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Sound quality at gigs

SteveH said:
Barbican is amazing. Always great sound. There, Godspeed You! Black Emperor were majestic, and in complete contrast to when I saw them at the Troxy - a total mush.
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The Barbican is really good. I’ve only been there three times (twice to see Stockhausen, once for a Can solo event). Both sounded superb, and really comfortable levels, no need for the earplugs.

I saw Godspeed You! Black Emperor at some bar on Oldham St in Manchester that I forget the name of. Too loud, but very good. I remember it being quite small and fairly empty, which surprises me as it was fairly late on, around Lift Your Skinny Fists.
 
Lowgroove said:
Best sound I have ever heard at a big live gig would be over 20 years ago when Harry Connick Jr. was playing with his big band. It was a 3000+ person room and in the quiet parts you could clearly hear the keys rattle on the saxes.

More recently I saw Mavis Staples support Bonnie Raitt in a 2000-3000 person venue and the sound was great again.

But a lot of other gigs have had poor sound. I don't often go to outdoor 5000+ person gigs.

I regularly see jazz, blues and soul bands play in a 100+ venue. The sound can be great there. Drums are not mic'ed and with solo horns you can hear them acoustically over the PA a lot of the time. Sound can be really good there.

I also play in a few bands (rock, pop and soul based). One venue we play in is 100+ but is pretty loud. The drum kit is fully mic'ed. I have played there over 10 times with different sound techs but the same PA. Afterwards I hang around for the next band. The quality of sound varies from night to night. Not sure if it is the sound tech or the inability of musicians to keep the stage volume low enough for the sound guy to control the sound (it is a small enough room that 100W of guitar or 800W of bass can overpower the PA and create a terrible sound - but that is no excuse for larger venues).

I love live music - but the quality of sound can be a lottery.
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Yes, trying to balance everything to match the idiot guitar player who has everything cranked to 11 is a problem for small venues...
 
SteveH said:
Barbican is amazing. Always great sound. There, Godspeed You! Black Emperor were majestic, and in complete contrast to when I saw them at the Troxy - a total mush.
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That's interesting- it seems like here is the difference with a well-building designed with acoustics in mind, & either a converted cinema or small theatre, or simply a badly-designed building for acoustics.

Yes that is very cool indeed @Tony L you're idea of a show is my ideal, but I was never as clued up as you obviously, as to when a 'hot band' is just about to break out/ & to catch them just beforehand in super-intimate venues. Ween & Sebadoh at the Garage were fairly close though, & I caught them at their musical peak early enough & in their prime.. & as a result possibly the two greatest nights of my life. No kidding (not married or I'd be forced to include this, first place, I suppose).

Capt
 
Anyone seen any tiny-weenie 'gigs' downstairs at rough trade shop covent garden? Ridiculous really, & it can possibly get any more intimate. And becuase there was (still there-?) the skateboard shop above the sound can't be too loud at all.. as a result you felt like you were actually in their small practise room. I saw Yo La Tengo one lunchtime in there '94 ish. About 30 of us max.

Capt
 
I have been going to gigs both large and small since the 1980’s, most metal ranging from Michael Schenker to Venom and lots in between. Here are a couple of observations.

Over the past five or so years I think the volume of gigs in the medium and large venues (Kentish Town up to Wembley arena) has reduced quite a bit. I believe this is due to Elf and Safety and the daily noise dose limited that came in around 2015 and slowly peculated through to various industries. My phone dB meter seemed to back this up with the average noise level being around 90-92dB which gives you your daily dose in around 2.5hrs. This has the consequence of actually increasing sound quality.

A recenish gig highlighted the skill of the engineer. I saw Tesseract supported by Betwen the Buried and Me and Plini at Shepherds Bush Empire. Plini sounded OK, but BTBAM sounded awful, distorted, low volume vocals and way too much drums and half an hour later Tesseract was like listening to the CD. Same venue, same sound system but different engineers. I rate Shepherds Bush as one of the best sounding venues, possibly due to its heritage as a BBC OB venue. I was also Impressed last time I went to Hammersmith Odeon (sorry I refuse to call it the Eventim Apollo!) to see Opeth, sounded like they had a recent overhaul of the sound system and it was very good.

Conversely, Brighton centre is always awful, sounds like a school sports hall and Wembley Arena always takes two or three songs for the engineers to get right probably due to doing the sound check empty and the people in the room having a larger effect that less resonant venues.

And as said small venues are real hit a miss affair, some great, some too loud and some just poor.

Anyway, keep going to see live music and buying the merch supports the artists more than streaming the songs in your front room.
 
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I (miss)spent quite a lot of my youth hanging around local band when they rehearsed, sometimes sitting in myself (rather badly) on guitar. A rock band 'as is' with only the song through the PA is stunning, soundwise. A big 4*12 guitar combo hit's you in the stomach when a low chord is struck, same with bass drum. A rim shot on a snare drum is percieved like, just that, a shot. Etc, etc.
And everything is destroyed the moment it's amplified through a PA...
 
Mr Pig said:
I don't know that I'd want to be at the front for AC/DC. Sure, the atmosphere would be amazing but I'm not sure I fancy being on the receiving end of all those plastic cups of yellow liquid.
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I saw AC/DC at Wembley, that must rank as the worst sound at a concert that I have experienced - I wished that I have sold on my ticket, made a profit and spent the afternoon in a London pub with a pork pie and several pints of Stout/Porter :)

I was shocked when my eldest daughter came home (several years ago) with her leather jacket stinking of piss and her telling me that it was normal to have cups of urine thrown around in “mosh pits”
I attended various concerts in my youth - Watchfield free festival in 1975/various Knebworths (Floyd, Stones) etc; despite toilet facilities being horrible I never experienced anything like that.
 
guydarryl said:
I saw AC/DC at Wembley, that must rank as the worst sound at a concert that I have experienced.
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It wasn't that bad but it was not very good. Springsteen, McCartney and U2 were all much better in the same stadium.

In fact I've seen U2 in Hamden twice. The first time they sounded pretty good but the second was the 360 tour when they used a round stage. The concept seemed like a good idea but in practice it didn't work very well. That stage set up was higher than the stadium and they had three of them so that one was getting dismantled and another built while the third was in use. Mental.

AC/DC did put on a good show though.
 
guydarryl said:
I was shocked when my eldest daughter came home (several years ago) with her leather jacket stinking of piss and her telling me that it was normal to have cups of urine thrown around in “mosh pits”
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Eww! I was a regular at death metal and hardcore gigs in London as a teenager. I think anyone throwing cups of wee around would have been swiftly dealt with by other members of the audience...
 
I do remember many years ago a concert at Snape Maltings by the McGarrigle sisters (Rufus Wainright’s mum etc)
It sounded rough. After about 20 minutes a whole line of the audience stood up and asked the band to stop.
It was explained to the stage that they were performing in one of the principal halls for acoustic music in the country
so how could it sound so dreadful. Had the sisters actually listened to what we were hearing.
The audience offered up fifteen minutes for performers and sound engineers to sort out the problem or refunds would be demanded,The sisters cried,most of the unnecessary pa was switched off and we continued swathed in sweet sounding music.

But it takes a brave and knowledgeable part of the audience to take such a stand.

Ry Cooder at night during the horse trials at Earls Court. That was bad and…smelly.
 
Gave up on live gigs some time ago - the sound is nearly always awful and the price nearly always stratospheric.
I went to loads of metal gigs in my student days in the 80’s when volume was the key weapon.
Its got to be something more one off these days - Mr Billy F Gibbons at Shepherds Bush last year, and the Taylor Hawkins tribute at Wembley in 2022.
My music biz pal offered me some upcoming AC/DC wembley tickets but having seen the line up I‘ve passed.
 
guydarryl said:
I was shocked when my eldest daughter came home (several years ago) with her leather jacket stinking of piss and her telling me that it was normal to have cups of urine thrown around in “mosh pits”
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Never seen that anywhere. I was never a fan of the mosh pit, I always tried to stand in front up against the stage when there was such a thing, or just give up and moved back. The only liquids I’ve seen flying have been alcohol of various forms. By saying that I’m talking about new-wave, indie, hardcore, post-rock, shoegaze etc. I had zero interest in ‘80s metal aside from having seen Napalm Death, Godflesh, Bolt Thrower, Electrohippies etc, which are a very different thing to AC/DC etc, and would have had an entirely different audience.

PS I’m too young for punk, so thankfully missed all the spitting etc too. That had all gone by 1980 and new-wave, or at least I never saw it.
 
Mr Pig said:
Oh, that takes me back! Saw them at the Apollo in Glasgow, must have been about thirteen.

Being up the front at a good gig is all the drug I need ;0)w
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As there has been quite a few posts about AC DC and your upfront Colin
I saw them at Wembely Arena in 1999 middle at the front.One of my all time favourite gigs.
You could see the sweat coming off Angus by the 3rd song in the set.Although playing to 8000 it was like a pub gig.
The sound was awesome.Probably as hearing their back line.
Funny I saw them in 2009 at Wembley Stadium and was right up in the upper tier and the sound just went out the roof.
I can imagine if you were down on the pitch it would have sounded great.
Great show but crap sound were we where.
 
No I've never known that either & I was often in the moshpit until exhaustion set in, so about 15 mins then each effort. A modern thing perhaps? Or an unfounded rumour. I got a glass thrown at my head by Gibby at a small buttholes show- assh*les behind me pointed at me as to someone who threw a pint at the stage. Good shot tho I must say (I ducked at the last split second & me & Gibby then had a stare-off, both furious).

Capt
 
I saw AC/DC is Stuttgart sometime in the mid noughties. PA was Claire S4 and the show was mixed on a Midas Pro 40... both of which were pretty vintage even then. I know their FOH guy who used to hate every minute of it as he had to battle the bands backline that was turned-up to face-melting levels. The sound was about as good as it get's with S4 but I've never been a fan of Claire boxes, past or present.
 
I've experienced both good and bad sound at both large outdoor and small indoor gigs, mostly good though.
JAMC in 85 or 86 was probably notably the worst, half and hour of unintelligible feedback and then a riot
 
awkwardbydesign said:
always say that if I can't sit close enough to put my feet on the edge of the stage, the event is wrong for me! The Band on the Wall* springs to mind, gigs like Everhard Weber's, where the bar staff were told to shush as they were too loud. The ventilation system was then too loud!
*Years ago, I don't know what it's like now.
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It’s still reliably one of Manchester’s best-sounding venues in my experience, even for bands that might not be seen as typically BOTW, e.g. The Orb.
 
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