city in Ireland? I have yet to be to a nighclub in Ireland that was anything other than awful.

ImpossibleDuck

You're complaining that nightclubs are too loud. Nightclubs?

I'm not sure you've fully grasped the concept of nightclubs :pac:

Biggins

ImpossibleDuck wrote: »

You're complaining that nightclubs are too loud. Nightclubs?

I'm not sure you've fully grasped the concept of nightclubs :pac:

Get as much money off you as further possible before you finally fall into bed?

WoollyRedHat

Some bands play ridicolously loud to mask the ****ness of their own music... you should try seeing better bands

saa

I can wear ear plugs at a gig no bother.

I can't wear ear plugs in the cluuuub and actually hear someone asking me for the shift.

Dunny

http://i42.tinypic.com/2ii7ipz.jpg

recylingbin

Most of my friends' speakers only go to 10, but my speakers go up to 11, so I find I can handle noise in pubs better than they can.

mattjack

"Madness Reunion"

HELL NO WE WON'T GO
The band split in 1986, but the public just wanted more. They reformed for a reunion concert in 1992, called Madstock! The event at London's Finsbury Park wasn't without its mishaps though. Local residents evacuated their buildings and reported an earthquake to the police. Turns out that the so-called tremor was nothing more than the crowd jumping up and down chanting "Madness...........

44leto

They are suppose to under law have safe levels of music.

I am a victim of high tone deafness and tinnitus but probably caused from rock concerts which I use to frequent.

Although my hearing functions well enough I would do anything to not have the problem, be careful.

Dermighty

Reardens...Cork city...

Ringing in my ears every time I go home afterwards.

I reckon if they had the noise levels professionally measured it'd be illegally high.

Yahew

ImpossibleDuck wrote: »

You're complaining that nightclubs are too loud. Nightclubs?

I'm not sure you've fully grasped the concept of nightclubs :pac:

Are they called Loud Music Clubs? The main problem is bars - I would go so far as to say that, except for live music, there should be no music at all - certainly not distorted mush from speakers where the sound is predominantly a distorted bass sound - the very frequency which makes it hard to hear people. If bars want to study music they should investigate how top end restaurants do it. Otherwise, can it.

Dionysus

guitarzero wrote: »

Wondering what take folks have on going out to disco bars, clubs and the like and how loud these places blare their music. The fact that I was shouting to the top of my lungs to be heard last night, and visa versa, is pretty bad considering the fact if you were to do that in a normal setting your ears would be ringing. Of course, you can choose not to go to these places but I dont think its something we really take into consideration we've grown so accustomed to it.

Listen, I'll say it once: if you are older than 20, and you're still going to these head-wreckingly noisy pubs and clubs, you're acting younger than your years.

Most of us are so beyond these nutcase commercialised days it's not funny.

Try The Gravediggers pub in Glasnevin for a tv-free pub experience, You can park your bicycle inside the pub at the front.

Hank_Jones

What pisses me off even more is when people are in chippers etc after being in a nightclub etc and are feckin shouting their heads off because their hearing hasn't readjusted.

Duckjob

Yeah I hate when people have to shout into your ear so closely that it hurts your eardum. Drives me mentle...

opinion guy

ImpossibleDuck wrote: »

You're complaining that nightclubs are too loud. Nightclubs?

I'm not sure you've fully grasped the concept of nightclubs :pac:

Was in one recently where people could be seen holding their ears in pain on the dance floor and then avoiding the dancefloor. Is that supposed to happen ?

44leto wrote: »

They are suppose to under law have safe levels of music.

Actually not 100% true. They are supposed to have them under certain limits for Health and Safety of staff - if staff don't complain there is no issue. Apart from that there are noise pollution laws whereby neighbours can complain - but since most clubs aren't in residential areas it doesn't happen. There are no laws to protect customers AFAIK, apparently its seen as your own choice to stay there.

I am a victim of high tone deafness and tinnitus but probably caused from rock concerts which I use to frequent.

Although my hearing functions well enough I would do anything to not have the problem, be careful.

Does anyone know where to get ear plugs that will take down the music noise but still allow you to converse ? I'm sure there are selective frequency ones etc I just don't know where to look

44leto

Last night I went to "The girl with the Dragon tattoo" I missed half the dialogue of the film, I couldn't hear or understand it. Now I read the books, so I could fill in the gaps, but if I hadn't I would have had to leave.

That is just a small example of the frustrations of high tone deafness. This is what constant loud music and loud Ipods will do to your hearing. You really don't want that to happen, believe me. If I had it again it wouldn't.

Kensington

Sky King wrote: »

Agreed. I have tinnitus from working in loud enviornments, which sucks.

I don't mind loud music in the right time / place but there's over doing it too. A venue in my local town actually has the music painfully loud... driving the speakers into distortion, ruining the sound (and presumably the hearing of everyone in the place.

And this place employs so called 'sound engineers' full time (who must be fking deaf jusging by the quality of the sound). I just don't understand it. The music would actually sound better turned down a bit.

Louder = better but only up to a point and then it actually starts detracting from the enjoyment of the place. These guys don;t seem to get it.

There's the sound engineer's opinion of good sound and there's the management's opinion of good sound. One is louder than the other - guess which one

Quite a few places where if the meters don't sit constantly in the red, it's not loud enough.
Unfortunately hitting the red causes clipping which makes it seem louder but this is down to distortion, which also happens to be particularly damaging to your hearing (that high pitched squeal in your head for hours, even days after you leave a place = music was dangerously loud) and, ironically, it eventually damages the sound system itself...

Fran1985

guitarzero wrote: »

The fact that I was shouting to the top of my lungs to be heard last night, and visa versa

what is the "Visa Versa" of this sentence?

Dionysus wrote: »

Listen, I'll say it once: if you are older than 20, and you're still going to these head-wreckingly noisy pubs and clubs, you're acting younger than your years.

Most of us are so beyond these nutcase commercialised days it's not funny.

Try The Gravediggers pub in Glasnevin for a tv-free pub experience, You can park your bicycle inside the pub at the front.

Hmmm, i was gona reply with something else, but re-read the post and not quite sure if your a troll or not.

Yahew

Fran1985 wrote: »

what is the "Visa Versa" of this sentence?

People talking to him had to shout.

Hmmm, i was gona reply with something else, but re-read the post and not quite sure if your a troll or not.

I hate these kind of posts. Pointless.

heybert

It tickles when people shout in my ears in nightclubs.

TwoShedsJackson

The less you can hear, the less you talk and the faster you drink.

It's also why they never have enough seats or tables/ledges to put your drink, if you're standing and holding a drink in your hand, you'll drink it faster.

Irish Halo

opinion guy wrote: »

Does anyone know where to get ear plugs that will take down the music noise but still allow you to converse ? I'm sure there are selective frequency ones etc I just don't know where to look

ER20s, HMV sometimes sell branded versions for about a fiver (look in the headphone/accessories section, they're in a small black case with a massive HMV logo on it). They are easily found online though:
http://www.ebay.ie/itm/ACS-ER20-musician-earplugs-case-FREE-POST-ER-20-/230631568167
http://www.allearplugs.com/ear-plugs/musicians-earplugs/etymotic-er20-high-fidelity-earplugs-white.aspx

I wear them to gigs, keep the sound clear (the "normal" foam ones don't) but at a reasonable volume allowing you to hear conversation or the music properly. They are worth so much more than they cost, I'd probably have destroyed my ears/hearing by now without them.

celticcrash

TwoShedsJackson wrote: »

The less you can hear, the less you talk and the faster you drink.

It's also why they never have enough seats or tables/ledges to put your drink, if you're standing and holding a drink in your hand, you'll drink it faster.

The faster the slops go down. and you cant taste it because your senses
are overwelmed already. So when you wakeup the next morning feeling like you have being f^^ked over. You actually have been f^^ked over.
And the thing is you paid for it.

opinion guy

Irish Halo wrote: »

ER20s, HMV sometimes sell branded versions for about a fiver (look in the headphone/accessories section, they're in a small black case with a massive HMV logo on it). They are easily found online though:
http://www.ebay.ie/itm/ACS-ER20-musician-earplugs-case-FREE-POST-ER-20-/230631568167
http://www.allearplugs.com/ear-plugs/musicians-earplugs/etymotic-er20-high-fidelity-earplugs-white.aspx

I wear them to gigs, keep the sound clear (the "normal" foam ones don't) but at a reasonable volume allowing you to hear conversation or the music properly. They are worth so much more than they cost, I'd probably have destroyed my ears/hearing by now without them.

Can people see them in your ears?

Nothingbetter2d

Posy wrote: »

I hate clubs and I'm not old. I prefer having a nice night in eating a big bag of Werther's Original, doing my knitting and listening to the gramophone.. oh wait, maybe I am old.

ah your not that old as you got one of those new fangled gramephones things...

in my house we put two tomcats in a bag together to get a bit of music going.

eire.man

opinion guy wrote: »

Irish Halo wrote: »

ER20s, HMV sometimes sell branded versions for about a fiver (look in the headphone/accessories section, they're in a small black case with a massive HMV logo on it). They are easily found online though:
http://www.ebay.ie/itm/ACS-ER20-musician-earplugs-case-FREE-POST-ER-20-/230631568167
http://www.allearplugs.com/ear-plugs/musicians-earplugs/etymotic-er20-high-fidelity-earplugs-white.aspx

I wear them to gigs, keep the sound clear (the "normal" foam ones don't) but at a reasonable volume allowing you to hear conversation or the music properly. They are worth so much more than they cost, I'd probably have destroyed my ears/hearing by now without them.

Can people see them in your ears?

WTF??

Firetrap

I've got tinnitus and it's horrible knowing I'll never hear silence again. You can snigger all you like about sitting by the fire with Werther's Originals and a cup of cocoa but I'd happily choose that if it meant that I could stop the ringing in my ears

eire.man

I was working in a bar for 3 weeks and each night the levels of sub to high end frequencies increased so bad that for first time in years my head and ears were actually sore after work and next day. I packed in the job the following day for that and the depressing level of drunkenness going on in there every night of the week!

opinion guy

eire.man wrote: »

WTF??

Some ear plugs sit deeped in the ear canal than others - as a result some are discrete and invisible, whilst others are visible to other people. I'd prefer that if I'm boogyin on down in the night club people can't see little antenna's coming out of my ears. That's not a look I'm lookin to rock out just yet:D