Sound At Gigs

pedro_el_killio

ive been reading a lot of posts on here about gigs and the continueing topic that i see on all of them is ppl sayin "OH THE SOUND WAS ****!"

what do u expect from a live show?do u expect it to sound exactly like the album?u have to remember that wherever a band plays, there will always be sound interferance and the acoustics will also play a part of the sound

examples:
outdoor gigs:wind will distort the sound
indoor gigs:depending on the size of the place and how many people are there you will either have a lot of echo or not enough.

basically what im tryin to say is stop ****in bitchin about the sound at gigs and be please and content that u actually saw the band u went to see.

****in moany bastards

dregin

Had a bad day so far then?
To be fair, I usually know what to expect from a venue, and don't blame the band for the acoustics of the auditorium. I've never had a good experience in the Olympia because of the bass reverberating around the area under the balcony. Hmmm should probably consider standing somewhere else enxt time round.

Solution: Sit on the sound desk for every gig

pedro_el_killio

do u accept my point tho dregin?be appreciative that ur actually seeing the band live and not bitch about the sound?i mean i was dieing to see pantera b4 they broke up and when they did i was mighty pissed off that i didnt but then again i saw dave williams sing with drowning pool at ozzfest 2 weeks b4 he died

dregin

Hmmmm I was at ozzfest. The outdoor sound was grand but the hangar was unbelieveably bad. Maybe the fact that I couldnt hear very much of Kitty was a good thing

Yeah, i do agree, just being there is more important than everything being completely perfect but at the same time, I was really looking forward to seeing Rancid at Reading about 5 years ago and couldn't hear anything because the sound was so bad.

pedro_el_killio

well rancid are punk and they were possibly making a statement about something...either that or they werent arsed to soundcheck

s8n

I would'nt take it personally Pedro, people are entitled to their opinion.

pedro_el_killio

i know and im voicing mine s8n so :P

s8n

woah, someone needs to chill.

Look, I go to many gigs every year and once you get used to a venue (the points a cattle shed, the ambassador and olympia are quite Bassy) you take that into consideration.
True, it is more important to see the artist, but if you have paid up to 50/60 euros for a ticket, then you are entitled to a have decent sound mix. It's not all the venues fault, sometimes the mixing desk get it wrong etc.

Doctor J

Quite often the engineer gets it wrong IMO, for whatever reason. Hall acoustics are an issue but I've been to enough gigs in most venues in Dublin to know that it is quite possible to have excellent sound there. For the price of tickets these days I think it's perfectly acceptable for punters to expect better.

pedro_el_killio

true and all but im just sick and tired of ppl whinging about the sound and even tho the gig is/was savage they leave ten minutes into the gig as seen here:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=266594&page=1&pp=20

Look at Kalikat's post about half way down

Creamy Goodness

We went purely for Helmet who are an absolute legend of a band.

i know many of people who do this, i done it infact for biffy clyro when they were supporting the cooper temple clause.

I think Kalikat was more or less 80% certain that he was going to leave after seeing helmet but then the sound of slipknot made up his mind.

Doctor J

100dB of noise is unpleasant to some people. Kalikat seemed to have difficulty distinguishing anything in the mushy sound so chose to leave. I don't have a problem with that. Why would you stay if the sound was unpleasant and you weren't entirely into the band?

Kali

Doctor J wrote:

Quite often the engineer gets it wrong IMO, for whatever reason. Hall acoustics are an issue but I've been to enough gigs in most venues in Dublin to know that it is quite possible to have excellent sound there. For the price of tickets these days I think it's perfectly acceptable for punters to expect better.

Quite right too, I've been to several gigs in the Ambassador, have always stood in the exact same spot (couple of metres down from the sound-desk, , centre stage) and the majority of gigs in there have sounded absolutely terrible, the one major exception being Low two years ago, which was one of the best sounding gigs I've ever been to.. the clarity of instruments and vocals was just amazing, I was shocked that it could sound so good in there.

It's down to the arrangement fo the speakers as well, if you look at somewhere like the Village, that to my ears (and eyes) is designed as a club venue, with speakers angled towards the dance area at the front, the sound-engineer being moved to the left and another desk upstairs... they can't hear what is happening on the floor... the acoustics of the venue are woeful anywhere that isn't in that two metre-squared sweet-spot.

The Olympia and Vicar St are the two venues that I have always been very happy with, and their engineers are extremely professional, the former does tend to have excessive bass, but I think thats a must due to the height of the ceiling... otherwise those in the gallery would be missing out a lot.

pedro_el_killio

i agree with kali but ive never had trouble with the ambassador either.the tbmc is usually good too

Mr. CooL ICE

I dont see why people should stop bitching about bad sound quality. I bitched and moaned about the sound during slipknot last year when they supported metallica, basically because you couldnt actually hear them in the moshpit.

Theres no point in saying people should pretend that gigs are brilliant because of the band just being there, regardless of the sound quality, cos if you can see a band and not hear them, it doesnt matter how good a performance it is, itll end up being crap.

John

pedro_el_killio wrote:

i agree with kali but ive never had trouble with the ambassador either.the tbmc is usually good too

I went to see the Queens of the Stone Age in the Ambassador and depending on where you stood the sound was awful. During No One Knows when Nick does those two little bass solo things I couldn't hear him. He was playing solo. I couldn't hear him. Sorry for repeating myself but that's hardly what to expect from a band of QOTSA's quality. Yes I was delighted to see them and no I didn't expect to hear the album but there is a limit to what's acceptable. That being said I've been to some gigs in the Ambassador and the sound has been impeccable (Sigur Rós springs to mind).

I ask you though, would you complain if a movie was out of focus at the cinema?